What is the House Church?

House churches are those that have not registered with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, China’s official Protestant church. Politically, they are not legally recognized and have no legal rights, such as the right to own property or to assemble. Therefore, they are always at risk of having their services shut down, their property confiscated, and their leaders prevented from traveling or speaking publicly. When political pressure is high, pastors, church leaders, and even laypeople may face arrest. Due to this environment, some house church leaders are outspoken in their opposition to the Chinese government, while others prioritize worshiping quietly according to their convictions.

Most house churches do not see their primary identity as political. They see themselves as part of a tradition of independence which began with the early 20th century revivals in the Chinese countryside. These revivals gave root to the first truly indigenous Chinese churches, free of foreign missionary control, with fundamentalist and charismatic roots. As early as the 1920’s these churches were persecuted and suffered periods of imprisonment, torture, and death. Yet they persevered in “walking the way of the cross,” finding strength in their union with Christ. Today’s house churches may be rural or urban; charismatic, fundamentalist, or Reformed; non-denominational, Baptist, or Presbyterian. But they generally share a common connection to the independence of the early 20th century Chinese churches and their devotion to Christ.

The Center for House Church Theology (CHCT) is interested in capturing the theology and teaching of the modern urban Chinese house church. With their long history of persecution and their inability to be recognized by the state, leaders of such house churches continue to draw directly on the legacy of their rural forerunners. But with access to Christian thought leaders outside of China and a wealth of translated texts, they have begun to internalize and interpret two thousand years of Christian theology, and in response, to develop their own theological distinctives marked by Chinese history and culture. Today’s house church has accumulated a wealth of experience that Christians from anywhere in the world have much to learn from. In particular, they have much to share regarding faithful Christian witness as a marginalized group speaking to the cultural foundations of an ancient global superpower.

A Brief History

For centuries, missionaries sought to bring the Christian gospel to China. However, Christianity never became a significant and influential religion in China until the early 20th century, when a series of local preachers such as Beijing pastor Wang Mingdao and itinerant preacher John Sung ignited revivals across China. During this time, Chinese pastors had already begun to divide between the fundamentalist and mainline Protestant theologies introduced by foreign missionaries. The movements that became the independent churches rejected both foreign leadership and liberal theology.

In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) gained control of mainland China and established the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Shortly thereafter, well-known Christian leader Wu Yaozong authored and published “The Christian Manifesto,” which publicly supported the CCP’s policy of overseeing the church for the sake of national unity and progress and called on all Protestant Christians to follow suit. In the 1950s, Wu successfully oversaw the signing of “The Christian Manifesto” by roughly half of the Protestant population across China. He also played a key role in creating and leading the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), a state-sanctioned governing body for Protestant Christianity in China.

However, China’s independent churches, championed by Wang Mingdao, strongly resisted the TSPM both for its allegiance to a political entity and its liberal theological leanings. As a result of their refusal to join with the TSPM, an entire generation of China’s independent pastors were severely persecuted and their churches forced to close. These resistant churches often began meeting in undisclosed locations, such as individual homes or fields, thus gaining the name “house church.” Despite the TSPM’s efforts to maintain a good relationship with the CCP, it too was eventually dismantled and persecuted during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) so that all Christian practice in China became persecuted and hidden. During the period from the 1950s-1970s, the strongest house church networks could be found in China’s countryside.

During the 1980s-2000s, China began to adopt free-market reforms and significantly eased its restrictions on religious groups. The TSPM was reinstated and its churches grew rapidly. Rural house churches flourished more openly and expanded regionally. At the same time, widespread evangelism took place among the educated in China’s rapidly growing modern cities, often by foreign students and teachers allowed to reenter China (particularly from North America and South Korea) and by overseas Chinese returning to China. A new wave of house churches was born, and by the 2010s, Protestant Christianity, both the TSPM and the house churches, had grown significantly in China to between 80-100 million adherents.  

Today, TSPM churches generally meet in large buildings in prominent urban centers. Until 2018, a few urban house churches also met in large rented public spaces, such as Zion Church in Beijing or Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu. But for the most part, urban house churches continue to meet in rented apartments, though not necessarily secretively. Most urban house churches cater to professionals, and some are active in establishing indigenous, unregistered seminaries for theological education. All house churches continue to maintain their independence from foreign oversight.

Since 2018, the CCP has once again begun to tighten its grip on the religious life of its citizens with the implementation of a series of new religious regulations. In the preceding decade, the church had demonstrated national-level influence when Christians organized to provide relief to the deadly 2008 Sichuan earthquake, a disaster which the government was slow to handle. Around this time, the government began to crack down on some high profile house churches and their pastors, most notably Jin Tianming of Shouwang Church in Beijing. In 2018, the CCP signaled a new period of interference with the house churches when it closed Zion Church in Beijing and Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, whose pastor, Wang Yi, was given the longest jail sentence to a pastor in several decades.

Today, Chinese house churches are an extremely diverse group. Their center of gravity has shifted to cities, reflecting China’s rapid urbanization. But even as the country has transformed into a modern global superpower, rural house churches still exist and play an important role. Their theological and ecclesiological commitments also vary, including charismatic, fundamentalist, and Reformed teaching in non-denominational, baptistic, and presbyterian denominations. House churches vary in their level of resistance to the CCP, though they are united in a refusal to submit to the TSPM. House churches remain independent of foreign denominational oversight, though many desire contact with the global church. And all seek after piety, the life of prayer, and belief in Christ’s call to “walk the way of the cross.”

The term “house church” can be controversial, and its political and theological identity debated. We have chosen it for our name for two reasons. First, CHCT has yet to come across a Chinese pastor of an unregistered church who does not call it a “house church” regardless of its size, location, and public presence. We seek to use the language they choose for themselves. Second, a growing number of house church writers believe there is a particular spiritual identity and legacy represented by the term “house church” which extends beyond a legal designation, and which has formed a traceable church tradition. We are persuaded by their arguments.