The Chinese Church: A Post-denominational Reality?

Abstract

The Chinese church is officially ‘post-denominational’ a stance which has its roots in early twentieth century anti-Imperialist movements and the drive by Chinese Protestants towards an autonomous church. Post-denominationalism, with its positive rejection of the western divisions of the imported church is not the whole story of the contemporary Chinese church, however Unregistered churches of indeterminate affiliation probably form the majority of Christian worship places in contemporary China and ‘heretical’ sects, denounced by both the government and the official church, have sprung up with surprising regularity since religious regulation was relaxed in the early 1980s. As different theological and ideological affiliations have re-surfaced in the reform era, new networks of churches, both local and trans regional, have grown up alongside the state churches. This chapter traces some of the competing descriptions of ‘church’ in China and places them in the context of historical developments in the twentieth century. It surveys the ideology behind the post-denominational stance of the Chinese church and considers how recent developments are complicating the official discourse. The aim is to trace intellectual lineages and to assess the rhetoric of church structures against their reality rather than map the church numerically or spatially. The chapter begins by considering “Ecclesial Identities” in China, then examines sects and independent expressions of Christianity before turning to “Theological Identities,” based on Zhuo Xinping’s threefold division of Chinese, Sino-Christian, and Academic theologies in China. It discusses how and why the political and ecclesial investment in the term ‘post-denominationalism’ are at odds with the reality of church growth and divisions, but point to interesting new patterns of church belonging.