The Encounter Between Belief And The Times

Y.T.Wu was an extremely important church leader, who was also one of the most controversial figure in the history of modern Chinese Christianity in the 20th century. According to the current situation of the research results on Y.T.Wu at home and abroad, the discussion and research on Y.T.Wu by the academic scholars is rare, which does not match his status and influence in the development of the contemporary Chinese Christianity. As a result, we must pay enough attention on what Y.T.Wu said and did, because which is not only the basic requirement of recognizing and evaluating his historical merit, but also the significant part that we can understand and grasp the regular pattern and direction of the development of the modern Chinese Christianity.Wu’s ecclesiology is an important part of his Christian theology, which is the product of his Christian faith and social and cultural circumstance. The beginning of the 20th century, there was dramatic changes took place in Chinese society, the Chinese people’s desire to seek the way to save the nation was very urgent. The historical environment of national salvation became the social condition of Wu’s views of the church. At the same time, after more than one hundred years of the development of Christianity in china, western missionaries and Chinese native theologians have realized the significance of the indigenization of Christianity in China. The Anti-Christian Movement broken out in 1922, which brought a serious disaster to the Chinese Christian development, and meanwhile, provided an opportunity for the indigenization of Christianity. Chinese church leaders and followers began to try to establish the indigenization churches. In this situation, Y.T.Wu took active part in looking for the way of national salvation, on the other hand, he also exerted himself in eliminating the identity of "foreign religion".For the dual missions of saving the nation and defending the faith, standing on the theological position of the Social Gospel, Y.T.Wu connected the future of the church with the fate of China, embodied the national salvation in Christian faith, emphasized the church’s social mission and social responsibility as well as encouraged the church to play its role of the prophet to guide the development of the society. Based on this understanding, Y.T.Wu criticized the neglect of the society while lay particular stress on the individual. In the middle of 1930’s, based on the coming of the Kingdom of God on the earth, Y.T.Wu put forward his ideas on China’s future. He believed that the future of China, as well as the whole world, was to achieve Socialism. For this reason, the church should not limit its task on charity but to participating in social revolution, joining hands in communism to build an ideal "New China", while opposing the capitalism.The reformation of church is an important component of Wu’s church theory. On the dawn of PRC, Y.T.Wu believed reformation was the only way of survival for Christianity. In 1950, with the support of the central government, Wu initiated the Three-Self Innovative Christian Movement. The purpose of the movement was not only to promote the development of church and realize the goal of independence, but also to make Christianity survive in the new born power by cutting off the relationship between Christianity and Imperialism. The Three-Self Movement is not only a religious reform movement, but also a political anti-imperialist patriotic movement, so there is a big difference between the Three- Self Movement and the Movement of Indigenization. From the perspective of the process of the movement, the Three-Self Movement was not be separated from social situation, especially the political environment at that time and the whole process was not out of the government’s control. By this movement, Christianity acquires its opportunity of development in the newly-built country and generates new forms in China. In the long run, it lays the controversial situation of today’s Christianity.Wu’s consideration of Chinese church issues is the outcome of his liberal theology and the specific historical environment impact of the 20th century. In his thought of church, we can see Chinese society, especially the relationship between church and state has profound influence in his thought. Although in different historical period, his views of church varied and had different details, he always emphasized that church should shoulder the responsibility of the times and make great contribution to the society, and led church to adapt to the social situation, which undoubtedly is the main line of his ecclesiology. Anyway, Wu’s view of church is the reflective thinking about adequacy of Christianity and Chinese society.