The Three-Self Church is the collective name of China Christian religious (i.e. generalized Christianity) churches that support the three-self declaration of "autonomy, self-support and autobiography", also known as the Three-Self Patriotic Church.

Introduction

After the founding of the People's Republic of China and the new government in p>1949, the Catholic and Protestant organizations in China, under the influence of the government of China's * * * production party, transformed the old church and made it independent from 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 takes the principle of "independence and self-management", which can also be called the "three-self" principle. Three selves, namely "autonomy, self-support and autobiography".

autonomy, which means that the internal affairs of the church are independent of foreign religious groups.

the economic affairs of the self-supporting church are independent of government finance and foreign religious groups.

Autobiography refers to preaching by the preacher of the national church and explaining the teachings by the preacher of the national church.

Catholicism in China implements the system of self-appointed bishops.

At present, there are three-self patriotic church organizations in China. Protestantism includes China Christian Three-self Patriotic Movement Committee and china christian council (usually synthesized as "National Two 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 Patriotic Church claim that there are no many sects similar to those in foreign countries in China: "There is only one Protestant in China and only one Catholic in China in China."

History

In p>1949, the People's Republic of China was founded, ending the history of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, thus providing historical conditions for Catholicism and Protestantism in China to achieve independence and self-management. In July 195, Wu Yaozong and other 4 heads of various sects published the "Three-Self Declaration" of "Ways for China Christianity to Work hard in the Construction of New China", which showed that Christians in China 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. In September 195, 1,527 Christian leaders signed the "Three-Self Declaration". In the following three or four years, more than 4, 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".

in November, 195, more than 5 Catholics in Guangyuan county, Sichuan province issued the "Declaration of Catholic Independent Innovation Movement", which advocated cutting off all aspects of relations with imperialists and establishing a new church with autonomy, autobiography and self-support. This declaration was echoed by Catholic Presbyterians all over the country. Although the Vatican has repeatedly taken political actions hostile to the new China, China Catholicism reported an elected acting bishop and two bishops to the Vatican in 1957 and 1958. However, the Vatican threatened with "super penalty", which 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 independently. In belief, Catholicism in China is consistent with Catholicism all over the world; In church management, all internal affairs are decided by the Catholic Church in China.

in July p>1954, the first national conference 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 state laws, adhering to autonomy, self-support, autobiography, and running churches independently under the leadership of the * * * production party and people's government of China.

In p>1958, churches with different beliefs and etiquette backgrounds practiced "joint worship". Since then, the church in China has entered a "post-sectarian period", and the sectarian organization of Christianity has ceased to exist in China.

during the "cultural revolution", Christianity in China was once suspended. In 198, the China Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee resumed its activities, convened the third national conference and established the china christian council. Under the new historical conditions, it continued to promote the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and began a new exploration of running the church well according to the Three-Self principle. The Sixth National Conference of Christianity in 1996 summarized the exploration in this period as "running the church well according to the three-self principle", insisting on independence, patriotism and love for religion, striving to enhance unity, and vigorously implementing the three virtues (self-governance, self-support and autobiography), and issued a call to Christians all over the country that "a good Christian should be a good citizen".

With the development of the Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement in China, some theological ideas handed down by foreign missionaries in the past are incompatible with 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 community in China actively explored the construction of theological thought. In November, 1998, the National "Two Sessions" of Christianity (China Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee and china christian council) held a plenary committee in Jinan, and made a resolution to carry out theological thought construction. The main contents of theological thought construction are: how to combine China's national conditions and culture to expound the basic beliefs and moral norms of Christianity, so as to make Christianity in China adapt to the socialist society.

On September 23rd, 2, a grand celebration was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. It summarized the three-self patriotic movement in the past 5 years, and announced that it would continue to adhere to the direction of patriotism and love of religion, push the three-self patriotic movement to a new stage of theological ideological construction, make remarkable progress in leading the broad masses of believers to adapt to the socialist society, and make new contributions to the modernization of the motherland.