Is China’s “Official Church” Authentic?

Some say that churches affiliated with China’s government-approved China Christian Council (CCC) authentically represent Protestant Christianity in that country. Others feel these churches are being used by the government for political reasons.

Yes

Ralph Covell is academic dean and professor of missions at Denver Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary and a former missionary to China.

Why do you maintain the CCC authentically represents Protestantism in China?

CCC churches stand doctrinally in the tradition of orthodox Christianity. They worship and preach the Word, and there is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence.

But aren’t they controlled by the government?

I have seen no proof of that, and I think it’s a myth. These churches have a great deal of autonomy. Their leaders are chosen by people in various areas who meet as the church.

How can a government-affiliated church oppose the state in a prophetic way?

No one in China may challenge the government seriously. Even unregistered churches don’t do this. But CCC leaders have influenced government policy. China’s constitution once contained a statement that people could propagate atheism, but not religion, CCC leaders protested. They took their case to the highest levels of government and won.

Are official churches free to carry out the mission of the church—to evangelize, for example?

I can’t imagine how the church in China could “be the church” more than it is. But it’s not like the church in America. Remember, this is a Marxist society. Christians may not hold open-air meetings or pass out tracts. To be wise as serpents and harmless as doves seems to mean evangelizing within the limitations. There is no lack of freedom to talk with friends or family about Jesus. I visited a church in China last summer and asked the pastors, “Are you able to do evangelism?” They said, “We’ll let you judge. In 18 months, we’ve baptized 400 people.”

But is there freedom to worship outside official churches? Aren’t those who do so subject to persecution?

I don’t deny there is persecution. But it is a local problem, not a result of government policy. A strong leftist element remains in China from the Cultural Revolution of 1966–77. It is trying to block the innovative policies of the current leadership in the political, economic, and religious arenas. It’s not surprising that leftists give Christians a hard time.

Doesn’t the government instigate persecution?

Absolutely not. Officially, it opposes religion and maintains religion will one day disappear. But it also maintains that, for now, to persecute religion is a big mistake. They need the cooperation of everyone, including religious people, as they strive for unity and modernization. In fact, some in China are openly saying that religion is not an opiate, but may be beneficial to society.

How should Westerners view the official church?

If they want to relate to Christians in China, they almost have to work through CCC. I think it’s very important to recognize these people as brothers and sisters in Christ.

No

Jonathan Chao, founder and director of the Chinese Church Research Center in Hong Kong, is a leading authority on Christianity in China.

Why do you contend the CCC is not an authentic representative of Protestantism in China?

Most of the personnel of TSPM [Three-Self Patriotic Movement, an organization that represents the official church in China to the government] and CCC are the same. In effect, the two organizations are identical, TSPM, by its own definition, is not a church, but a Protestant political movement, organized by the government. The church submits to Christ, not the state, as its Head.

Aren’t CCC churches autonomous? Don’t they choose their own leaders, for example?

There is no proof of that. Even CCC pastors say they were appointed, not chosen, by local Christians.

Are CCC churches free to carry out the mission of the church?

They are not able to function according to the Bible without interference. Official government policy permits freedom of religious belief, but this means only that people are free to believe in their hearts and minds, and free to worship in official churches. It does not permit voluntary evangelism outside the church building or by people other than recognized pastors. Pastors are forbidden to preach on certain doctrines, such as Creation and the second coming of Christ. If someone teaches modalism or some other heresy, there is no church court to exercise discipline.

Is it wrong, then, for Christians to affiliate with the CCC?

It’s not that black and white. In form, the CCC is a church organization. At least people can worship without being condemned as criminals. This is better than nothing. The official government policy states clearly that Christians can be persecuted for unofficial church activity.

Is persecution of the unofficial church a major problem?

Yes, especially in the countrysides. In every province in central China there are evangelists in prison. I know of 21 in just one section of a province. Persecution has softened in the last few years because the government is attempting to establish a peaceful environment in order to attract foreign investment. But the government continues to scrutinize any independent Christian activity.

How should Westerners view the official church?

They must not take CCC propaganda as fact. They must understand the official church as a product of a society in which the party controls everything, although the party must make some allowances for religious people. Contact between Western delegations and the CCC is inevitable. But it does not change anything, because the CCC merely implements government policy. Contacts with high-ranking Chinese government officials can influence policy. It is fruitful, for example, when the President of the United States reminds the Chinese government of America’s objection to religious persecution.

WORLD SCENE

SOVIET UNION

Spiritual Desert

Leading writers in the Soviet Union have filled the pages of their country’s literary journals with works depicting the moral degradation of the Soviet people, according to a report in the Christian Science Monitor.

These writers, the report says, “see the roots of this decline in the destruction of religion, and its revival as the only way out.” Vasily Bykov, a highly respected literary master, has declared that “there cannot be morality without faith.”

Viktor Astafyev, another widely published author, writes nostalgically, “We lived with a light in our soul [religion], acquired long before us by the creators of heroic feats and lighted for us so that we would not wander in the darkness, run into trees, or into one another in the world, scratch out each other’s eyes, or break our neighbor’s bones.…

“They [the Communists] stole it from us and did not give anything in return.”

EL SALVADOR

Aid Arrives Quickly

The president of El Salvador, Jose Napoleon Duarte, called a recent ship of medical supplies from MAP International “the largest and the most valuable shipment of essential medicines and medical supplies to arrive in El Salvador since the devastating earthquake.”

Earth tremors rocked the Central American nation on the morning of October 10, killing hundreds and leaving some 15,000 injured. A team from MAP, a Christian global health organization based in Brunswick, Georgia, arrived in El Salvador within 24 hours. And within five days, a shipment of medical supplies valued at $1.3 million arrived in the country. The shipment included antibiotics, intravenous solutions, sutures, surgical kits, and analgesics. A day earlier, a plane chartered by the Redlands, California-based Mission Aviation Fellowhip had arrived with 16 tons of MAP supplies, valued at $140,000.

The MAP supplies were distributed by CESAD (Salvadoran Evangelical Committee for Relief and Development). President Duarte called the MAP shipments “a visible sign of brotherhood that is most appreciated.” He added that “many lives will be saved because MAP responded quickly with appropriate measures.”

SOUTH AFRICA

A Landmark Statement

Some 400 clergy and lay delegates to the synod of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK), South Africa’s major white Dutch Reformed Church, last month approved a statement denouncing South Africa’s system of racial segregation as unjust.

Also passed was legislation giving congregations the option of admitting persons of all races. This marks a historic break in the NGK’s once-staunch defense of apartheid. It is believed to be the first time since 1974 the 970,000-member body has directly addressed the subject.

The statement approved by NGK delegates represented a compromise between those who wanted no statement and those who favored a firmer condemnation, similar to the one approved by the mixed-race Dutch Reformed Mission Church. The NGK statement reads in part, “The church is convinced that the forced separation of people cannot be seen as a prescription from the Bible. Such an attempt to justify it from the I Bible must be recognized as an error and rejected.”

It continues, “The church is convinced that the use of apartheid as a sociopolitical system, which causes injustice to people and incorrectly gives one group preference over the other, cannot be accepted on Christian ethical grounds because it militates against the principles of brotherly love and justice, and inevitably affects the human dignity of those involved.”

THIRD WORLD

Still Another Health Problem

While the practice of smoking tobacco has declined in the recent past in industrialized countries, it is becoming more popular in Third Word Countries, says the World Health Organization (WHO).

Africans smoked 20 percent more cigarettes in 1984 than in 1979. In some Latin American countries, including Argentina and Chile, about half the boys and girls 15 years of age smoke. And in Jakarta, Indonesia, more than 40 percent of the boys between the ages of 6 and 12 smoke.

WHO has forecast that “smoking diseases will appear in developing countries before communicable diseases and malnutrition have been controlled, and thus the gap between rich and poor countries will widen further.”

REFUGEES

No Place to Call Home

There are now more than 10 million refugees in the world, according to the “World Refugee Survey—1985 in Review,” released this year by the U.S. Committee for Refugees.

The growing number of refugees worldwide comes at a time when many Western countries are adopting more restrictive criteria on who may be granted asylum. For some refugees, to stay in a foreign land for several years has become common. These include Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Ethiopians in the Sudan and Somalia, Salvadorians in Honduras, and Palestinians in various areas of the Middle East.

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