Abstract
This chapter discusses the development of a widespread Christian network. House churches, both rural and especially urban, have emerged as the most active in the dissemination and spread of Christianity, largely in reaction to government insistence on its own state-sponsored Christianity, which many worshippers reject. House churches are linked through a growing Christian network with local-level branches or segments (tuanqi 团契) as well as a transregional and international dimension (xitong系统). The relatively hidden and informal nature of the network enables Christianity and its house churches to expand more fully than has been the case with the formal, government-backed Three-Self Church in Linyi. The role of rapid urbanization in prompting intensive linkage between rural and urban churches, and their subsequent spread, is examined in detail through an analysis of nodes in an extensive network of communications and transactions. Missionary teaching on the theme of the universality of Christianity provides the spiritual and intellectual basis and justification for the transregional expansion.
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Notes
- 1.
A church leader from Houxuezhuang told me that ‘Sola fide’ means ‘as long as you believe in it, that is enough. It does not require action, therefore do whatever you please’.
- 2.
I was told that they have only a limited number of followers, start their gatherings between 5.00 and 6.00 every morning and then go to the fields for work. They are convinced that only what they believe is the truth, while other churches are impure.
- 3.
He means that he went to listen to the preaching given by preachers from Henan Fangcheng and Tanghe Fellowship.
- 4.
The Shepherd Seminary was established by Pastor Liu in Fei county, Linyi, in 2000. It is a branch seminary of Beijing Disciple Seminary. Pastor Liu studied theology at the Beijing Disciple Seminary from 1997 to 2000. After he returned to Linyi, with the help and assistance of the Beijing Disciple Seminary, he set up the branch seminary in Fei county. At the beginning, they did not have a fixed school location and teaching staff, though they had a fixed number of students. They held their teaching sessions at students’ homes in rotation. And the teachers were invited from all over the country with e help of the Beijing Disciple Seminary. The reason that the school had to move around instead of having classes in one fixed location was that the opening ceremony of the school was harassed and attacked by the local police, who detained teachers for seven days. The police also arrested the teachers invited to teach at the school. Therefore, the school became very cautious and moved around in an irregular pattern to avoid detection by the police. Nowadays, it is relatively safe and the school graduates 10–15 students each year, mainly in the Linyi area.
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Kang, J. (2016). The Christian Network. In: House Church Christianity in China. Global Diversities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30490-8_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30490-8_4
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