1980.7.7英国驻华大使馆汇报中国基督教情况

1980年7月7日英国驻北京外交官T J B George向英国外交部远东司R C Fursland汇报关于中国基督教的情况：

最近我又见到了我在中国教会的联系人，她告诉我一些新的情况。

她说基督教三自爱国运动委员会的会议被推迟了（很可惜，因为下周日将会有一座新的基督教堂在北京开放）。会议的主要内容是成立一个 “中国基督教协会”（按：该会于1980年10月份在南京召开的中国基督教第三次全国会议上成立），主要从事教务活动，架构是全国统一式的，但不会采用圣公会的模式。我估计三自运动委员会仍然会保留，很多人将会在新的基督教协会同时任职。基督教协会到时可用教会对教会的名义邀请国外访客。这位联系人还说教会在各地可能有不同的模式。

三自会议之后还将重开在南京的神学院（院长丁光训），目前南京的宗教工作局限在大学里的研究。

北京将在西单新开一座基督教堂的消息证实了我之前的判断，那就是早在文革以前，在1957年的“百花齐放”和反右运动之后中国的基督教就陷入了困境。这座新教徒的牧师就是在反右运动之后倒霉的。从过去几个月的经历来看，北京确实迫切需要一座新的教堂，很多基督徒在周日早上6点起就在唯一的一座教堂外排队，以便能在8点钟做礼拜时获得一个位置。

RESTRICTED

British Embassy,

PEKING.

7 July 1980

R C Fursland Esq

FED

FCO

THE CHURCH IN CHINA

1.   Since writing my letter of 11 June, I have seen, after some gap, my usual church contact.

2.   She told me that the Conference of the Third Self Movement had been delayed a little (which was a pity from a local point of view in that it had been hoped that the Conference might coincide with the opening of the second Protestant church in Peking next Sunday). She told me that the major outcome of the Conference, when it is held, should be the establishment of a new specifically religious organization called the Christian Association or League (Jidujiao Xiehui). This will provide an ecclesiastic structure for the protestant church, which is expected to continue to be a united body but almost certainly not episcopalian in form, (even if surviving bishops continue to hold personal ranks). I gather however that discussion continues on several issues. The Three Self Movement will remain the official arm of the Protestant Church, with many people no doubt holding posts in both. The new League will be able to invite visitors on a church to church basis. My contact did not rule out local variations in the structure of the church as newly constituted.

3.   Another move following the Conference will be the reopening of the protestant theological college in Nanking (presumably under Bishop Ding), religious work in Nanking having in recent years been confined to research in the university.

4.   Discussion of the opening of the second protestant church, confirmed what I have earlier reported, namely that for Christianity the political rot set in not with the Cultural Revolution but with the anti-rightist movement in the fifties. The priest to be in charge of the new church (which will be in Xidan) went out of circulation after the Hundred Flowers Movement. The need for a second church has been manifest for    months. People    now start arriving at 6 am    in  the present   church for the 8 am   service, so as to be sure   of  a seat.

5.   Please copy   as  usual.

T J B George

出处：英国外交部档案FCO21/1800