Revision 20014955 of "True Jesus Church" on enwiki

[[Image:971201G1-1-.jpg|thumb|The Taiwanese General Assembly of the True Jesus Church located in Taichung.]]

As a Chinese offshoot of the [[Pentecostal]] branch of [[Christianity]] that emerged in the 1900s, the True Jesus Church (真耶穌教會) 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 (林永基傳道). There are approximately 1.5 million believers in five continents.
The church also believes in the [[Oneness Pentecostal]] and [[Jesus Only]] theologies. 

== The Five Main Doctrines ==
The 5 essential doctrines of the True Jesus Church are: 

*1. '''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).

*2. '''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 2:3-8, 10:48).

*3. '''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)

*4. '''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). 

*5. '''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.

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

*6. "[[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".
(John 3:16; 1Cor 15:3-4; Acts 4:12).

*7. "The Holy [[Bible]], consisting of the Old and [[New Testament]]s, is inspired by God, the only scriptural truth, and the standard for [[Christian]] living".   
(2 Timothy 3:16).

*8. "Salvation is given by the grace od God through faith. Believers must rely on the Holy Spirit to pursue holiness, to honour God, and to love humanity". 
(Ephesians 2:8).

*9. "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).

*10. "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; 1Thess. 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 [[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 remembered since the exact day can be accurately verified.

== 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]] (上海使徒信心會) and many [[Chinese race|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]](聖靈啟示) they decided to break away from their mainstream pentecostal churches. 
They were [[Ling-Sheng Zhang]] (張靈生), [[Paul Wei]] (魏保羅), and later [[Barnabas Zhang]] (張巴拿巴). 

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 (黃以利沙), Barnabas Zhang and Thomas Guo (郭多馬) - 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===  
*[[Singapore's TJC history]], 
*[[Malaysia's TJC History]]
*[[Japan's TJC History]], 
*[[Korea's TJC history]],
*[[India's TJC History]],
*[[Philippine's TJC History]],
*[[Myanmar's TJC History]], 
*[[Congo's TJC History]],   

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==
There are currently (in 2004) 440 churches and 106 prayer houses with  86,970 believers from around 37 countries in all five continents in the 'free world' and estimates of over 1.4 million believers in China from reliable sources.

*'''TJC Asia'''
**Northeast Asia - China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan.
**Southeast Asia - Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, 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, Congo Republic, 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)

Initially the governing was a democratic system based on God's governance. (神政民主制度)which is done according to the biblical interpretations in 1 Corinthians 2:21-23 on a hierarchical structure with God at the top ---- followed by Jesus Christ ----then the believers ---- and finally the divine workers near the bottom. Obviously God and Jesus are above the believers which reflects the fact that Christ is the head of the Church. 

The divine workers are the Elders, Deacons and Preachers which are all below the fellow believers in the system. The believers call each each other brothers and sisters which is also in accordance with the bible teachings. 

The preachers are not addressed as pastors.

Nowadays representatives from each of the True Jesus Churches in the world meet once every few years (信徒大會) 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 (祈禱所) 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. 

They quoted on a website, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me"(John 14:6). 

Since the church bears the name of Jesus, Therefore, one can receive eternal life only through the True Church.    

== Testimonials==
Some TJC believers have personally experienced wonderful spiritual songs, tears and spiritual dances during their prayers.
During the early days of the church, there were reliable eye witness accounts of people jumping up and down during prayer sessions but never colliding with the ceiling or any object.

== External links==
*[http://members.tjc.org/sites/en/default.aspx TJC International Assembly]
*[http://www.tjc.org The TJC US General Assembly ] 
*[http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5717/tjc.html TJC History]
*[http://members.lycos.co.uk/tjc/  TJC Edinburgh]
*[http://home.netvigator.com/~tjc/  TJC Hong Kong]
*[http://www.canadiancontent.net/dir/Top/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Christianity/Denominations/Pentecostalism/True_Jesus_Church/ World TJC websites directory]
*[http://www.pastornet.net.au/renewal/journal3/neild.html China's church history]
*[http://chicago.tjc.us/testimony/testimony.htm TJC Chicago testimonies]
*Critics
**[http://www.theholdemans.com/breakchains.htm TJC Critics 1]
**[http://www.letusreason.org/Cults3.htm TJC Critics  2]

[[Category:Pentecostal denominations]]

[[ar:الكنيسة الحقيقية اليسوع]]
[[de:Wahre Jesus Gemeinde]]
[[el:Αληθινή Εκκλησία του Ιησού]]
[[es:La Verdadera Iglesia de Jesús]]
[[fr:Véritable Église de Jésus]]
[[ko:참예수교회]]
[[it:La Vera Chiesa del Gesù]]
[[he:הכנסייה האמיתית של ישו]]
[[nl:Ware Jezus Kerk]]
[[ja:真イエス教会]]
[[pt:Verdadeira Igreja de Jesus]]
[[ru:Истинная церковь Иисуса]]
[[zh:真耶稣教会]]