The Church in China in the 20th Century. Chen Zemin

9:36–37). The Nanjing Union Theological Seminary was reopened in 1981. Altogether 150 students have graduated over the past three years. And since 1984, eleven theological schools and colleges or training centers at regional or provincial levels have been set up. A Bible school of junior standard was opened in Shaanxi (陕西) Province last year. Heilongjiang is preparing to set up another. Last year a one-year training course was started in the Nanjing Seminary for the province of Henan, where there are over 830,000 Christians with less than 100 pastors and preachers. It is hoped that from the 50 trainees many may be ordained to take up ministerial responsibilities in that province. Over 700 regular students are being trained in these colleges. Many church councils at provincial or municipal levels are also running short-term courses of one to four months to train lay workers. A correspondence course is published bi-monthly and has over 33,000 subscribers. These and other measures are what we have been taking to meet this number-one need in building the church in China.

      Shortage of Bibles was also a problem, and caused concern to many Christians abroad. The shortage has been due to, not just the devastating “Cultural Revolution,” but also the growing needs of new converts and inquirers and an increasing interest in (and demand for) the Bible among non-Christian students and intellectuals. In the past five years three million copies of the Bible have been printed and distributed. The Amity Printing Press in Nanjing, thanks to the assistance of the United Bible Societies, gives priority to printing the Bible and other religious literature. We have compiled and published a new hymnal for national distribution. Ms. Cao Shengjie (曹圣洁), Associate General Secretary of the China Christian Council and Executive Secretary of the Committee on Church Music, who is here with us today, is the chief editor of this hymnal. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit many other things are being done in meeting the many needs of the growing and thriving church.

      Another feature of the Protestant Church in China I want to stress is that in response to the intercessory prayer of our Lord (Jn. 17), we are striving to realize the unity of the church, following St. Paul’s admonition: “with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all” (Eph, 4:2–6).

      We have outgrown former denominational structural patterns which often brought about splitting, competition, waste of personnel and financial resources and disharmony. Adhering to the principle of mutual respect regarding matters of faith (theology), spiritually (ways of devotion and forms of service and liturgy) and church polity, we are reorganizing our congregations into local churches under “Christian Councils” at municipal, provincial and national levels. Most of the meeting points are associated with churches, and the ministers and preachers stationed at the churches go around to serve and help the assembly points. We seek to preserve the valuable historical heritage and contributions of the various denominations but try to guard against the evils of denominationalism and sectarianism. The China Christian Council is not like National Councils of Churches in other countries, nor yet is it a united Church of Christ in China, but is something somewhere between the two. Your experiences and efforts in seeking a new pattern of “ecumenical instrument” that will embrace not just Protestant denominations, Anglicans, but also Catholics are something beyond our grasp and hopes yet. But we can learn from you in this aspect. We are waiting for the Holy Spirit to lead us a step forward toward our aim, which is to achieve real unity but with variety, not uniformity.