Three-Self Patriotic Movement

In summer of 1950, 40 prominent Chinese Christians, headed by the Reverend Wu Yaozong, signed a declaration on "Efforts to Be Made by Chinese Christians for the Building of a New China." The declaration called on both clergy and laity of Chinese Protestantism to govern their own church, support it with their own financial contributions and do their own evangelistic work. These principles later became known as the "Three Selfs" (self-administration, self-support and self-propagation). The declaration was welcomed by Chinese Christians. They signed the document, and soon the Three-Self Patriotic Movement developed vigorously throughout the country.

In July 1954, the National Conference of Chinese Christians was held in Beijing. This conference announced the establishment of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee, to be based in Shanghai, and elected Wu Yaozong as the committee's chairman.

According to statistics around 1949, the number of Chinese Protestants surpassed 700,000. At the end of the "cultural revolution," the government's policy of freedom of religious belief was reaffirmed. Churches have since been reopened and church activities resumed. By the end of 2006, there were 16 million Protestants (70% being rural residents), more than 18,000 clergy, more than 12,000 churches and 25,000 meeting places (70% newly built), as well as 18 seminaries. Since the 1980s, more than 30 million copies in 22 versions of the Bible have been available across the country.

In the 1950s, the Chinese Bible Society brought out a Chinese edition of the Bible. From 1980, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee made several printings of this Bible, which had been banned during the "cultural revolution." In 1981, the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary was reopened. In addition, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee sponsored a journal entitled Tian Feng (The Gospel), and also published a number of religious books.

In October 1980, the Third National Conference of Chinese Christians was held in Nanjing. In addition to the formation of the third Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee, this conference established the Chinese Christian Association, an organization in charge of promoting church work, with Ding Guangxun as its president.