Our Mission Statement

Who We Are

We are a group of Chinese and American thinkers and scholars devoted to learning from China’s house church tradition as it seeks to understand the city of God in our world’s growing urban spaces. We also have an incredible team of translators whose linguistic gifts open the doors between heaven’s global communities.

What We Believe

We are denominationally and institutionally independent with a commitment to the historic gospel of grace as expressed by the Apostles’ Creed and the Lausanne Covenant. The pastors we publish are preaching, writing, and theologizing in China’s urban centers. They come from the house church tradition and are committed to the historic gospel of grace. They are roughly one third non-denominational, one third baptist, and one third presbyterian.

Why Start a Center?

If you searched online today for “Chinese house church,” you would find many worthy articles, blogs, and books by knowledgable journalists, scholars, and China-watchers that could help explain what is taking place in China’s churches sociologically and politically. But there are very few places seeking to highlight and platform what is taking place within the Chinese house church theologically. Unless you read Chinese, it is difficult to access the gospel voice of the urban Chinese house church. We seek to change that.

CHCT seeks to amplify the voice of the house church through careful study and selection of the best theological works being produced by house church pastors and theologians in mainland China. By bringing together various scholars and experts on house church Christianity for collaboration, we hope to provide a corpus of content. As the Chinese house church not only grows numerically, but also in theological reflection, we identify this content as relevant for the Chinese diaspora; other marginalized and persecuted churches seeking wisdom from non-Western sources; churches in need of spiritual revitalization in a fractured secular and digital age; and the global church generally.

In addition to recruiting fellows among the rising generation of house church scholars, overseas workers pursuing advanced degrees on topics regarding house church Christianity, and those involved with publishing within mainland China, CHCT also solicits responses from well-known theologians and leaders outside of China, hoping to create a two-way dialogue with one of the world’s largest churches which has been isolated for most of its history. To find out how you might become involved with CHCT as a fellow or by reviewing or responding to an essay, please email info@housechurchtheology.com.

What Can the West Learn From the Urban Chinese House Church?

Chinese pastors plant churches and serve their cities amid growing persecution, with limited political rights and restricted public platforms. If the church in the West fears increased social marginalization, we should learn from churches that have been marginalized, remained faithful, and grown. 

Furthermore, the estimated percentage of professing Christians in China has grown sixtyfold since 1970. If we want revival in the West, we should look to where the church is experiencing revival.

Some of the distinctive teachings of the house church that we would like to publish are on the subjects of suffering, union with Christ, eschatology, public theology, and contextual Chinese preaching and evangelism.

How Can I Get Involved?

You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for news, books, and free downloads by Chinese house church pastors.