What Is Christian Family Counseling?

The so-called "house church" refers to a Christian church established in mainland China by a mass of Christians without the approval of the government. "House church" has nothing to do with the family. Because it did not have a church in its early days, it was often held in church members' houses, hence the name "house church". House church is not a religious sect, not a unified organization, but a political concept. House church has become a common term in Chinese and English. The understanding of the definition of house church in academia, religion, and news media at home and abroad is basically the same: all Christian organizations that have no relationship with the Chinese Christian Three-Self Church (Christian Church recognized by the Chinese government) within mainland China are considered House church. ^[1]

House church

The so-called "house church" means

(1) Focus on the Word of God;

(2) The meeting place is usually in the home of the believer, and the scale is generally small;

(3) There are relatively fixed groups of people. Christians usually lead friends to hear the gospel;

(4) The priesthood is generally held by older and better spiritualists.

Many young people in China work outside the home, leaving the elderly in their homes unattended.

1. Political pressure. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Wu Yaozong and other Christians in China jointly issued the "Three Self Declaration" (autonomy, autonomy, autobiography), launched a patriotic anti-imperialist movement within Christianity, and established the Three Self Church. After going through a series of political campaigns,

In 2000,

"The" House Church "Rise Quietly", Overseas Chinese Garden, 1994, 02, Miao Wen ^[12]

The Research Center for Rural Social Issues of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences approved the establishment of an empirical investigation of house churches.

This research has the following three aspects.

First, field investigation.

Including house church beliefs, missionary lines and methods, main activities, regional church organizations, sources of religious prints, places of religious activities, religious etiquette, status of main personnel, requirements of believers and their organizations, funds for religious activities, local government religious departments Management, liaison with overseas, etc.

Second, theoretical analysis.

Including the relationship between religious people and house church organizations, the political outlook and occupational distribution of key personnel, political tendencies and requirements, the authenticity of the religious beliefs of key personnel, the links between religious organizations at all levels, the current state of religious management in local governments, Religious personnel suspected of crime and its possibility, participation in local social life, including charity, other public welfare activities and general social activities, national public officials and party and government officials 'belief in Christianity and its influence, domestic Christian organizations' relationship with overseas and its development trends The impact and role on China's social stability.

Third, policy research.

Including the definition of normal religious activities, abnormal religious activities and religious activities with harmful and dangerous tendencies.

From October 2007 to November 2008, members of the research team have visited Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Yunnan, Hunan, Chongqing, Hainan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangxi, Guangdong, Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi, More than a dozen provinces such as Anhui, Liaoning, and Jilin have conducted field investigations, and held various types of theoretical seminars and analysis of key cases.

After research, the research group believes that the current development of Christian house churches in China is diverse, and a series of social problems have arisen due to illegal existence. To this end, new policy arrangements are needed.

House church development stages

It is generally believed that it goes through the following stages. ^[2]

Underground missionary stage

In 1950, the Chinese Christian community launched the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and established the Chinese Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee.

Due to the conceptual overemphasis on the political function of the church, it was gradually dominated by the government.

But from the beginning, some Christians did not recognize some of the "Three-Self Movement."

Especially in the late period of the Great Leap Forward, underground missionary activities outside the "Three-Self Church" appeared in the countryside.

Regarding the situation at that time, there were "three and a half provinces" in Christianity. The three provinces refer to Anhui, Henan, and Shandong, and half to Wenzhou, Zhejiang.

At the time, in the western part of Anhui Province, Nanyang area in Henan, some backward areas in Shandong, and Wenzhou area in Zhejiang, many preachers outside the "Three-Self Church" conducted various evangelistic activities and established some underground church organizations. .

In the late period of the Cultural Revolution, grassroots governments began to persecute, which led to the dissolution of these churches. Especially in Nanyang and Fuyang, preachers began to flee. But until then no "house church" has said that all ministers are secretly underground.

Team house church

After the Cultural Revolution, the "Three-Self Church" resumed activities. Deng Xiaoping visited the United States in 1979. The then US President Carter himself was a deacon of the Southern Baptist Church. Due to the improvement of Sino-US relations, overseas funds, books, materials, and the Bible from the United States have entered in large numbers. Compared with the "Three-Self Church", there is a need for faith in house churches.

In the early 1980s, due to the various contradictions and conflicts in the "Three-Self" history, mainly due to differences in beliefs, internal power struggles, and strong government intervention, some members of the "Three-Self Church" entered the house church system.

By the 1980s, with overseas support, especially Zhao Tianen's fruitful work, and the work of Bao Dening in Hong Kong, overseas churches and house churches had more contact and contact, and team house churches were formally formed.

Independent local church

In 1992, Deng Xiaoping's speech during his inspection tour southward accelerated the process of urbanization and faced the powerful challenges brought about by the social transformation of secularization and urbanization.

By the mid-1990s, as the team system reached its heyday, its internal problems were gradually exposed:

The first is the problem of the church system, such as patriarchy, personal worship, etc .;

The second is the issue of doctrine. Various heresies and cults have emerged.

Third, the government has stepped up its crackdown, which has greatly increased the antagonism of the church.

Since then, overseas churches have gradually reduced their financial support for domestic house churches. This has weakened the team s control, promoted the independence and transformation of team churches into local churches, and local church consciousness has begun to rise.

Status of house church development

After the rapid growth of Christian house churches after 1990, it is still a matter of debate how many religious people there are. The more representative data is: Cao Shengjie, president of the Chinese Christian Association, said on April 18, 2006 that there are more than 16 million Christians.

The International Institute for Christian Studies (The Center for the Study of Global Christianity) believes that Chinese Christians have reached 100 million.

It is reported on the Internet that the Christian Church in South Korea has a statistical map of about 120 million Christians in mainland China.

The BBC reported on March 12, 2008 that there are nearly 70 million Christians in China.

The Chicago Tribune article on July 4, 2008 states that there are nearly 70 million Christians in China.

According to our survey, the number of three-self churches in China is between 18 million and 30 million, and the number of house churches is between 45 and 60 million. The total of the two may be about 60 to 70 million. ^[42]

According to three main aspects,

First, synthesize data from other aspects;

Second, discuss with many ministers who have been teaching theology and evangelism for many years;

Third, according to the sample survey.

It should be pointed out that the data we have listed here are also based on the estimates of local religious people and visits to some churches. And in many places, such as some rural areas in Henan, there is no clear distinction between the Three Self Church and the House Church. In reality, the number of house churches is often exaggerated, and the number of three-self churches is often depressed. Because house churches like to exaggerate the number of people to attract outside attention, especially the central Anhui and Henan teams. The Three Self Church is unwilling to report the true number to the official, so as not to give the impression that the official is developing too quickly. At the same time, the Religious Affairs Bureau is also reluctant to report upwards, so as not to give the impression that its superiors have poor control.

It is an undisputed fact that the number of house churches is several times that of the three-self church. This is because the number of believers counted by the Bureau of Religion is the number of baptisms registered in the two conferences, excluding house church members and unbaptized believers.

It is also difficult to reach a uniform standard for the identification of believers. Some people think they are Christians without being baptized. Some people often participate in church activities and have a good opinion of Christianity. Reasons why it is difficult to make accurate statistics.

From the perspective of the development area, except for the minority areas, the Three Self Churches are common in all counties and cities across the country.

The main distribution of house churches:

Christian faith belt in the Huaihe River Basin, the main areas are Henan, Anhui and Northern Jiangsu;

The Christian faith belt along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang, the main areas are Ningbo, Taizhou, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, etc .;

Heilongjiang, Yunnan and Shaanxi Yulin also have more.

In Yulin, Shaanxi, each township has four or five churches, and house churches are even more numerous.

These areas in Henan and Shaanxi should focus on research.

It is generally believed that the differences in geographical distribution are related to the earliest places where missionaries came and may have to be found for historical reasons.

The Yunnan region is well explained. Missionaries in the Yulin and Huaihe River basins are relatively active.

In Shandong, there are more missionaries in South Korea. They set up factories while preaching, and many workers have become missionaries.

House Church Church Classification

Objectively speaking, classifying house churches is very difficult.

From the scope of activities, house churches have these categories:

(1) A nationwide or interprovincial system is generally called a team or fellowship.

For example, Xuzhou Huaihai Gospel Fellowship, Chinese Gospel Fellowship; Yishang Team, Lixin Team, etc .;

(2) The provincial-level regional system, also known as the team, is limited to the province and even to the city.

Such as Daqing team, Huaibei team, etc .;

(3) The local church system is limited to the local area and has established a local presence, but has not been able to expand outwards, except in Tibetan areas, which should be available in every county;

(4) The trend of national fellowship is more obvious. Like the Chinese Gospel Fellowship, it is worth studying well.

From the scope of fellowship activities, Wenzhou is bringing religion to all parts of the country. Several big churches in Beijing have more or less connections with Wenzhou.

From the perspective of governance model, Christian house churches have two main management methods:

(1) Federal Presbyterian System. This type of church often has the background of a Christian meeting place, and is deeply influenced by Ni Minsheng's "local church" thought. Theologically, it is an evangelical stand, emphasizing decentralization and checks and balances, and emphasizing the church's independent sovereignty.

It is mainly distributed in the southeast coastal areas such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian.

(2) The centralized and paternalistic team model, this tendency of charity is often the strongest, forming some leaders who can control the church.

Mainly distributed in central regions such as Henan and Anhui.

Sects were formed based on different theological positions.

Regarding the division of denominations in house churches, in terms of theological standpoint, Chinese house churches are basically evangelicals based on fundamentals.

There are two types of theological trends that influence the theological position of the house church: the Reformed Movement and the Charismatic Movement, which has basically divided the future trend of the Chinese Church into three factions: Evangelicals, Reformed, and Charismatics.

Church Type and Regional Distribution

First, the traditional house church

Basic Features:

(1) There is no organizational connection with the "Three Selfs" church, and they are in conflict with each other and have not been recognized by the government;

(2) The meeting place is generally in the home of the believer, and the scale is relatively small;

(3) The most critical point: it is not open to the outside world and there are relatively fixed groups of people. This is a typical acquaintance society. Only insiders can enter it, and the outside world rarely knows the people and organizational structure;

(4) Gathering together for various religious activities, no special priesthood is required, and some are led by older, better spiritual people;

(5) Mostly adopt the patriarchal governance model.

Traditional house churches are more widely distributed in the Midwest.

Leading figures : Wang Mingdao, Ni Yisheng, Yuan Xiangchen, Lin Xiange, Xie Moshan, Li Tianen, Yang Xinyi

Iconic event : decades of barbed wire career

Representative Church: Christian Synagogue, Local Church, Malaysia Gospel Synagogue

Belief characteristics: adhere to fundamentalist beliefs and resist the trend of beliefs of western liberals

Never compromise your faith position before the government and go to jail for decades

Ministries: Impact is personal. Emphasis on the purity of faith and the shaping of Christian spirituality and character

Diplomatic characteristics : Although they have connections with overseas churches, most advocate Chinese churches to be self-reliant, and their external relations are more personal and less collaborative.

Advantages and disadvantages : The advantage lies in the individual's appeal and leadership role, which is specifically reflected in the firmness of belief and spiritual life; the shortcomings are that most have not established a church team network and a perfect church system (except Ni Yisheng)

Outlook : The older generation of preachers did not establish large churches and large teams, but they are the source of the faith of the house church in China, so they will continue to influence the younger generation of house churches as spiritual forces.

Second, the open house church

Basic Features:

(1) The church is no longer organized according to the relationship between friends and relatives, but the church-building co-workers determined by the church charter, and the management system is more perfect;

(2) The size of the meeting is large, and some church members have thousands of people;

(3) High degree of transparency, believers meet in public, and individual churches establish churches;

(4) The resistance to the "Three-Self" church gradually faded, but it still does not interact with the "Three-Self" church.

(5) Mostly adopt the governance model of decentralization and checks and balances.

Open house churches are often located in the more economically developed eastern regions.

Leaders : Zhang Rongliang, Feng Jianguo, Xu Yongze, Shen Yiping, Miao Zhitong, Chen Baochi (born around 40 ~ 50 years)

Flag Event : Large Team System

Representative Church : Fangcheng Fellowship, Wenzhou Conference Team, Chinese Gospel Fellowship, Yingshang Team, Lixin Team

Belief characteristics: adherence to fundamentalist beliefs, many of them accepted the third wave of charity movement in the West, uncompromising their beliefs in front of the government, and have been suppressed for reasons of faith

Ministries: Impact is on the team. Emphasis on church growth, mission development and co-worker training

Diplomatic characteristics: have close relationships with overseas churches and institutions, and have close connections and coordination at the individual level and team ministry level

Advantages and disadvantages : the advantage lies in the strong network of teams and co-workers throughout the country, and the enthusiasm of missions; the deficiency lies in the church's lack of mission and resources for cultural mission and social public space. At the same time, the team and the team have been in a situation of conflict and conflict for a long time.

Looking ahead: The main influence of several teams and their leaders will be confined to their teams (due to their large number of followers, they will also have significant influence overseas). In the new era, their teams will also face severe adjustments in urbanization, networking, and secularization.

Third, the city's emerging church

Basic Features:

(1) Strong independence, not subject to the "Three-Self" church, no affiliation with traditional house churches, and the horizontal connection has just begun;

(2) There is no historical burden and heritage, and the foundation is very shallow. Most churches have not yet established churches, but rent or purchase office buildings for religious activities;

(3) High degree of openness, public confession of faith, and public meetings of believers;

(4) Most of the believers are white-collar workers in urban youth, with a higher cultural level. College students, masters, and doctoral students occupy a certain proportion. Some churches have been developed by college fellowships.

(5) Emphasize the democratization of church organization and organizational management;

(6) Attach importance to the construction of state-religion relations, actively engage in dialogue with the government, and advocate that the church register outside the "three-self" church system.

Leaders: Jin Tianming, Wang Yi (Wang Shuya), Jin Mingri, Li Shengfeng, Zhang Fuheng, Zhao Xiao, Cui Quan, and Huang Lei (born around 1960)

Flag events: 2010 Lausanne event, Beijing Watch Church event

Representative churches : Beijing Watchtower Church, Shanghai Wanbang Missionary Church, Chengdu Qiuyu Blessed Reformed Church,

Belief characteristics: Adhere to evangelical beliefs and advocate dialogue with the government under the principle of faith. In the process of seeking a space of faith, it will be interfered by the government to varying degrees

Ministries : Institutional influence. Emphasizing the soundness of the church system, emphasizing both the gospel mission and the cultural mission

Diplomatic characteristics: links and matches with overseas churches and institutions, but focuses on their independence and equality with each other, as well as their international space

Strengths and weaknesses: The advantage is that these pastors have systematic theological equipment (most of them have studied abroad), have a broad vision, focus on the spirit of the team and the integrity of the system; the disadvantage is that their ministry scale is still limited. There is still a certain distance between the ministry and the number of believers compared to traditional house churches.

Future prospects : With the acceleration of China's urbanization, networking, and knowledge, the importance of emerging churches in Chinese cities will also become increasingly prominent. In the future, they will gradually influence traditional Chinese house churches in church pastoral ideas, systems, and ministry strategies Progress

Illegal existence and constant conflict

The Chinese government's attitude toward house churches is complex.

As far as the central government is concerned, the public documents, laws and regulations are ambiguous, the legal status of house churches is not clearly defined, and it lacks operability.

This religious policy belongs to the typical "ostrich policy". This leaves room for local governments to tolerate or abuse power.

Local governments have been using the concept of "illegal meetings" to refer to house churches.

Judging from the actual implementation of local religious policies, the differences are quite large.

Generally speaking, the policies of developed eastern regions are more lenient, and they are often indifferent;

In the central and western regions, house churches are treated more severely, and they are often suppressed with harsh measures. There have also been many suppressive incidents.

Government crackdowns often have the opposite effect.

In Wenzhou, Zhejiang, Christianity was developing most rapidly, and it was also the time when the government cracked down the most.

Therefore, the loose political environment provides policy space for the development of house churches, and suppression policies also provide room for house churches to survive illegally.

Some local governments have cracked down on house churches in the name of "illegal gatherings," and you can see that they "live illegally." Although this does not mean that the existence of a Christian house church is illegal in itself, it is "illegal" in its way of living. The government can find any reason to suppress it.

Problems brought by "illegal survival"

First, church property disputes have increased.

Second, the underground of the church is secret.

Third, the politicization of religious rights.

Social goals and policy choices

The state's policy on Christian house churches should be appropriately adjusted.

First, acknowledge the legal existence of house churches and don't pretend to be invisible.

Second, house churches are allowed to register outside the "three self" system.

Third, after the registration of the house church or unit to jointly establish a seminary, it must be open to the public and resolutely oppose secrecy.