The Restoration and Development of theChinese Churches
In 1978， China started to adopt the policy of reform and openingup to the outside world. The Chinese Christian churches beganto rejuvenate in an all-round manner. In May 1980， the Nationalcommittee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the ProtestantChurch in China convened its third general conference. Theconference was held 20 years after the second conference washeld in 1960 and thus had profound meaning. The conferenceadopted the amendment of the committee"s guidelines and set upa new leadership. To better promote the routine affairs of the churches， the conference also established the China ChristianCouncil. The difference between the "National committee ofThree-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Church in China‘and "China Christian Council‘ were as follows： the former was apatriotic organization， and its main task was to unite all ChineseChristians in the spirit of patriotism and to operate the churchesaccording to the principle of self-rule， self-reliance and selfdevelopment.
The latter was an organization to handle theeveryday businesses of the churches and to promote thedevelopment of theological education， publication， etc. Theconference elected Bishop Ding Guangxun chairman of theNational committee of Three-Self Patriotic Movement of theProtestant Church in China and president of China ChristianCouncil. After the conference， the local branches of the twoorganizations were set up at provincial， municipal and townshiplevel successively.
From the late 1970s to the mid 1980s， the primary task ofthe Chinese churches was to support the government in its workto implement State policy on religion that had been disruptedduring the Cultural Revolution as soon as possible， and to reopenthe places and churches for religious activities. With the effortsof the two organizations at both national and local levels， the implementation of the policy made great progress. On 8th April1979， the Bai Nian Church in Ningbo of Zhejiang Province tookthe lead in restoring the preaching ceremony; on 26th August ofthe same year， Xin Jie Church in Xiamen of Fujian Provincereopened; and on 2nd September， Mu"en Church， which is locatedin central Shanghai， reopened with a preaching ceremony， whichmany Christians hailed as great news. Later on， churches indifferent places reopened one after another and an upsurge ofrestoring churches and building new ones began. Since the rapidincrease in the number of Christians as well as the lack of churches and Christian estates in many places， the twoorganizations actively communicated with the local governments，and built and expanded many churches and gathering venues tomeet the Christians‘ religious needs. In some areas inhabited byethnic minorities， churches with special ethnic features were built.
According to statistics from the two organizations， there weremore than 4，000 churches in the country in 1986， and more than7，000 in 1991. By 1996， there were 12，000 churches and morethan 25，000 gathering places. At present， there are nearly 50，000churches and family gathering places in the country， 70% of themin rural areas. These churches have basically met the Christians‘needs to participate in religious activities.
