The Lutheran Church of China (LCC; ) was a Lutheran church body in China from 1920 to 1951. It was established as a result of the consultations between the various Lutheran missionary bodies in China that was initiated during the China Centenary Missionary Conference held in Shanghai in 1907. The church survived as an organised body after the Chinese Communist Revolution but was absorbed into the state-backed Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
History
The early Chinese Lutheran churches were the result of the work of western mission societies in the 19th century. Until 1907, no less than 25 European and American Lutheran mission bodies were working in China; most of them independently from each other and some within other organisations such as the China Inland Mission.
Early history (1831–1847) Karl Gützlaff (also known by his Chinese name, or in Pinyin) is generally regarded as the first Lutheran missionary to China. Originally accredited to the Netherlands Missionary Society, Gützlaff first arrived in East Asia in 1823. As China adopted a strict closed-door policy in that period, he was unable to set foot on China until 1831. Arriving in Tianjin, he was able to distribute some religious pamphlets and gospel tracts.
Although Gützlaff's methods and results were controversial, his major contribution included the promotion of the Chinese mission field to European mission societies, particularly Lutheran bodies.
First Lutheran missions (1847–1890) Following Gützlaff's appeal, three German mission societies, the Barmen Mission (later known as the Rhenish Missionary Society or ), the Berlin Missionary Society (), and the Basel Mission (), sent missionaries to China. On March 19, 1847, Theodore Hamberg () and Rudolph Lechler () of the Basel Mission, together with Heinrich Köster () and Ferdinand Genähr () of the Barmen Mission, arrived in Hong Kong and under Gützlaff's guidance began working in different areas of Guangdong province. The Basel missionaries concentrated among the Hakka speaking people in the eastern part of the province whereas the Barmen missionaries worked among the Cantonese speakers of the western part of the province. The churches they founded were called the Chongzhen Church (Tsung-Tsin Church or ) and Lixian Church (Rhenish Church or ) respectively.
The Berlin Missionary Society sent its first missionary to China in 1851 and initially confined its work to the Hakka speaking people in Guangdong province. It eventually extended its work to the Mandarin-speaking people in Jiangxi and Shandong provinces. The church they founded was eventually called the Yuegan Church ().
Other Lutheran missions (1890–1907)
Between 1890 and 1907, a number of American and Scandinavian Lutheran mission societies established a presence in China. The notable ones include:
American Lutheran Mission (1890) - Mission in the provinces of Henan and Hubei - Started the Yu'e Lutheran Church ()
Hauge's Synod Mission or (1891) - Mission in Hubei province - Work later merged in 1917 with the American Lutheran Mission as the United Lutheran Mission ()
Norwegian Lutheran China Mission Association or (1891) - Mission in the provinces of Hubei, Henan, and Shaanxi - Started the Yu'eshaan Lutheran Church ()
Danish Lutheran Mission or (1896) - Mission in Manchuria - Started the Northeastern Lutheran Church ()
Kiel China Mission or (1897) - Mission in Guangdong province - Work transferred to the Schleswig-Holstein Evangelical Lutheran Mission () in 1921 - Church eventually known as the Yuenan Lutheran Church ()
Finnish Missionary Society or (1901) - Mission in the provinces of Hunan and Hubei - Started the Xiang Xibei Lutheran Church ()
American Lutheran Brethren Mission or (1902) - Mission in Henan and Hubei border region - Started the Yu'xi Lutheran Church ()
Norwegian Missionary Society or (1902) - Mission in Hunan province - Started the Xiangzhong Lutheran Church ()
Augustana Synod Mission or (1905) - Mission in the provinces of Henan, Hubei and Jiangxi - Started the Yu’zhong Lutheran Church ()