The 3-Self Patriotic Movement
karenb  Updated: 2004-02-27 09:09

The more correct name for the Protestant church in China is the 3-Self Patriotic Movement.

The word "Patriotic" is somewhat significant. It reflects the commitment of the Chinese Christians to establishing a church that is truly Chinese and that will play a vital part in the building of the nation.

This was a concern of the Chinese Christian leaders long before 1949. In the 1920's, Chinese Christian leader T.C. Chao, in his address to the Centenary Confererence, said, "The Church is weak because she is still foreign and divided. This is not because the genius of the Christian religion is alien to the Chinese mind and heart, but because the church which expresses Christianity is so various and rigidly organized that it does not fit in with the Chinese genius. She is foreign both in thought and form."

In 1950, a group of Chinese Christian leaders drafted the "Christian Manifesto" in which the newly founded Three-Self Movement declared its commmitment to "oppose imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, and take part in the effort to build an independent, democratic, peaceable, unified, prosperous, and powerful New China."

One of the greatest priorities of the 3-Self Patriotic Movement is the relationship between church and society. I have personally noted the commitment of Chinese Christians in ministering in orphanages, assisting in the educational needs of the rural poor, and even going out and picking up the garbage on the streets.

The 3-self church is also committed to developing theologically in a Chinese context.

I didn't say that the church was completely free of govt. control -- what I did say was that the govt. doesn't interfere with what is taught or preached. I had read in the West such things as that the ministers could not preach on certain books of the Bible, or that Chinese Christians could not celebrate Easter, or that Chinese children could not receive religious instruction. Well, that simply isn't true -- at least not in today's church in China.

And, actually, if you were to visit a 3-Self church, you would find a good deal of ministry involvement on the part of lay people whose only training has been their reading of the Bible (which they do rather thoroughly) and the teaching they receive in their local church.

Bibles are published in very large numbers in China and are very readily available throughout China, as I have mentioned before. Most of the churches have a little stall in the back of the church where you can buy Bibles and hymnals before or after the service (also published in China) and a few other pieces of literature. The New Testament can be purchased for about 10 yuan (about $1.20 U.S.) and the whole Bible for about 25 yuan (about $3 U.S.) No one records anything when you buy a Bible.

The above content represents the view of the author only.

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