The new system of supervision of church activities with the direct involvement of the CCP and the United Front is being relentlessly imposed on Christian communities.
by Zhang Chunhua
Christians were the first religious community on which the new system of “strict governance of religion” was imposed, following the high-level national seminar on Sinicization of religion of June 26. The campaign is directly supervised by the United Front Work Department. “Strict governance of religion” means that the control on local communities, pastors, and sermons should be tighter than before. Bureaucrats of the five authorized religions, including the Christian Three-Self Church, should acknowledge that their efforts have not been completely successful in the past and that a “strict governance” including the direct supervision and control of the United Front and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) should be introduced.
Three-Self pastors are now trained nationwide in implementing “strict governance.” A national pilot training was held in Guangzhou on July 8–12, which is now followed in August by training events at the provincial level.
The Guangzhou event gathered one hundred Christian pastors identified as “leading pastors from significant churches nationwide.” They heard presentations by officials from the national United Front Work Department, and from Pastor Xu Xiaohong, head of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, alongside his deputies Pastor Shan Weixiang and Pastor Geng Weizhong.
Pastor Xu analyzed the new five-year plan for the Sinicization of Christianity in China (2023–2027) and its core aim of “removing the remaining influences of Western, colonial, and simplistic theological ideas.” He said that to achieve this aim “strict governance” now needs to be introduced.
Pastor Shang and Pastor Geng hold workshops on how the pastors could cooperate at the local level with CCP and United front officials. The United Front bureaucrats explained that they plan to work with pastors by enforcing the new Patriotic Education Law, in force since January 1, 2024. Guidelines have been published on how churches and religions should implement these laws. However, the United Front representatives admitted that not much has changed since in most Three-Self churches; hence the need for their direct and firm intervention.
Good news were presented too, trough case studies of congregations where “strict governance” is already implemented and results are immediately apparent.
