Chinese Churches on the Way Towards Unity

By  Gu Mengfei

 

Since the Chinese Christians … long for more and look for yet greater things … we hope to see in the near future a united Christian Church without any denominational distinctions.¹

These remarks formed part of an address by the Rev. Dr C.Y. Cheng, representative from the churches in China, in his speech "A United Christian Church without Denominational Distinctions", delivered at the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference in 1910.

About 100 years have passed, and building up a united Chinese church is still a vision of Chinese Christians. We are thankful to God that, guided by the Holy Spirit, we have moved along a significant path towards unity: Chinese Christians enjoy united worship, and the churches have entered the post-denominational era.

Historical review: denominationalism among the Chinese churches

In the early 19th century, Protestantism came to China. On the one hand, Chinese Christians appreciate that foreign missionaries introduced the gospel to China in spite of many difficulties; on the other hand, it is a pity that they brought numbers of denominations which initiated differences between churches in China based on western historical, social, cultural, political and economic backgrounds and contexts. From 1807 when the first Protestant missionary arrived in mainland China until 1922, "there are working in China over 130 different (foreign mission) boards and societies",² and most of these had denominational affiliations in the land of their origin and tended to reproduce denominational markings in China. This situation lasted into the early 1950s when foreign missionaries withdrew from mainland China.

Denominations with western outlooks and thought patterns were copied on the mission field; even worse, in addition to some Chinese indigenous churches, denominational rivalries and mutual attacks became a hallmark of the churches. For instance, in the most simple thing, how to translate the word "God" into Chinese, there were two translations, one using "Shen" while the other used "Shangdi" to meet different inclinations among Christians. Even in the same denomination, mission agencies from different countries planted churches in China using different titles in the Chinese translation. Educated Chinese people regarded this as "the Expo of global Christianity", and were confused by the situation. They questioned Christians: "Do you believe in one God?" or "Do you read the same Bible?"

The Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910 convinced many Christians that "the day had passed when the Church could hope for the successful accomplishment of its missionary task by the independent activities". In 1913, Dr. John R. Mott paid a visit to China, and conferences held under his leadership strengthened the belief of both foreign missionaries and Chinese clergy that "some more definite provision for united planning and effective cooperation was essential." ³

In order to reply to Chinese questioning and under the encouragement of the spirit of the ecumenical movement as advocated by the Edinburgh Conference, in the 1910s and '20s some wise Chinese church leaders and leading Christians began to review the denominational issue. They, of course, fully understood that each denomination had a specific historical significance real and vital to the western churches and missionaries. However, over the years they had discovered and realized the disadvantages of denominationalism, and concluded that denominations were neither essential nor helpful to the Chinese churches.

Prof. T. C. Chao, one of the first WCC presidents elected in 1948 at the founding Amsterdam assembly, pointed out that "the (Chinese) Church is not weak because she is still foreign and divided … but because the church which expresses Christianity is so variously and rigidly organized that it does not fit in with the Chinese genius", and as a result "its (Christian) true life and spirit can be liberated to touch Chinese hearts and minds with very great difficulty."⁴ Another well-known leading Christian, Timothy T. Lew, said Chinese churches "should try our best to be in unity, and we won't let the schism caused by the man-made denominational difference destroy the fellowship of love granted by God."

The National Christian Conference in 1922 in Shanghai, which was the first really representative gathering of Protestant Chinese Christians in China, declared that Chinese churches' bright future should be in "unity, Chinese/indigenous and holiness". Therefore, the conference expressed "our regret that we are divided by the denominationalism which comes from the west", and called upon missionaries and representatives of the churches in the west "through self-sacrificial devotion to our Lord, to remove all the obstacles in order that Christ's prayer for unity may be fulfilled in China".⁵ The conference also called on Chinese Christians to determine the church's order and system, as well as worship rituals through our own careful research and experimentation.

Thus, to overcome denominational hedges and pursue church unity has been Chinese Christians' sincere prayer and eager desire. During the Independent Movement and Indigenization Movement in the early 20th century, unity was a hot topic of discussion and practical efforts were made to pursue church unity. However, due to the strong denominational influence by the foreign missions and missionaries, as well as the unsteady social and political situation in China during the war against Japan and the civil war, it was impossible to fulfill the purpose. By 1949, the church situation was still spoken of in these words: "they face their difficult task and find little enthusiasm in the denominational differences which make effective cooperation difficult, and in some cases impossible. Such a situation as has developed in China."⁶

United worship was accomplished in 1958

In 1950, Chinese Christians initiated the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, and through the principles of self-governance, self-support and self-propagation of the gospel, we set out on an independent road to build Chinese churches, and turned away from the old image of Christianity as a "foreign religion". The Three-Self Patriotic Movement was an inter-denominational movement, and the majority of Chinese Christians welcomed and threw themselves into it. During the process of promoting the Three-Self principle, Chinese Christians who belonged to different denominations found they had much more consensus on faith than differences. And the consensus was essential, while the differences were not. Were we to continue to preach a divided Christ? Were we to follow the old way of the denominational churches any longer? Church leaders and leading Christians asked themselves, and they came to feel that the time had come to break the walls of denominations. It resulted in the beginning of united worship in 1958.

United worship came about as a result of believers from different denominational backgrounds enjoying service and worship together in one church; this was convenient for transportation and offered commonly supported facilities; such believers formed new congregations. Although a new congregation still kept some traditions such as the different forms of baptism, ritual, etc., it gave up denominational titles and structures, and did not emphasize denominational church order or doctrine, and it never discriminated, nor did churches attack each other. United worship was initiated from the very grassroots churches in Ningbo and Wenzhou, areas in Zhejiang province, in the spring of 1958, and soon united worship was welcomed by many other churches throughout China. Since then, institutional denominational structures and systems have waned step by step nationally, regionally, provincially and locally.

The example of the plan and the guidelines for united worship of the churches in Taiyuan City, capital of Shanxi province, offers us a clear picture and better understanding of what it was:

All former individual denominational church committees, governing committees, boards and administrative organs shall cease operations, and the Three-Self Patriotic Committee takes responsibility of the administration of the church affairs.

Worship is to be united, no church shall stress its own denominational ritual. To organize hymnal publication committee to undertake reform of hymn content and edit common hymns.

Negative and pessimistic doctrines such as the Last Days and the vanity of the world shall be no longer emphasized. Efforts shall be encouraged and made to interpret and carry out the principle of the combination of faith and practice, and to inspire in believers a consciousness of labour-loving, overcoming nature, a full recognition of the division between ourselves and our enemies and of the distinction between right and wrong.

Believer and non-believer shall not be a problem in marriage.

Re-evaluation and examination of all books and publications of the churches in interpreting the Scripture shall be undertaken. Those containing poisonous elements shall be rejected without exception. Teachings of promoting co-operation and which accord with socialism should be encouraged.

For those small, individual churches or church organizations, it also stipulated that:

The Little Flock shall get rid of its outdated regulation against women preaching. The procedure that the believers are required to be interviewed before the breaking of the bread shall be abolished, and so on.

"The Salvation Army shall no longer stress its military regulations and systems.

To advise believers of the Seventh Day Adventists to conduct the beneficial good works and economic production on the Sabbath, and ask its clergy not to be supported by the tithe system, and so on.

YMCA secretaries shall temper themselves by participating in productive labour, or change jobs so as to take part in socialist construction effectively.⁷

Such a plan was fairly typical and not unusual in 1958.

I would offer the following summary analysis of reasons why Chinese Christians could achieve united worship. Biblically, Chinese Christians follow the biblical teaching on unity based in John 17 and Ephesians 4, and we recognize that unity is first and foremost God's gift through the work of the Holy Spirit, and the prayer of Jesus Christ. His prayer "so that they may be in one, as we are one" (John 17:11), and the teaching, "there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God"(Eph. 4:4-5) are rooted deeply in Chinese Christians' mind and heart, so that we devote ourselves to "bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."(Eph 4:3).

Culturally, peace, reconciliation and unity are the main characteristics of traditional Chinese culture. In its known five-thousand-years of civilization, China is a country that loves unity both in national and family life. Confucianism stresses that "peace is precious," and "the thing to be prized in applying the proprieties is to achieve the harmony among people." Chinese traditional philosophy holds the view that difference implies unity and harmony, "seek harmony, not uniformity, in human relationships". In the meantime, Christianity, by its nature, advocates peace and reconciliation. Therefore, the peaceful cultural background of China offers a ground for united worship.

Theologically, Chinese Christians understand that denominations have their own historical reasons for existence and evolution in the west. However, such factors do not have their basis in China. Most Chinese Christians came to church not because they had special knowledge or understanding of the denomination, but they followed their family members, relatives and friends, or chose the congregation which was convenient for transportation. In addition, the history of Protestantism in China was quite short so the specific sense of denominations had not had time to grow so strong in the minds of Chinese Christians.

As mentioned above, Chinese church leaders and other Christians had been questioning denominationalism since the early 1900s. They acknowledged that denominationalism made Chinese churches suffer division from the beginning, weakened churches' ability to bear effective witness in the society as a whole and directly restricted churches' healthy development. They called on churches to pursue unity instead of just paying attention to individual interests and to growth. Their constructive discussion, suggestions and practical efforts on unity laid a massive cornerstone for the success of united worship and achieved a partial response to their call and desire.

Contextually, united worship was one of the fruits of the Three-Self Movement. The Three-Self Movement helped Chinese churches to cast off foreign control, and diluted the strong denominational influence as well. It made it possible for Chinese churches to determine their own way ahead and commit themselves to significant accomplishments.

In 1954, only three years after the initiation of the movement, the number of Christians who had signed the "Three-Self Declaration", titled "The Way in Which Chinese Christianity Works for New China's Construction" reached 417,389, about two-thirds of the total number of Christians in the country.⁸ During the early stage of the movement, many new contacts and forms of cooperation were established between the denominational churches, and mutual understanding was promoted.

Furthermore, twelve theological seminaries in East China formerly run by different denominations were incorporated as Jinling Union Theological Seminary in 1952 at Nanjing, and another seven theological seminaries in North China were incorporated as Yanjing Union Theological Seminary in 1953 at Beijing. In their daily teaching and studying, the principle of "mutual respect on faith" was fostered as a theme and developed on the basis of "Love the Country and Love the Church". Incorporation of theological seminaries provided specific experience of unity for the churches. The principle of "mutual respect on faith" functioned in the process of the united worship afterwards. It also benefits comity and the unity of the Chinese churches today.

In 1958, the Chinese government launched the "Da Yue Jin" Movement (the Great Leap Forward) with the objective of catching up with the United States of America and the United Kingdom on GDP in a short period. Chinese people including Christians were called upon and encouraged to participate in all kinds of production work, even to offer volunteer work in their spare time. Therefore, many believers were too busily engaged in work to attend the church activities, which forced the churches that were scattered in personnel and materials to think about reorganizing and sharing their resources. Thus, united worship spread. This was a very important step: God used the external environment to lead Chinese churches towards unity.

The achievement of united worship in 1958 was unprecedented. Chinese churches were no longer divided by denominational walls, and Christians started to experience "how good and beautiful it is for brothers and sisters to dwell in harmony". The Rev. Bob White, a British expert on the Chinese church concluded in a book this way:

It must, however, be remembered that an ending of denominational difference was an aspiration of many educated Chinese Protestants in the past, and it is likely that in many places the process was carried through without major dissension.⁹

On the other hand, united worship was only the first step, and it did not take place following a long-term dialogue between the churches and was certainly not perfect. But more importantly Chinese churches started to see our prayers and desires for unity becoming true.

China Christian Council: Chinese churches enter the post-denominational era

Unfortunately, the ten-year Cultural Revolution stopped Chinese Christians' efforts and experiments at building the church in unity. All churches were closed, congregations were clamped down on. Christians experienced the "valley of the shadow of death" during those days of chaos.

In April, 1979, the Bainian Church in Ningbo became the first church to re-open after the Cultural Revolution. Afterward, churches began to re-open nationally. After suffering and covering up for ten years, Christians' passion broke out. Hundreds of thousands of Christians swarmed into churches to praise God, to worship, to pray, to listen to the pastor's sermon, to sing, to have fellowship with brothers and sisters. They did not care about the denomination of the churches they belonged to. In the early 1980s, Christians in Shanghai "go to worship at church regardless of different denominations, theological views, liturgies of various traditions, all enjoy one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God".¹⁰ This represented a prevalent, and true, account of the situation of churches in China at that time. And churches adopted the worship style that could be accepted by Christians as much as possible. This not only continued, but also enhanced the practice of united worship.

With the rapid increase of Christians and the flourishing of the churches, the China Christian Council was established in 1980 in order to help to meet the increasing need of the churches. CCC is an ecclesial organization which serves as the national organization for church ministries, offering its services to the churches in performance of their ministry. One of CCC's significant purposes is to "uphold united worship; advocate mutual respect in matters of faith and worship, and the spirit of ‘bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace' in relationships among churches."¹¹　

In addition, CCC has responsibility for promoting theological education and the training of personnel; promoting publication of the Bible, hymnals and other Christian books and periodicals; introducing and facilitating the exchange of experience in the areas of evangelism, pastoral ministry and management among local churches; formulating rules and regulations for the church and overseeing their application in the local church and promoting formulation of local rules and regulations by provincial Christian Councils in order to raise the standard of management in the churches; initiating friendly relationships with the churches overseas, and so on.

Together with the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China (TSPM), the CCC takes responsibility for the whole programme of the ministry of Chinese Protestantism. Although the CCC is not a church yet, it functions in part as a united church in practice. Since the establishment of the CCC institutional denominations have not existed officially in China. As differences in theological or liturgical background have been dealt with according to the principle of mutual respect, Chinese churches have entered into a post-denominational era.

In 1982, Bishop Cheng Chieh-yeh, the first general secretary of the CCC, made an analysis of the churches in China. He pointed out that foreign denominational influence on Chinese churches had been weakened and even disappeared: all churches got rid of their institutional structures, and they stopped functioning any longer to focus on the building up of an independent Chinese church. Furthermore, going through the same experience since 1949 provided opportunity for more contacts, exchanges and close communications between churches and leading Christians. They realized that they had a common faith which was treasured by all, and compared to the whole common belief and faith, differences were minor and not fundamental. Under the motto "seek common points while reserving difference" and the principle of mutual respect, Chinese churches were able to work together on building the body of Jesus Christ.

Then, he concluded:

• Denominational titles have been abolished, and should not return to their own flag or act on their own any more;

• The former denominational structures at national, regional and local levels actually were not functional any more. Therefore, institutional denominations would not exist in China any longer;

• Each former denominational church has no links, and should not have communications with churches overseas on their own;

• Churches should not print, publish, copy and distribute publications that propagandize for a specific denomination;

• All churches continue to participate actively in the Three-Self Movement;

• Churches should cooperate with each other on ministry through seeking common grounds and the principle of mutual respect; they should never criticize and attack each other on differences of faith, liturgy and tradition;

• All churches agree to build the Chinese church independently, and Christians are called to support "loving the country and loving the church" as well as "glorifying God and benefiting the people".¹²

These conclusions and suggestions made by Bishop Cheng were accepted and widely supported by the senior church leaders. To this day, they are the basic view and approach of the post-denominational churches in China.

In order to consolidate united worship and promote the progress of post-denominational Christianity, CCC/TSPM mapped out and adopted several series of documents in the 1980s and 1990s.

In March, 1983, "The New Hymnal" was edited, finished and published. It was the first hymnal in Chinese church history which was suitable for the whole country. The book strove to uphold the principle of comprehensiveness on the basis of the fundamental oneness of faith. Among the collection of 400 hymns, 292 are widely known in the ecumenical churches and had been used in the past in various Chinese churches, 102 were composed - either the lyrics or melodies - by Chinese Christians and the other six hymns were newly translated. The content of the book expressed the CCC/TSPM concept that "we feel that eliminating sectarian prejudices does not imply that we must get rid of the varied treasures of the different traditions, but rather that we should gather them all into the abundance of our one Lord Jesus Christ."¹³ An additional revised hymnal is nearing completion and will be published in the near future.

Another important document is the catechism, or the "100 Questions and Answers on the Christian Faith", that was edited and published in July 1983. The editing committee "followed the policy of showing mutual respect for the opinions of others, and seeking common ground while maintaining our difference, without forcibly demanding uniformity where various traditions still hold differing views", because "we are aware that the fundamental source of our faith is grounded in God's revelation, and not in edicts pronounced by any human being."¹⁴

In its sixth chapter, "Church", it indicates that one of the characteristics of the church is "catholicity" which means "all those throughout the world who belong to Christ Jesus belong to the one Church, and should not have divisions or indulge in mutual discrimination"; meanwhile, the church "has its own special gifts and responsibilities, and each has its own characteristic features." To the different traditions on faith and practice, it advocates "on the presupposition that there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God, where traditions are not uniform, there should be mutual respect, with uniformity neither demanded nor imposed on others" following the biblical teaching "accept one another, as Christ accepted us."¹⁵

This catechism has been used widely in enquirers' classes and is used as basic material to enable new Christians to learn the basic truths that can help a new generation of Christian to strengthen the idea of unity.

Because the previous denominational church regulations and orders were not helpful in the post-denominational situation, the Chinese Christian Church Order was considered and drafted beginning in the 1980s. In 1992, the trial version of Chinese Christian Church Order was promulgated, and in 1997, the revised version was brought officially into effect.

The basic content of the order is in accordance with the teachings of the Bible, the inheritance of church tradition and the life of the church ecumenical, and it is integrated with the actual context of the churches in China today. It has its own Chinese characteristics, and affirms that "in matters of faith, tradition and liturgy there should be mutual respect and mutual acceptance, not attacks on one another and forced unification. At the same time, efforts should be made to maintain a heart of unity according to the leading of the Holy Spirit"; however, churches "may not independently formulate a church order under a denominational name."¹⁶

In January 2008, the latest revised Church Order was approved by the joint standing committee of the CCC/TSPM. Compared to the previous one, the articles titled "Chinese Church should be built in love, and be unity in Jesus Christ", "the Chinese Church insists on united worship … on the basis of Three-Self principle", "the Chinese Church should seek the common ground and where differences remain, respect one another, accept one another, and not attack and divide one another on faith, traditions and rituals" were added and stated explicitly.

These documents were significant and formulated in accordance with the need of the Chinese churches. After achieving united worship, the re-opening of church buildings and the disappearance of denominationalism, churches need new systematic theology and guidelines that sustain united worship and develop the post-denominational church on the way to unity. These documents played a positive role in fulfilling the purpose, they manifest the spirit of unity but not uniformity, and they seek to preserve diversity as well.

Christians of older generations may still feel connected with the heritage of particular denominations, but in general new Christians have no idea what a denomination is. However, denominational traditions are still practised because they are the spiritual wealth that God bequeaths to us. For example, baptism with forms either of sprinkling or immersion is used depending on local churches' tradition or the request of the candidate. The same is true of holy communion, or the breaking of bread.

The 20th century, especially the fifty years after 1949, has prepared the ground or the mind and heart of Chinese Christians to stride towards church unity in the post-denominational era. As Bishop K.H. Ting said, "we Chinese Christians have chosen the road of post-denominational unity, not because we are better than anyone else, but because we live in our particular historical situation", and all in all, "we can only say that this has been a result of the leading of the Holy Spirit, who has allowed us to bathe in the ocean of God's grace."¹⁷

Chinese churches keep walking on the way of unity

The Nicene Creed states that the church is "one, holy, catholic and apostolic": that is confessed by Christians all over the world. The oneness/unity of the church of Jesus Christ is affirmed, and the churches ecumenical should manifest this unity, to make it visible and effective. This God-given unity becomes visible,

in the koinonia within and between Christian communities, in their confession of the same faith, in spiritual and sacramental fellowship, in mutual love, in the common service of the multiple gifts of the Spirit given to all, in the building up of each community and of their communion with each other through a common apostolic ministry; … it becomes effective … in the world through common service and witness in continuing the mission of Christ.¹⁸

The WCC assembly in New Delhi in 1961 pointed out the clear concepts of the goal of visible unity:

we believe that the unity … is being made visible as all in each place who are baptized into Jesus Christ and confess him as Lord and Saviour are brought by the Holy Spirit into one fully committed fellowship, holding the one apostolic faith, preaching the one gospel, breaking the one bread, joining in common prayer, and having a corporate life reaching out in witness and service to all, and who at the same time are united with the whole Christian fellowship in all places and all ages in such wise that ministry and members are accepted by all, and that all can act and speak together as occasion requires for the tasks to which God calls his people.¹⁹

And its fifth assembly in Nairobi in 1975 reaffirmed that "The one church is to be envisioned as a conciliar fellowship of local churches which are themselves truly united."

A similar declaration was also proclaimed at Canberra assembly in 1991:

The unity of the church given and expressed in the common confession of the apostolic faith; a common sacramental life entered by the one baptism and celebrated together in one Eucharistic fellowship; a common life in which members and ministries are mutually recognized and reconciled, and a common mission witnessing to the gospel of God's grace to all people and serving the whole of creation.²⁰

Although the Chinese church has achieved some of these principles, we are still on the way towards unity, and the way ahead of us is long.

Institutional denominational church organs and systems do not exist any longer in our post-denominational era. This does not mean that the differences between various traditions, theological views and rituals totally disappear. United worship and the post-denominational era are not simple matters of organizational unification; on the contrary, we never deny or obliterate the diversity of expression of our faith. In the meantime, post-denominationalism lacks its own historical experience to follow, nor can it yet claim to be the successful ready-made model that learners may easily reference, either at home or abroad. It is quite a new thing, and not perfect. Chinese churches have not yet developed a well-rounded theology combining ecumenical principles and particular Chinese churches' experience, and it cannot be guaranteed to sustain and greatly enrich the post-denominational era. It is a work in progress.

During the two decades following their re-opening, Chinese churches focused on developing "hardware" ministries, such as taking back and constructing new church buildings; printing Bibles and setting up a distribution network; resuming and running new theological seminaries, Bible schools and lay training classes for theological education; re-establishing the fellowship of churches ecumenical, and so forth. Today, Chinese Christian leaders realize and agree that it is time to pay more attention to promoting "software" ministry such as developing Chinese Christian theology in order to "build up the church well", because we are facing not only opportunities for development, but also serious challenges.

Advocated by Bishop K.H. Ting, the ministry of Reconstruction of Theological Thinking was initiated in 1998. It encourages preachers and theological teachers to reflect upon and sum up the spiritual experience in Chinese churches and explore the way of the development of Chinese churches. Ecclesiology is, of course, one of the main themes and has recently been discussed more and more.

In general, the discussion results in saying that the Chinese church should root itself in the general interpretations on church in the holy scripture, and should not go astray from church history and tradition; should support the ecumenical movement that emphasizes unity of the churches, respecting the diversities and differences, and strengthening church unity in term of our own experience; should pay attention to the need to further develop the ecclesiology of Chinese churches in the Chinese context.

This requires Chinese churches not only to be satisfied with mutual respect, but to establish the formation of the Christian Church of China as totally united, or at least, to strengthen the ecclesiology of churches in China so that we can build the church well on the basis of theology, structure and church order. Such a church could be in accordance with ecumenical principles of unity as well as reflecting Chinese churches' particular experience, realizing a Chinese contextualization.

This is our prayer, vision and responsibility as Chinese Christians.

With China becoming more open to the world, with more and more contacts between the churches in China and abroad, we are facing a serious challenge in attempts to return China to the old domination by foreign churches who wish to revive their own denominations through Chinese indigenous churches at home.

Chinese churches adopt the Three-Self' principle, but it does not mean "Self-isolation". Since the churches re-opened in 1979, fellowship and friendship between the churches in China and worldwide have been widely established and developed. On the one hand, we appreciate very much that more and more churches overseas respect our independence and assist us sincerely in building up our churches on the basis of equality, publicity and legality. On the other hand, we always appeal to foreign churches and missionaries to "not go so far as to attempt to revive denominational feelings and loyalties, thus inviting misunderstanding and unpleasantness."²¹

It is a common agreement of almost all Chinese Christians that Chinese churches can only go forwards and not backwards on the way to unity: "the ideas pushing Chinese churches back to the former denominationalism are not in accordance with biblical teachings, nor in the same direction as the ecumenical movement. We would never repeat the denominational schism."²²

The Chinese church needs the ecumenical movement, and the ecumenical movement needs the Chinese church as well: "without the involvement of the Chinese church in the ecumenical movement and the WCC in particular, we would be a much poorer fellowship."²³ With regard to church unity, we Chinese Christians believe that we should absorb all good experiences, ideas and spiritual resources of the churches ecumenical, and we also could offer our own unique contribution to richen the ecumenical movement. The Rev. Dr Sam Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, visited China in 2006; at that time, he valued highly the post-denominational church through his own witness:

when we think about Chinese Christians, we think about the future, because more and more Christians are realizing that if we are to live the prayer of Jesus Christ that all should be one, then we need to be post-denominational in character … as a post-denominational church, you are in a class of your own, and we want to learn more from you.²⁴

Several years ago, Bishop K.H. Ting, "a living ecumenical ancestor" and "patriarch of post-denominationalism"²⁵ stated that "It will be a new Chinese Christianity rising from the oriental horizon … such a Christianity will bring the churches ecumenical an important message."²⁶

I understand that this message must include Chinese Christians' prayers, efforts, achievements and contributions to church unity. This kind of expectation was also made strongly at the National Christian Conference in 1922: "we confidently hope that the Church of China thus united will be able to serve as an impetus to the speedy healing of the broken body of Christ in the West."²⁷

It is a new way for Chinese churches, and the way is long, but we will never stop making progress on the way. "But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13b-14)