The Protestant House Church And Its Poverty Of Rights In China

Abstract

Based on observations of the causes and characteristics of poverty in both the United States and China, the author has previously analyzed the four kinds of human poverty - that of materials, capability, rights, and motivations. Tens of millions of members of the Protestant House Churches in China have either already experienced or will be undergoing these four stages of poverty. This paper chooses to focus on the characteristics of the Chinese house churches' poverty of rights from 1999 to 2009 while putting forward several suggestions for their selfpreservation and future development of these churches. During the transition of the Chinese religious society, the governmental policy seems to have evolved from the administrative control to legal management. The numerous political movements in China since 1949 have shown that the government should not and cannot really change one's spiritual essence. Keywords: Chinese religious society; Poverty of Rights; Protestant House Church