The Three-Self Patriotic Movement

The Three-Self Patriotic Movement is the "patriotic" (government sanctioned) Christian Protestant church in the People's Republic of China. The three "selves" are self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation. All the selves basically mean Chinese, not foreign. In other words, Chinese controlled. The church was formed in 1892 and took its modern form in 1951 under the leadership of Y.T. Yu (1893-1979). The government has, from 1954 onwards, held tight control of the movement, spawning the development of many illegal unregistered home churches during the period of 1966-1979 when all religious activity was banned. The TSPM was restored in 1979 by the government. Unregistered house churches remain illegal in China.

The TSPM promotes five basic doctrines: the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, Jesus' dual nature as both God and man, Jesus' Death and Resurrection, and the Second Coming.