Wang Mingdao
Pastor of the independent Christian Tabernacle in Beijing who refused to join the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. In the pamphlet We, Because of Faith (1955) he said that he could not unite with church leaders who denied the doctrines of the Bible.
Wang was pastor of the Christian Tabernacle in Beijing, an independent church, and he opposed the Three-Self Movement openly (Jones, Documents of the Three-Self Movement, editors’ introduction to Wang Ming-tao, We, Because of Faith). In June 1955 he published “We, Because of Faith”, which ends with the declaration that he and those with him would not unite in any way with the movement’s leaders, whom he called unbelievers, or join any of their organisations (Wang Mingdao, We, Because of Faith (1955), closing declaration, pp. 113–114). The editors who translated the pamphlet in 1963 say that he was arrested on 8 August 1955 (Jones, Documents of the Three-Self Movement, editors’ introduction to Wang Ming-tao, We, Because of Faith), and speak of his “suppression” by the time of the movement’s meeting of 1956 (Jones, Documents of the Three-Self Movement, editors’ introduction, on the committee meeting of March 1956). See the Chinese Church under the People’s Republic.
In the timeline
- 1950 to 1954, firm dateThe Chinese Church under the People’s Republic
Protestant leaders in the new People’s Republic sign a manifesto pledging loyalty to the state and an end to foreign ties, and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement is organised. Some pastors refuse to join, and Rome rejects a self-governing Catholic church.