书城外语ChristianityinChina
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第24章 ThreeWitnessesandTenTasks

From 15th May to 23rd May 1956, the National committee ofThree-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Church in Chinaheld the second conference in Beijing. Altogether 249representatives attended the conference. Wu Yaozong made areport entitled A Report on the Three-Self Patriotic Movementof the Protestant Church in China. The report summarized thedevelopment of the movement started in 1954, and raised theprinciples and tasks for the work in the future, which could bedescribed as "three witnesses‘ and "ten tasks’。 "Three witnesses‘pointed out the direction of development and required ChineseChristians to witness to God"s deeds and orders in the specifictimes in which they lived. The details were: to witness to therealization of self-rule, self-reliance and self-development of theChinese churches; to witness the participation of socialistconstruction; to witness the work to protect world peace. The"Ten Tasks‘ were the detailed work plans, including: 1) to furtherconsolidate and expand church unity; 2) each church should straighten out its own organization, personnel and economy soas to strengthen the leadership, set up a proper system andimprove its work; 3) to establish a committee of the Chinesechurches for Promotion of Self-Reliance, which should fullyconsider the necessity of church self-reliance, collect fundsthrough various channels, and try to resolve the self-relianceproblem of the churches by the end of 1957; 4) hold meetings toresearch self-development, and set up a standing institutionresponsible for the work in this regard; 5) to vigorously encouragedevelopment in the Christian publication sector, and assist theChristian publishing houses in improving their work and quality;6) to make full use of the books and materials in the Christianchurches and groups to conduct research on theology, history ofthe churches and their work; 7) to make full use of the possiblepotentials and draw out a plan to train more talented qualifiedpeople for the Chinese churches; 8) to appeal to all ChineseChristians to actively take part in the construction of the socialistmotherland together with the people in other circles; 9) to promoteinternational friendship and co-operation and support variousefforts of the Christians in different countries to achieve worldpeace; 10) greatly enhance the Christians‘ study of socialism andpromote their enthusiasm in constructing socialism.

The "three witnesses‘ and "ten tasks’ upheld the clear directionof development and the detailed contents of work for the threeselfpatriotic movement of the Chinese churches, and was thebase for the healthy development of the movement.

Unfortunately, from the late 1950s to the , due to thedisturbances of the leftist ideology, Chinese socialist constructionbecame derailed, and the tasks of the three-self patrioticmovement did not proceed smoothly. And the 10-year "CulturalRevolution‘ from 1966 to 1976 brought disaster to the entirepeople and greatly disrupting the work environment and the socialorder. Religions also suffered a lot. The Christian churches hadto be closed, the religious activities of Christians were banned,and the three-self patriotic movement had to stop work.