The True Jesus Church is a non-denominational (Independent) church that was established in Beijing, China in 1917. The current elected chairman of the TJC International Assembly is Preacher Yung-Ji Lin. There are approximately 1.5 million believers in six continents. The church is a Chinese offshoot of the Pentecostal branch of Christianity that emerged during the early 1900s.The church also adheres to Oneness Pentecostal theology (Jesus-Name doctrine).

The Five Main Doctrines

The five essential doctrines of the True Jesus Church are:

Holy Spirit

"Receiving the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in tongues, is the guarantee of our inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven".(Rom. 8:16, Eph. 1:13-14).

Baptism

"Water baptism is the sacrament for the remission of sins for regeneration. The baptism must take place in natural living water, such as the river, sea, or spring.

The Baptist, who already has had received baptism of water and the Holy Spirit, conducts the baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.And the person receiving the baptism must be completely immersed in water with head bowed and face downward". (John 3:5; Matt. 3:16; Acts 2:38, 10:48).

Foot washing

"The sacrament of feet washing enables one to have a part with the Lord Jesus. It also serves as a constant reminder that one should have love, holiness, humility, forgiveness and service.

Every person who has received water baptism must have his/her feet washed in the name of Jesus Christ. Mutual foot washing may be practiced whenever is appropriate". (John 13:1-7)

Holy Communion

"The Holy Communion is the sacrament to commemorate the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It enables us to partake of the flesh and blood of our Lord and to be in communion with Him so that we can have eternal life and be raised on the Last Day. This sacrament shall be held as often as possible. Only one unleavened bread and grape juice shall be used". (1 Cor. 10:17, 11:26; John 6:53; Mark 14:24-25).

Sabbath Day

"The Sabbath day, the seventh day of the week (Saturday), is a Holy Day, blessed and sanctified by God. It is to be observed under the Lord's grace for the commemoration of God's creation and salvation and with the hope of eternal rest in the life to come".(Gen. 2:2-3; Heb. 4:9-11)

Additional doctrines

Later on in the 1980s, more were added to these five main doctrines to become the 10 basic beliefs of the True Jesus Church:

Jesus

"Jesus Christ, the Word who became flesh, died on the cross for the redemption of sinners, ressurrected on the third day and ascended to heaven. He is the only Saviour of mankind, the Creator of the heavens and earth, and the only True God".

(1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; Acts 4:12).

The Bible

"The Holy Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, is inspired by God, the only scriptural truth, and the standard for Christian living".

(2 Tim. 3:16).

Salvation

"Salvation is given

(Eph. 2:8).

True Church

"The True Jesus Church, established by our Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit during the time of the 'latter rain', is the restored True Church of the Apostolic time".

(Joel 2:23; Amos 9:11).

Second Coming

"The Lord's Second Coming will take place on the Last Day when He descends from heaven to judge the world: the righteous will receive eternal life, while the wicked will be eternally condemned".

(Matt. 25:31-34; 1 Thess. 4:16-17).

This is the latest English version that was adopted during the 9th TJC Delegates Conference in May 2005.

Other beliefs

• The church does not celebrate Christmas since the 25th of December was originally asscociated with a pagan ritual celebrating the birthday of the Sun which was later adopted into the Christian church during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD. They argue that the exact day of Christ's birth is unknown and that Jesus never told his disciples to commemorate his birthday.

• Good Friday is not observed as it also has pagan origins.

Historical background & Origins

• The successful attempts to evangelize China by Nestorian Christians from Persia(635-845 AD), the Roman Catholics and Jesuits (1265, 1601-1724) were short lived - they fell out of favour with the Chinese emperor and saw only scattered underground efforts.

• The first Protestant missionaries to labor on Chinese soil began in 1807 with the arrival of Robert Morrison (Scottish).

After the Opium War in the 1840s missionaries from all over the world began to arrive in China. Hudson Taylor founded the China Inland Mission in 1865.

The 19th century witnessed a great increase in the number of Christians. In 1900 there were almost 113,000 Protestant Christians with 1,600 Chinese Christian workers and 2,000 missionaries.

The Pentecostal Movement in China and the origins of TJC

Following the Pentecostal Movement in the United States in the 1900s, an Apostolic Faith Mission church was established in Shanghai and many Chinese Christians subsequently received the Holy Spirit.

Not long after the boxer rebellion attacks and persecutions in 1900, many Chinese Christians advocated a Three-Self Movement, which promoted the strategy of 'self-governing, self-supportive, and self-propagating' in order to reduce foreign influences or interference on the Chinese churches. Several churches were localised / indigenised.

The three early founders of the True Jesus Church also supported this idea and through the inspiration and revelations of the Holy Spirit they decided to break away from their mainstream pentecostal churches. They were Paul Wei, Ling-Sheng Zhang, and later Barnabas Zhang.

The early workers firmly believed that it was the Lord's will for them to set up a true church that would correct all the past errors and misinterpretations in the doctrines of the other denominations and eventually reach perfection before the Lord's second coming.

Missionaries were sent and gospel newsletters were published and distributed to various provinces in China. The power of God was mightily manifested, through the presence of the Holy Spirit and the miraculous healing of illnesses during the early stages of the church development.

The gospel was preached to Taiwan in March, 1926 under the guidance of Elisha Huang, Barnabas Zhang and Thomas Guo - For more facts and information, see China's TJC History and Taiwan's TJC History.

Although still regarded as a Chinese church, the True Jesus Church is becoming increasingly globalised today as the gospel of Jesus is preached in countries all over the world.

Regional histories

• True Jesus Church in China
• True Jesus Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• True Jesus
  
  
  
  Church in India
• True Jesus Church in Japan
• True Jesus Church in Korea
• True Jesus Church in Myanmar
• True Jesus Church in the Philippines
• True Jesus Church in Singapore
• True Jesus Church in Malaysia

In 1956 the Taiwanese General Assembly was established in Taichung.

In 1967 the International Assembly was formed in Los Angeles, United States (their administrative branch).

Although most of the believers were located in China, contact with the mainland was lost shortly after the 1949 Communist takeover in and subsequent persecution of Christians throughout China.

Membership

The church claimed in 2004 to have 440 churches and 106 prayer houses with 86,970 members from around 39 countries in six continents and estimates of over 1.4 million more members in China.

• TJC Asia
  • Northeast Asia - China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan.
  • Southeast Asia - Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

• TJC Americas
  • North America - Canada, United States
  • Latin America - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and the Dominican republic.

• TJC Oceania - Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga.

• TJC Europe - Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom

• TJC Africa - Benin, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sierra Leone. Tanzania, Uganda, Togo.

Administration

The True Jesus Church is considered having a well structured and organised system.(Note: Taiwanese Presbyterian church point of view only)

The divine workers are the Elders, Deacons and Preachers which are all below the fellow believers in the system.

Nowadays, representatives from each of the True Jesus Churches in the world meet once every few years to elect a chairman of the International Assembly which focuses on the Church's development and future progress internationally.

There is a General Assembly in most of the countries mentioned above. The General assembly comprises of the Theology institution, Financial sector.

In some countries where there are not enough numbers of believers, prayer houses are established. When the number of believers are sufficient, a church dedication ceremony is made.

Why the name - TRUE Jesus Church?

Explanations include:

• The early founders decided to correct the past mistakes and errors found in the other denominations by making their own doctrines more in accordance with the biblical teachings.
• The early workers believed that the gospel they preached contained the Truth and which led people to salvation. God is genuine, Jesus is also real and true. Since he is the true light, grapevine and saviour, God's church is also genuine and true.
• The church is atoned and redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Also the fact that Jesus is our Saviour and mediator so it would be deemed appropriate for the Church to bear the name of Jesus.

Initially, the proposed name was "Jesus True Church" (耶穌真教會) but while the application for the church’s name was being registered at the Beijing police station the characters were accidentally assembled as “True Jesus Church” "(真耶穌教會)and attached onto the church building. By 1927, the Shanghai TJC General Assembly decided to stick to the name.

Criticism

Some people disagree with the statement:

The True Jesus Church believes that she is the true church, restored by God Himself through His Holy Spirit, is the revival of the apostolic church in the end times and is the only One True Church that leads to salvation.

Reasons for why there is only one true church:

1. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism. (Eph 4:4-5)

Since Christ has only one body, and there is only one Spirit, there can only be one true church.

2. There is “one faith, one baptism”—that is, only one gospel of salvation. Two churches with different beliefs on salvation cannot both be true.

The True Jesus Church believes that she is the true church for the following reasons:

1.The church of the living God must have the Holy Spirit (“The body apart from the spirit is dead"-Jas 2:26). The abiding of the Holy Spirit is very important as through it, Jesus Christ gives the church the authority to forgive sins (Jn 20:22-23).The church has the abiding of the Holy Spirit (see below) and thus is the true church.

2. The Lord has confirmed that the True Jesus Church is His church through signs and miracles. For example, the witness of blood during baptisms in the True Jesus Church is strong proof of the true cleansing power of baptism. Others have been healed during baptism, or upon receiving the Holy Spirit.

Testimonials

Many TJC believers have personally experienced the Holy Spirit (the latter rain, the distinguishing characteristic of the True Jesus Church), miracles, visions, spiritual songs, tears and spiritual dances during their prayers. There are often unexplainable physical healings (of even terminal illnesses) and curings of the demon-possessed.

During the early days of the church, there were also eye witness accounts of people floating in the air during prayer sessions but never colliding with the ceiling or any object.

Several testimonies from TJC members can be found on their web site .

The Holy Spirit

Since the first time God poured out His Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), believers who receive the Holy Spirit speak in tongues. Receiving the Holy Spirit is an experience that is audible and often visible. It is audible by the sign of speaking in tongues. It is often visible by the movement of the body. Jesus’ disciples said that they as well as observers could “see and hear” the pouring out of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:33; also Acts 10:45-47).

The members of True Jesus Church, who have received the Holy Spirit, are able to speak in tongues and therefore it is a sign that there is the abiding of the Holy Spirit with the church.

External links

• Critics
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