Lianghui (Protestantism)


uses lianghui to speak of the two Chinese government-sanctioned Protestant organizations: the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the China Christian Council. Due to the close relationship between these two organizations, they are sometimes mistaken as the same organization.

Administrative structure

Beginning in the 1980s, both associations were simultaneously headed by K. H. Ting, an ordained Anglican Bishop of Zhejiang in 1955. He would retire from both positions at the 6th National Christian Conference, where he addressed the delegates on 29 December 1996.
The TSPM and CCC together form the constituent organizations of the National Conference of Chinese Protestant Churches. The distinctive roles of the TSPM and CCC are hard to distinguish due to overlaps but both organizations maintain separate Standing Committees.
The administrative structure of the lianghui is diagrammed as follows:

Ministries

The TSPM and CCC jointly administer the following ministries:
There are large numbers of Chinese house churches in China which are outside of the registered organizations.
Together, the TSPM and CCC claims a total of between 9.8 million to 13.5 million Protestant Christians in China.

Controversy

The TSPM and CCC are viewed with suspicion and distrust by some Christians both within and outside China. Some claim the TSPM to be a tool of the Communist Party of China to control and regulate the expression of Christianity. As a result, many groups refuse to deal with the TSPM or CCC and there exists a large unregistered House Church movement in China with some claiming that it serves the large majority of Protestant Christians in China.
There are allegations of regular and systematic persecution against Christians associated with the House Church movement and other unregistered Christian organizations in China.

Catholicism

uses lianghui, or yihuiyituan, referring to the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and the Bishops Conference of Catholic Church in China. These two state-approved Catholic organizations do not accept the primacy of the Roman Pontiff, in contrast to the Chinese Catholic Bishops Conference in Taiwan.