Editing True Jesus Church

{{Short description|Christian Church originating in China}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                     = True Jesus Church
| native_name              = 
| native_name_lang         = 
| abbreviation             = TJC
| image                    = True Jesus Church Olive Garden Training Centre.jpg
| caption                  = The True Jesus Church Olive Garden Training Centre, [[Port Dickson (town)|Port Dickson, Malaysia]]
| motto                    = 
| predecessor              = 
| established              = {{start date and age|1917||df=yes|p=y}}
| founder                  = [[Paul Wei]]<ref name=founder/>
| founding_location        = {{nowrap|[[Beijing]], [[China]]}}
| type                     = [[Christian Church]]
| status                   = 
| purpose                  = 
| headquarters             = Lakewood, California
| coords                   = 
| location                 = 
| area_served              = 60+ countries
| membership               = 1,500,000–3,000,000{{sfn|Anderson|2013|pp=133–134}}
| membership_year          = 2013<!-- Year to which membership number/data apply -->
| language                 = [[English language|English]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Malay language|Malay]], [[German language|German]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[French language|French]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Cambodian language|Cambodian]]<!-- or: | languages = --> <!--Any official language or languages used by the organization-->
| sec_gen                  = <!-- Name of the organization's Secretary General (if post exists) or gen_sec for General Secretary -->
| leader_title             = 
| leader_name              = 
| board_of_directors       = 
| key_people               = [[Paul Wei]], [[Ling-Sheng Zhang]], and [[Barnabas Zhang]] (early workers)
| main_organ               = International Assembly <!-- or: | publication = --> <!--Organization's principal body (assembly, committee, board, etc) or publication-->
| parent_organization      = <!-- or: | parent_organisation = -->
| subsidiaries             = 
| secessions               = 
| affiliations             = [[Nondenominational Christianity]] 
[[Oneness Pentecostal]]
| budget                   = 
| budget_year              = 
| staff                    = <!-- Numbers and/or types of staff -->
| staff_year               = <!-- Year to which staff numbers/data apply -->
| volunteers               = <!-- Numbers and/or types of volunteers -->
| volunteers_year          = <!-- Year to which volunteer numbers/data apply -->
| website                  = {{URL|tjc.org/}}
| remarks                  = 
| formerly                 = <!-- Any former names by which the organization known -->
| footnotes                = 
| bodystyle                = <!-- Applies CSS style to the infobox table as a whole -->
}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| t = 真耶穌教會
| s = 真耶稣教会
| p = Zhēn Yēsū Jiàohuì
}}
{{Christianity}}
The '''True Jesus Church''' ('''TJC''') is a [[Nondenominational Christianity|non-denominational Christian]] church and originated in [[Beijing]], [[China]], during the [[Pentecostal movement]] in the early twentieth century.<ref name=Melton2005>{{Cite book|first=J. Gordon|last=Melton|title=Encyclopedia of Protestantism|year=2005|pages=536–537|chapter=True Jesus Church|publisher=Infobase |isbn=978-0816069835|author-link=J. Gordon Melton}}</ref> The True Jesus Church is currently one of the largest Christian groups in [[China]] and [[Taiwan]],<ref>{{Cite book|author=Eric Patterson, Edmund Rybarczyk|title=The Future of Pentecostalism in the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VeJuAAAAQBAJ|year=2007|pages=130|publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0739155424}}</ref> as well as one of the largest [[Non-denominational church|independent churches]] in the world.<ref name="Anderson">{{Cite book|title=An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity|surname=Anderson |given=Allan|year=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1107033993}}. p.&nbsp;50.</ref>
The TJC holds a [[Oneness Pentecostal]] view of God and teaches a [[Sabbatarian]] doctrine.<ref>https://bitterwinter.org/true-jesus-church-a-chinese-pentecostal-movement/</ref>

==History==
The TJC emerged independently alongside other indigenous [[Christians|Christian]] groups of that period such as the [[Local churches (affiliation)|Little Flock]], the [[Jesus Family]] and [[Chinese Church in Christ|The Christian Tabernacle]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Peter Tze Ming Ng|title=Chinese Christianity: An Interplay between Global and Local Perspectives|year=2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ec3da4VAddIC|pages=205|publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9004225756}}</ref>

Established in 1917 by [[Paul Wei|Wei Embo]], a silk merchant who later adopted the Christian name Paul,<ref name=founder>{{Cite web|url=https://english.religion.info/2023/12/06/the-true-jesus-church-in-taiwan/|title=The True Jesus Church in Taiwan: Resilience, community, and the centrality of truth in a Chinese Christian movement|last=Eva|first=Joanna|date=December 6, 2023|website=[[Religioscope]]|access-date=January 27, 2025}}</ref> the church's early adherents in [[Hebei]] and [[Shandong]]<ref>{{cite book|first=Daniel H.|last=Bays|title=Christianity in China: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present|isbn=978-0804736510|year=1999|location=Stanford, CA|publisher=Stanford University Press|page=425}}</ref> were influenced by certain charismatic practices of the Apostolic Faith Mission in China,<ref>{{Cite book|author=Gerald H. Anderson |title=Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions|year=1999|pages=125|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |isbn=978-0802846808}}</ref> the [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]], and the [[Pentecostal Assemblies of the World]]—especially [[faith healing]], [[baptism of the Holy Spirit]], [[footwashing]], and [[Biblical Sabbath|Sabbath keeping]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

[[Paul Wei]] (Wei Embo, 1877–1919) was one of the early workers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lambert |first=Tony |date=2006 |title=China's Christian Millions |publisher=Oxford |pages=59–60}} quoted in [https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4b6fe17d0.pdf Refugee Review Tribunal]</ref> A former member of the Beijing branch of the [[London Missionary Society]] led by British missionary Samuel Evans Meech (1845–1937), Wei became a Pentecostal under the influence of Norwegian missionary to China, [[Bernt Berntsen]]. In 1917, he left Berntsen's group as the Holy Spirit had moved him. He died of tuberculosis on September 10, 1919, and the pause of his prophecy did not prevent the further growth of the TJC.<ref>[[Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye]], ''China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church'', New York: Oxford University Press, 2018, 86–118.</ref>

TJC's other early workers included [[Zhang Lingsheng]] (1863–?), who convinced Wei that the church should maintain a seventh-day Sabbath, and [[Barnabas Zhang]] (1882–1961), who eventually left the group in 1929 and established a rival movement in Hong Kong.<ref name=MeltonBaumann>{{cite encyclopedia|editor-first1=J. Gordon|editor-last1=Melton|editor-first2=Martin|editor-last2=Baumann|encyclopedia=Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia|publisher=[[ABC-Clio]]|isbn=978-1598842043|year=2010|page=2894|title=True Jesus Church|editor-link1=J. Gordon Melton}}</ref>

In [[mainland China]], Wei's son, Wei Wenxiang (魏文祥, Isaac Wei, 魏以撒, c. 1900–?), emerged as the worker of the TJC. He also presided over TJC's international expansion to various countries and the establishment of an effective bureaucracy.<ref>Inouye (2018), 157–185.</ref>

By 1949, the membership grew to around 120,000 in seven hundred churches.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Jason Kindopp, Carol Lee Hamrin|title=God and Caesar in China: Policy Implications of Church-state Tensions|year=2004|pages=109|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0815796466}}</ref> However, as a result of the Chinese Civil war and following regime change, True Jesus Church lost contact with the churches inside China. In 1951, Isaac Wei was arrested and “disappeared.” How and when he died is unknown. Li Zhengcheng (李正誠, ca. 1920–1990) replaced Isaac Wei as the main leader of the TJC and led it into joining the [[Three-Self Patriotic Movement]] as the government had requested. Persecution, however, came both before and during the [[Cultural Revolution]], and Li Zhengcheng spent more than twenty years in jail. Because of the developments in China, the TJC abroad proclaimed its autonomy, with headquarters first in Taiwan and from 1985 in the U.S. The Chinese branch was however reconstituted, as part of the Three-Self Church, after the Cultural Revolution and the reforms of [[Deng Xiaoping]] and still has a substantial following in China.<ref>Inouye (2018), 187–259.</ref>

Today there are TJC members in more than sixty countries across six continents. According to scholars, the possible total number of members is up to 3 million.{{sfn|Anderson|2013|pp=133–134}}

==Current organization==

===Mainland China===
In [[mainland China]], most of the True Jesus Church congregations are members of the [[Three-Self Patriotic Movement]] and usually meet on Saturdays in TSPM church buildings as separate sabbatarian sub-congregations.<ref name=Bays>{{cite book|first=Daniel H.|last=Bays|editor-first=Daniel L.|editor-last=Overmyer|title=Religion in China Today|chapter=Chinese Protestant Christianity Today|isbn=978-0521538237|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|year=2003|page=189}}</ref> However, since TJC practices such as healing and [[Speaking in tongues|tongues]] are "frowned upon"<ref name=Bays/> in the TSPM, other congregations are independent [[Chinese house churches]].<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Francis Khek Gee|editor-last=Lim|title=Christianity in Contemporary China Socio-cultural Perspectives|first=Kristin|last=Kupfer|chapter=Saints, Secrets, and Salvation|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|year=2013|page=186}}</ref>

===Taiwan and the United States===
Outside China, member churches of the TJC look to the central synod of the TJC in California.<ref>{{cite book|first=Murray A.|last=Rubinstein|title=The Protestant Community on Modern Taiwan|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|location=Armonk, NY|isbn=978-0873326582|year=1991|page=129}}</ref> In 1967, church leaders from outside mainland China met for the first World Delegates Conference in Taiwan, and an international headquarters was established in [[Taichung]], Taiwan, where a seminary was opened. The headquarters was subsequently moved to California in 1985.<ref name=MeltonBaumann />

=== United Kingdom ===
In the United Kingdom, True Jesus Church congregations were established as a result of immigration patterns in the 1960s and 1970s, coming largely from [[Malaysia]] and [[Hong Kong]], the latter especially from [[Ap Chau]]. This would result in a number of congregations being established throughout the country, particularly in [[Northern England]] and [[Scotland]], such as [[Leicester]], [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]], [[Sunderland, Tyne and Wear|Sunderland]], [[Elgin, Moray|Elgin]], [[Edinburgh]] and [[Cardiff]].<ref name="half century">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-IZBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA425|title=The Last Half Century of Chinese Overseas|author=Liu|first=Garland|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-962-209-446-8|editor-last=Sinn|editor-first=Elizabeth|location=Hong Kong|pages=425–446|chapter=The Role of the True Jesus Church in Communal Development of the Chinese People in Elgin, Scotland}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xcim-FFhvy4C&pg=PA64|title=Three Generations, Two Languages, One Family: Language Choice and Language Shift in a Chinese Community in Britain|publisher=Multilingual Matters|year=1994|isbn=978-1-85359-241-6|pages=64|author=Li Wei}}</ref>

==Beliefs==
The church practices [[baptism]] via full body immersion for both adults and infants, with [[holy communion]].<ref name=Melton2010>{{cite book|first1=J. Gordon|last1=Melton|first2=Martin|last2=Baumann|title=Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia|isbn=978-1598842043|year=2010|page=2894|chapter=True Jesus Church|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |author-link=J. Gordon Melton}}</ref> [[Speaking in tongues]] is practiced and usually occurs while in prayer.<ref name=Melton2005/>

The church believes that the sacraments must fulfill three requirements according to the [[Scripture]]. Firstly, they must have been performed by [[Jesus Christ]] himself as an example. Secondly, the sacraments must be directly related to one's [[salvation]], eternal life, entering the [[Heavenly Kingdom]], and having a part with Jesus. Lastly, they must be of the sacraments which Jesus Christ instructed the [[Twelve Disciples|disciples]] to perform as well. There are ten articles of faith<ref name=":0">{{cite web |author=International Assembly of the True Jesus Church |title=What We Believe |url=https://tjc.org/about/#what-we-believe |url-status=live |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date= |publisher=True Jesus Church}}</ref> that the True Jesus Church holds in order to worship God correctly. According to them, one must speak in tongues as evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit. The mode of baptism also determines salvation. The correct mode should be with the head facing down (in the manner of Jesus' death) and only in natural ("living") water.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book| last=Bays|first=Daniel H.|year=1995|chapter=Indigenous Protestant Churches in China, 1900–1937: A Pentecostal Case Study|pages=124–143|editor-last=Kaplan|editor-first=Steven|title=Indigenous Responses to Western Christianity|location=New York|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=978-0-8147-4649-3}}
*Inouye, Melissa Wei-Tsing (2018). ''China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church'', New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-092346-4}}.
*{{cite journal |author=Lian Xi |year=2008 |title=A Messianic Deliverance for Post-Dynastic China: The Launch of the True Jesus Church in the Early Twentieth Century |journal=Modern China |volume=34 |number=4 |pages=407–441 |doi=10.1177/0097700408318908 |s2cid=220736173 }}

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://www.tjc.org/ True Jesus Church}}

{{Chinese Independent Churches}}
{{Apostolic Church}}
{{Sabbath-Keeping Churches}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:True Jesus Church| ]]
[[Category:Christian denominations founded in China]]
[[Category:Christian new religious movements]]
[[Category:Christian organizations established in 1917]]
[[Category:1917 establishments in China]]
[[Category:Non-denominational Christianity]]
[[Category:Nontrinitarian denominations]]
[[Category:Oneness Pentecostal denominations]]
[[Category:Seventh-day denominations]]
[[Category:Restorationism (Christianity)]]