08054
January 23, 2008

China’s Protestant church chooses younger leaders

by Francis Wong
Ecumenical News International

HONG KONG — China’s government-sanctioned Protestant churches have elected a set of younger leaders at the National Conference of the China Christian Council and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement that ended in Beijing on Jan. 13.While there has been some praise for the younger leadership, some church watchers have expressed concerns the new group might be susceptible to undue influence from government officials.

“The previous leaders came from 1950s, a period with a strong left-wing inclination. The new leaders will be free from such ideological constraints,” noted Ying Fok Tsang of the divinity school of the Hong Kong Chinese University. He also pointed out that the new leaders had a stronger academic background than their predecessors. Of the 16 new leaders, 12 had completed higher education.

However, Ying, an associate professor specializing in the Chinese Protestant church, said in an interview with Ecumenical News International on Jan. 15 he was concerned that while the new leaders were younger, they would have less influence in the public life of the church. As a result he thought they might be more easily influenced by State officials who deal with religion.

The CCC is an umbrella for mainland China’s Protestant churches, while the TSPM is a similar organization that preceded its foundation.

According to the Chinese Protestant Church Web site, run by the CCC/TSPM, the Rev. Gao Feng, from Shandong, who was born in 1962, was elected as the new council president of the CCC on Jan.12. Elder Fu Xianwei, from Shanghai, who was born in 1944, was elected chairperson of the National TSPM. One of the vice-presidents of the CCC is the Rev. Gao Ying who is on the main governing body of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches, its central committee.

The average age of the 16 new leaders (including the president, vice-presidents and general secretary of the CCC, and as well as the chairperson and vice-chairpersons of the TSPM) is now about 55, 10 years lower than that of the previous leadership. None of the new leaders is over 70, while only two in the new leadership are women.

“It’s a breakthrough. Compared with the previous one, the new leaders come from a new generation. They entered seminary in the 1980s, when China adopted its open door policy,” Ying noted.

Another church analyst, Tang Shiu-ming, said he welcomed the election of younger leaders in the Chinese church, although the move was done for practical reasons, he said, as the previous leaders were “quite old.”

Tang is the former director of the Christian Study Center on Chinese Religion and Culture and made many visits to Protestant churches in mainland China from the 1970s to the 1990s. He said that both the China Christian Council and the Three Self Patriotic Movement often gave outsiders the impression of first loyalty to the ruling Communist Party of China.

The new CCC president, the Rev. Gao Feng, has a Master of Theology degree and is currently studying for a doctorate. The new chairperson of the TSPM, Elder Fu Xianwei, is a graduate of the Nanjing Theological Seminary.

The Christian conference brought together about 300 delegates from all over mainland China. During the conference, Bishop K. H. Ting, a former Anglican bishop and the chairperson emeritus of the TSPM, issued a written address referred to how Chinese Christians could contribute to building a “harmonious society.” This term is seen as being used by China’s political leaders to refer to the need for economic growth to be accompanied by social cohesion.