True Jesus Church in China - The "Tribulation Period"

The "Tribulation Period"

Shortly after the Communist Party of China came to power in 1949, one of their main aims was to free the country from external forces of influence. Initially, Christianity was tolerated but the authorities quickly changed their minds and a law was passed to ban Christians evangelising or holding services. In practice, however, very few Christian groups are prevented from doing either. Every Christian denomination had to go to the government approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement church for services which were said to be monitored.

The following is a list of significant dates:

• 1950 - The "three self" renewal doctrine for churches proposed by government.

• 1951 - The outbreak of the Korean War stirs up anti-American sentiment. All foreign missionaries were ordered to leave the country.

• 1954 - Three-Self Patriotic Movement churches commences. The following year it becomes the only legal church. All preachers must undergo government training. The leadership of the True Jesus Church in China was brought within the Three Self Organization and subjected to increasing criticism.

• 1956 - Many underground family services secretly held.

• 1957 - Numerous preachers including Isaac Wei were arrested and imprisoned for illegally holding services.

• 1958 - The True Jesus Church and all other Christian churches (save the Three-Self Patriotic Church) suffered from the government-imposed bans - The majority of the followers participated, along with other church denominations, in various "Christian unification services" to continue worship. (These operated under government surveillance). The church was accused of ‘illegal’ activities, including "causing the death of sick people through the refusal to allow medical treatment, and causing illness and death through baptism in freezing rivers". Such accusations must be set in the context of the decisive conservative movement during the Cultural Revolution in Chinese politics at the time and the substance behind some of the reports may be questionable.

• The only exception was True Jesus Church in Fujian which was still allowed to continue maintaining the original organization and hold services by themselves.

• 1959 - Only a few large churches left; the rest are closed down.

• 1966 - In June, the Cultural Revolution began, by August all churches were closed down.

The situation deteriorated into anarchy during the infamous Cultural Revolution initiated by chairman Mao Zedong where Christians were among those who were persecuted, martyred, attacked, and imprisoned by the communist authorities. Mao's young red guards forced people to hand over Bibles and they were burnt.

On the outward appearance, evangelising came to a standstill; it seemed that Christianity in China had been effectively crushed. However, services were still secretly held in homes or underground and bibles were handwritten. Individuals started memorizing entire Apostolic letters and books in order to duplicate them later on.

When the Christians' underground hideouts were discovered, they fled to other cities and provinces, carrying their Gospel with them and preaching to new faces.

It is said that many Christians climbed high up into the Wenzhou mountains where they could pray unhindered.

Nevertheless, in the 1970s in Fuqing during the Cultural Revolution, one elder recounts how he witnessed the growth of the church, people copying hymnals by hands, and exchanging the equivalent of fifty-five kilograms of potato chips for a Bible.