The Establishment of National Committee of Three-self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Church in China
On the consolidated basis of the four-year three-self renovationmovement， in order to set up the policy and tasks for the work inthe future and deepen the movement， The committee of theChinese Christian Churches for the Anti-U.S. Pro-Korean Warand the Three-Self Renovation Movement held a national meetingfrom July 22nd to Aug. 6th， 1954. Altogether 232 representativesfrom all over the country attended from 62 Christian Churchesand groups.
During the meeting， Wu Yaozong made a work report aboutthe four-year three-self renovation movement. He summed upthe achievements in four aspects： 1） the Chinese ChristianChurches and groups had basically emerged from imperial controland had gradually developed into religious groups ruled by theChinese Christians themselves; 2） the movement to stamp outimperialist influence inside Christianity had been started; 3） all Christians in the country had improved their understanding ofanti-imperialism and patriotism， and had taken part in all kindsof patriotic movements as well as movements aimed at protectingworld peace; 4） the churches of the new China had taken a turnfor the better on the basis of patriotism and loyalty to Christianity.
In his speech， Wu also put forward the policies and tasks inthe future in seven aspects： 1） to appeal to all the Christians tosupport the constitutional law of the People"s Republic of Chinaand to work hard for the construction of a socialist society; 2） to appeal to all the Christians to protest against the imperialaggression and struggle for the long term world peace; 3） tocontinue patriotic education among all Christian clergy andbelievers so as to totally stamp out the influence of imperialism;4） to earnestly practice the spirit of self-rule and promote unityinside Christian churches; 5） to research the problem of selfrelianceand assist the churches to overcome this problem; 6） toresearch the work of self-development and spread pureevangelism under the principle of mutual respect; 7） to stick tothe spirit of patriotism and loyalty to Christianity， observe thelaw and purify the churches.
After a general discussion， the conference adopted A Letterto All Chinese Christians by the National Conference of ChineseChristianity， modifying "renovation‘ to "patriotic’ so as to eliminateunnecessary worries and misunderstandings. The new nationalinstitution was thus renamed the "National committee of Three-
Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Church in China‘。
The conference adopted the guidelines for the committee，elected 139 committee members and obtained widerepresentation. Wu Yaozong was elected chairman of thecommittee. Chen Jianzhen， Wu Yifang， Chen Conggui， JiangChangchuan， Cui Jianxiang， Ding Yuzhang were elected vice chairmen. To show sincere unity， the committee also reserved 11positions for possible additional members in future.
The conference also approved four resolutions： 1） With thecommon objective of anti-imperialism， patriotism and loyalty toChristianity， the unity of all Christians in all churches should beachieved and the three-self movement should be carried outcontinuously; in terms of the differences in beliefs， systems andreverence rituals among different Churches， the principle ofmutual respect should be adopted. 2） All the Chinese Christiansmust support the draft edition of the constitutional law of thePeople"s Republic of China， and work hard together with all theChinese people to build the socialist society; they should alsocherish the rights of freedom of religious belief prescribed in thedraft constitution， promise not to abuse this right to carry outactivities against the interests of the people， advocate patriotismand observation of the law and perform their due obligations asa citizen. 3） The committee should appeal to all the Christians inChina to actively take part in the movement to protect worldpeace and strongly oppose the U.S. imperialist occupation of theChinese territory of Taiwan. 4） The committee should encourageall Christians to continue their patriotic studies and to stamp outthe remaining influence of imperialism， discern right from wrong as well as virtue from evil， and purify the churches.
After four years of hard work in the three-self patrioticmovement， the new national Christian institution was establishedand independence achieved. The Chinese Christian churchesachieved a fundamental change both in organization and inideology and Christianity had become a religious cause operatedby the Chinese Christians themselves. Later， the local committeesfor the three-self patriotic movement were established in differentprovinces， municipalities and autonomous regions successively.
