The Three-Self Church is the general name of Chinese Christian churches (that is, Christianity in a broad sense) that support the declaration of "autonomy, self-support and autobiography", also known as the Three-Self Patriotic Church.
brief introduction
1949 after the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC) and the new government, Catholic and Protestant organizations in China, under the influence of the China party government, reformed the old church, making it independent of the leadership and interference of foreign religious groups. In short, the church in China is no longer subordinate to the Roman Catholic Church and foreign Christian missions.
The new church adopts the principle of "independence and self-management", which can also be called the principle of "three selves". Three selves, namely "independence, self-reliance and autobiography".
Autonomy, the internal affairs of the church are independent of foreign religious groups.
Self-support and church economic affairs are independent of government finance and foreign religious groups.
Autobiography refers to preaching by the preacher of the national church and explaining the doctrine by the preacher of the national church.
Catholicism in China practices the system of self-appointed bishops.
At present, there are three-self patriotic churches in China. Protestantism includes China Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee and China Council of Churches (usually combined as "two national conferences"). Catholicism includes the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the Chinese Catholic Educational Administration Committee and the Chinese Catholic Bishops' College (that is, the "two sessions and one regiment").
Both the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the China Christian Three-Self-Love Congress claim that there are not many foreign sects in China: "There is only one Protestantism in China and only one Catholicism in China."
history
1949, People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded, which ended the history of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society and provided historical conditions for Catholicism and Christianity in China to achieve independence and self-management. 1In July, 950, 40 religious leaders, including Wu Yaozong, published the "Three-Self Declaration" of "Ways for China Christianity to Work hard in the Construction of New China", which showed that China Christians supported the new China, got rid of the control of imperialist forces, and realized the autonomy, self-support and autobiography of the church in China. 1950 September, 1527 Christian leaders signed the "three-self declaration". In the following three or four years, more than 400,000 Christians signed this document, accounting for two-thirds of the Christians in the country at that time. Since then, Christianity in China has embarked on the road of "three selves".
1950, 1 1 In June, more than 500 Catholics in Guangyuan County, Sichuan Province issued the Declaration on the Movement of Catholic Self-reliance and Innovation, advocating breaking off all relations with imperialism and establishing a new church with autonomy, autobiography and self-support. This statement was echoed by the National Catholic Presbyterian Church. Although the Vatican has repeatedly taken political actions hostile to the new China, Catholicism in China reported an elected deputy bishop and two bishops to the Vatican in 1957 and 1958. However, the Vatican's threat of "excessive punishment" has greatly hurt the feelings of Catholics in China. Since then, Catholics in China have firmly embarked on the road of choosing their own bishops and running their own churches. In faith, Catholicism in China is consistent with Catholicism all over the world; In church management, all internal affairs are decided by the Chinese Catholic Church.
1954 In July, the first national congress of Christianity in China was held, and the three-self patriotic movement committee of Christianity in China was formally established. Put forward the policy of uniting Christians all over the country, loving the motherland, abiding by national laws, adhering to autonomy, self-support, autobiography and running churches independently under the leadership of the * * * production party and people's government of China.
1958, churches with different beliefs and etiquette backgrounds practice "joint worship". Since then, the church in China has entered a "post-sectarian period", and Christian sectarian organizations no longer exist in China.
During the Cultural Revolution, Christianity in China was once closed. 1980, China Christian three-self patriotic movement Committee resumed its activities, convened the third national congress, and established the China Christian Council. Under the new historical conditions, we have continued to promote the three-self patriotic movement and started a new exploration of running education according to the three-self principle. 1996 the sixth national conference of Christianity summed up the exploration in this period as "running the church well according to the principle of three self", insisting on independence, patriotism and love of religion, striving to enhance unity, vigorously promoting the three virtues (autonomy, self-support and autobiography), and issued a call to Christians all over the country that "good Christians should be good citizens".
With the development of the Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement in China, some theological ideas handed down by foreign missionaries in the past were not suitable for the development of society and the progress of the times, resulting in contradictions and conflicts. Under the strong advocacy of Bishop Ding Guangxun, the Christian circles in China actively explored the construction of theological thought. 1998165438+10, the National Christian "Two Sessions" (China Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee and China Christian Council) held a plenary meeting in Jinan, and made a resolution to carry out theological thought construction. The main contents of theological thought construction are: how to expound the basic beliefs and moral norms of Christianity in combination with China's national conditions and culture, so as to adapt Christianity in China to the socialist society.
On September 23rd, 2000, the 50th anniversary celebration of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. This paper summarizes the three-self patriotic movement in the past 50 years, and announces that it will continue to adhere to the direction of patriotism and love of religion, push the three-self patriotic movement to a new stage of theological thought construction, make remarkable progress in guiding the broad masses of religious believers to adapt to the socialist society, and make new contributions to the modernization of the motherland.