Protestantism in Sichuan#Current situation

{{See also|History of Anglicanism in Sichuan|l1=Anglicanism in Sichuan|History of Methodism in Sichuan|l2=Methodism in Sichuan|Quakerism in Sichuan|History of Baptist Christianity in Sichuan|l4=Baptist Christianity in Sichuan|History of Adventism in Sichuan|l5=Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sichuan}}

File:Map of Szechwan for the China Inland Mission.jpg for the China Inland Mission (CIM). The CIM carried out the first Protestant mission in Sichuan, in 1877.]]

File:Stations and Missionaries of the China Inland Mission - Province of Si-ch'uen.png

Previous to the year 1868, the Protestant Churches of Europe and North America knew little or nothing about the province of Sichuan located in western China. The first Protestant missionaries to visit the province were Griffith John of the London Missionary Society (LMS) and Alexander Wylie of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS). However, this journey did not attempt to establish mission stations in any of the many cities or towns visited. Griffith John's report of the journey was undoubtedly instrumental in drawing attention to that region: "There are a large number of Catholics in the province, and Chungking is one of their strongholds. [...] We must not ignore Szechwan. I hope that we will be able to establish the first Protestant Church in Chungking, and I myself could be the first missionary."{{cite journal |last=Lü |first=Shih-chiang |date=1976 |title=晚淸時期基督敎在四川省的傳敎活動及川人的反應（1860–1911） |trans-title=The Evangelization of Sichuan Province in the Late Qing Period and the Responses of the Sichuanese People (1860–1911) |url=http://rportal.lib.ntnu.edu.tw:8080/server/api/core/bitstreams/e47341c7-5f8e-4467-8a14-8e1035537d96/content |language=zh-hant |journal=History Journal of the National Taiwan Normal University |location=Taipei |publisher=National Taiwan Normal University Department of History |page=269 |access-date=26 September 2022}} However, no other missionaries visited the province again until 1877, when Rev. John McCarthy of the China Inland Mission (CIM, interdenominational), after landing at Wanhsien, travelled via Shuenkingfu to Chungking, where he reached on 1 May of that year.{{sfn|Broomhall|1907|p=229}} There he rented premises for other CIM missionaries to use as a base.{{cite BDCC |url-id=john-mccarthy |title=John McCarthy |last=Doyle |first=G. Wright |access-date=26 September 2022}}

After this there followed a period of widespread evangelistic journeys, in which Messrs. Cameron, Nicoll, Easton, Parker, Riley, S. R. Clarke, and Baller, all of the CIM, with Mr. Leaman of the American Presbyterian Mission, and Mr. Mollman of the BFBS, engaged. In 1881 the CIM opened the capital, Chengtu, for settled work. After considerable difficulty, Paoning and Pacheo were occupied during the years 1886 and 1887.{{sfn|Broomhall|1907|p=229}}

File:Methodist Institutional Church, Chengtu.png, circa 1920.]]

In 1882, missionaries of the American Methodist Episcopal Mission (AMEM) arrived in Chungking. Their early efforts encountered strong resistance and riots that led to the abandonment of the mission. It was not until 1889 that these Methodists came back and started the mission again.{{sfn|Baker|1946|p=19}} Their mission concentrated within a diamond-shaped area with the cities of Chengtu, Suining, Tzechung and Chungking as bases. They had an Institutional Church built in Chengtu and a Lewis Memorial Institutional Church in Chungking.{{sfn|Baker|1946|pp=37, 46}}

During this period, the CIM divided the work of the mission into two distinct parts, namely Western Szechwan and Eastern Szechwan. The distinction is that, taking the Kialing River, which enters the Yangtse opposite Chungking, as the boundary, all the cities, towns, and villages east of this belonged to the East Szechwan branch of the Mission, which was worked on distinctively Church of England lines; while all the districts west of the Kialing River belonged to the West Szechwan branch of the CIM, and were generally worked on Free Church lines.{{sfn|Broomhall|1907|p=230}}

File:William Wharton Cassels.png, first Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Szechwan.]]

The year 1887 marks the arrival of the Anglican representatives of the CIM, who were members of the Cambridge Seven, namely, William Cassels, future bishop of the Diocese of Szechwan; Montagu Proctor-Beauchamp, and two brothers, Arthur T. and Cecil H. Polhill.{{sfn|Norris|1908|pp=133–134}}{{cite book |last=Gray |first=G. F. S. |date=1996 |title=Anglicans in China: A History of the Zhonghua Shenggong Hui (Chung Hua Sheng Kung Huei) |location=New Haven, CT |publisher=The Episcopal China Mission History Project |page=13|citeseerx=10.1.1.695.4591 }} Cecil Polhill was at first based in Chengtu and Chungking, but he felt drawn towards the people of Tibet. In 1896, after helping with mission work in Kalimpong, India, he moved to Tatsienlu, a Khams Tibetan city west of Sichuan.{{cite web |url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/3a61ded1-24db-3f0f-b4de-26ca26b41a4a |title=Papers of Cecil and Arthur Polhill |author= |date= |website=archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk |access-date=22 August 2023}} The establishing of a missionary station there in 1897 paved the way for the future construction of the Gospel Church of Tatsienlu.{{cite web |url=https://omf.org/cim-missionary-workers-to-tibetan-highlands/ |title=A Description of CIM Missionary Workers to the Tibetan Highlands Prior to 1950 |last=Zi |first=Yu |date=2017 |website=omf.org |access-date=15 May 2021}}{{cite journal |last=Zhu |first=Yaling |date=2015 |title=传教士顾福安及其康藏研究 |trans-title=The Missionary Robert Cunningham and His Tibetan Studies of the Khams Area |url=http://194.246.119.58/pdfs/cnkiImport/CJFD/ZAXK201501011.pdf |journal=藏学学刊 [Journal of Tibetology] |language=zh-hans |location=Chengdu |publisher=Center for Tibetan Studies of Sichuan University |issue=1 |page=192 |access-date=22 August 2023}}

One feature of this period was the persistence and tenacity of the missionaries. Many difficulties and disappointments accompanied their efforts; the people were either indifferent or hostile, and the results of their labours were very small. Sickness and death were constantly occurring to hinder and threaten the existence of the work. The 1886 Chungking riot almost extinguished the little churches which had been gathered by the two Missions. After the settlement of the Chungking riots and the re-establishment of Mission work in that city, a period of unprecedented prosperity set in.{{sfn|Broomhall|1907|p=230}}

File:Quaker Meeting House at Tung Chwan.png, before 1905.]]

File:Baptist Church at Yachow.png, 1920.]]

During this period no less than five additional missionary societies started new work in Sichuan. In 1888 the LMS, whose representative Dr. Griffith John, was the first to enter the province in 1868 as mentioned above, took up permanent work in Chungking. In 1889, Robert John and Mary Jane Davidson of Friends' Foreign Mission Association (FFMA) introduced Quakerism into Tungchwan. Within 19 years five monthly meetings were successively established in Chengtu, Chungking, Tungchwan, Tungliang and Suining.{{cite journal |last=Du |first=Swun Deh |date=1937 |title=Quakerism in West China |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41944051 |journal=Bulletin of Friends Historical Association |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=88–91 |doi=10.1353/qkh.1937.a395410 |jstor=41944051 |access-date=27 September 2022}} In 1890 the American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU) started work in the west of the province, having Suifu (1890) and Kiatingfu (1894) as their chief centres. Three more stations were established in Yachowfu (1894), Ningyuanfu (1905), and Chengtu (1909).{{cite book |author= |date=1920 |title=Missionary Cameralogs: West China |url=https://archive.org/details/westchina00amer |location=New York |publisher=American Baptist Foreign Mission Society |page=26}} At the close of 1891, the Rev. James Heywood Horsburgh, together with Mrs. Horsburgh, Rev. O. M. Jackson, three laymen, and six single women missionaries, entered Sichuan as the first band of Church Missionary Society (CMS) missionaries to take up work in that province.{{sfn|Norris|1908|p=134}} By 1894, CMS work had started in Mienchow, Chungpa, Anhsien, Mienchu and Sintu.{{cite web |url=http://www.ampltd.co.uk/collections_az/CMS-1-15/description.aspx |title=Church Missionary Society Archive—Section I: East Asia Missions: Western China |last=Keen |first=Rosemary |date= |website=ampltd.co.uk |access-date=27 September 2022}} Their first church was founded in 1894 in Chungpa.{{cite book |editor=China Continuation Committee |editor-link=National Christian Council of China |date=1915 |title=中華基督教會年鑑 |trans-title=The China Church Year Book |language=zh-hant |location=Shanghai |publisher=The Commercial Press |page=114}} Then, in 1892, the Canadian Methodist Mission (CMM) opened up work in central and west Sichuan, having Chengtu and Kiating as their headquarters.{{sfn|Stauffer|1922|p=224}}{{sfn|Broomhall|1907|pp=231–232}}

In 1895, the Anglican Diocese of Szechwan was established with its seat in Paoning. William Cassels became the first diocesan bishop after his consecration on 18 October 1895 at Westminster Abbey.{{cite book |last=Stewart |first=Emily Lily |date=1934 |title=Forward in Western China |chapter=Chapter II. The Way Reviewed |chapter-url=http://anglicanhistory.org/asia/china/stewart1934/02.html |location=London |publisher=Church Missionary Society}}{{cite book |last=Stock |first=Eugene |date=1899 |title=The History of the Church Missionary Society, Volume III |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchurchm03stoc |location=London |publisher=Church Missionary Society |page=579}} That same year was also marked by a serious outbreak of anti-foreign agitation began in the capital Chengtu, and thence spread throughout the province.{{cite book |author= |date=1920 |title=Missionary Cameralogs: West China |url=https://archive.org/details/westchina00amer |location=New York |publisher=American Baptist Foreign Mission Society |page=20}} In the capital, the property of three Protestant missions and that of the Roman Catholics was destroyed; and all missionaries of all missions, Protestant and Roman Catholic alike, were thankful to escape with their lives.{{cite book |author=Various authors |author-link=Various authors |date=1920 |title=Our West China Mission: Being a Somewhat Extensive Summary by the Missionaries on the Field of Work during the First Twenty-five Years of the Canadian Methodist Mission in the Province of Szechwan, Western China |url=https://archive.org/details/ourwestchina00stepuoft |location=Toronto |publisher=Missionary Society of the Methodist Church |page=42}}

File:Canadian Methodist Mission Press.jpg

File:The West China Missionary News (January 1909).pdf, printed by the Canadian Methodist Mission Press.]]

In 1897, the Canadian Methodist Mission Press was established in Kiatingfu, but was moved to the capital city of Chengtu in 1903. This press produced publications mostly in English, Tibetan, Chinese and Hua Miao, but also printed language lessons in French and German. In addition to printing for the various missions in the western province, a certain amount of work was done for local schools and non-missionary foreigners.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Mission Presses |encyclopedia=The Encyclopaedia Sinica |year=1917 |last=Couling |first=Samuel |publisher=Kelly and Walsh |location=Shanghai |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s_V5DwAAQBAJ&dq=canadian+methodist+mission+press&pg=PA377 |page=377 |isbn=9789004213463 |access-date=27 September 2022}} Notable among its printings was The West China Missionary News, first published in 1899, being the first and longest-running English-language newspaper in Sichuan province.{{cite web |url=https://www.clausiuspress.com/conferences/LNEMSS/IEESASM%202019/19IEESASM434.pdf |title=The West China Missionary News and Its Tibet Narrative |last=Zhu |first=Yaling |date=2019 |website=clausiuspress.com |access-date=27 September 2022}}

In 1898, a riot known as the {{ill|Yu Dongchen|lt=Yü Man-tse|zh|余棟臣}} Rebellion was chiefly directed against the Roman Catholics; the Protestants not coming under the wrath of the rebels, though subject to persecution and petty annoyance from local rowdies. During this rebellion a Protestant Conference (January 1899) was held at Chungking, resulting in the establishments of The West China Missionary News and West China Tract Society, as well as the formation of an Advisory Board for West China. From the settlement of the Yü Man-tse Rebellion of 1898 to the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, a period of nearly two years, the work in Sichuan enjoyed a time of peace and quiet, which ended abruptly in the summer of 1900, when all missionaries of all societies were obliged by consular orders to flee to the coast.{{sfn|Broomhall|1907|pp=233–234}}

File:Map of Sz-Chwan showing Division of the Protestant Field.png, AMEM, CIM, CMM, CMS, FFMA, and LMS.]]

The Boxer Rebellion did not affect Sichuan so much as some other parts of China. On the return of the missionaries to their respective stations during the early part of 1901 they found in many places, especially in the western parts of Sichuan, what was going to be known later as the Mass Movement in full swing. This movement may be traced back as far as 1895, when it really began, subsequent to the settlement of the riots which occurred at that time. This movement steadily grew till it was crushed by the Yü Man-tse Rebellion, but immediately after the settlement of those troubles it revived with fresh vigour and strength. During that time, however, it was almost entirely confined to the Roman Catholic Church. But after the Boxer settlement, the Mass Movement not only revived amongst the Roman Catholics, but also took hold of the Protestant Church as well. This movement was most perplexing, even to experienced missionaries. Deputations were constantly arriving from the surrounding districts with offers from the gentry and leading men to open Gospel halls, preaching stations, or schools, free of cost to the missionary societies. Long lists were presented with the names of those who were anxious to become "adherents" of the Church or "learners" of the truth. This movement appealed in different ways to different missionaries and missionary societies. Some of the more optimistic welcomed it as an answer to the prayers of past years and the plenteous sowing of the last decades. Others, who were not quite so enthusiastic, looked askance on the movement, and generally discouraged the establishment of stations under such conditions.{{sfn|Broomhall|1907|p=234}}

A great demand for scientific literature which followed the Boxer outbreak was so pressing that the Society for the Diffusion of Christian Knowledge at Shanghai decided to open a depot in Chengtu to meet this demand. The Society was able to secure the best position in the most important street, and the ever increasing sale of books, charts, maps, and other literature has justified the Society's decision in opening a depot in that remote province of Western China. The Canadian Methodist Mission (CMM), recognising that Chengtu, the capital of the province, was the centre of literary activity and influence, moved their Mission Press to that city in 1903.{{sfn|Broomhall|1907|pp=235–236}}

File:Fred Rowntree07.jpg's architectural drawing for West China Union University]]

File:ED Burton, TC Chamberlin, J Beech, YT Wang and RT Chamberlin.jpg (third from left) with (l to r) E. D. Burton (American Baptist biblical scholar), T. C. Chamberlin (American geologist), Y. T. Wang (interpreter) and R. T. Chamberlin (T. C. Chamberlin's son) at Tungchwan, during an exploratory trip through China in 1909 as part of the Oriental Educational Investigation Commission.]]

One of the signs of the progressive spirit was a scheme for a Union University. Most of the missionaries had seen the importance of educational institutions, and had sought to provide schools and other facilities to meet the demand for Western learning. But since the adoption by China of Western methods of education, the demand for some institution for higher education had been greatly felt by those specially interested in the spiritual welfare of the educated classes. Then finally in 1910, the West China Union University was established in Chengtu. It was the fruit of a collective effort of four Protestant mission societies: American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS, American Baptist Churches USA), American Methodist Episcopal Mission (AMEM, Methodist Episcopal Church), Canadian Methodist Mission (CMM, Methodist Church of Canada), and Friends' Foreign Mission Association (FFMA, British Quakers).{{cite web |url=https://library.vicu.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/vic_in_china/sections/mission_work_education/west_china_union_university.html |title=West China Union University |author= |date= |website=library.vicu.utoronto.ca |access-date=27 September 2022}} The Church Missionary Society (CMS, Church of England) became a partner in the university in 1918.{{cite web |url=https://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu/UnitedBoard/West_China_Union_University/WCUU-about.pdf |title=West China Union University |author= |date= |website=divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu |access-date=27 September 2022}}{{sfn|Stauffer|1922|p=231}} The university grew rapidly in its first decade and remained a key player in tertiary education in Sichuan throughout the Republican Era.{{cite web |url=https://sichuanreligions.com/building-the-kingdom-of-god-in-west-china/ |title=Building the Kingdom of God in West China: Religious and Reform Work of Chengdu's West China Union University |last=Kyong-McClain |first=Jeff |date= |website=sichuanreligions.com |access-date=29 September 2022}} The American Methodist missionary Joseph Beech, a Wesleyan University graduate and member of Psi Upsilon and Phi Beta Kappa,{{cite web |url=https://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu/ChinaCollegesProject/wesleyan/bios/beech_joseph.html |title=Beech, Joseph, Class of 1899 |last=Russ |first=Johanna |date= |website=divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu |access-date=27 September 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813143509/https://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu/ChinaCollegesProject/wesleyan/bios/beech_joseph.html |archive-date=13 August 2020}} played an instrumental role in founding and running West China Union University. He served as its founding president and later its chancellor.{{cite web |url=https://review.gale.com/2020/03/11/joseph-beech-and-west-china-union-university/ |title=An American Missionary with Two Motherlands: Joseph Beech and West China Union University |last=Yang |first=Liping |date=11 March 2020 |website=review.gale.com |access-date=27 September 2022}} David Crockett Graham, an American polymath Baptist minister, served as curator of the university's Museum of Art, Archaeology and Ethnology from 1932 to 1942. He also taught comparative religions at its Theological College, as well as archaeology and anthropology.{{cite web |url=https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217305 |title=David Crockett Graham Papers, 1923-1936 |author= |date= |website=siarchives.si.edu |access-date=27 September 2022}}

File:Grace and Robert Service on shipboard.jpg

On 10 May 1906, an American missionary Robert Roy Service and his wife Grace Service arrived in Chengtu.{{sfn|Service|1991|p=45}} With the help of an English Quaker missionary Henry Hodgkin, they opened up work for the first Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) mission in the province.{{sfn|Levenson|Service|1981|pp=6, 10}} Robert and Grace were both graduates of the University of California, Berkeley.{{sfn|Service|1991|p=xvi}} He was an athlete, member of Psi Upsilon and president of the senior class and of the YMCA.{{sfn|Levenson|Service|1981|p=2}} Grace was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, and treasurer of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA).{{sfn|Service|1991|p=xvi}} Through YMCA, an organization founded on the principles of muscular Christianity, Robert introduced Western physical education into the province. In 1910, fields for football and baseball, as well as a tennis court were constructed near the Wen Miao Street in Chengtu; a gymnasium was opened in 1913.{{cite book |last=Chen |first=Yuanxin |date=2014 |title=大型體育場館設施供給研究 |trans-title=A Research on the Supply of Large Stadiums and Gymnasiums |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BtjlDwAAQBAJ&dq=%E8%AC%9D%E5%AE%89%E9%81%93+%E5%9B%9B%E5%B7%9D%E5%9F%BA%E7%9D%A3%E6%95%99%E9%9D%92%E5%B9%B4%E6%9C%83+%E8%B6%B3%E7%90%83&pg=PA76 |language=zh-hant |location=Taipei |publisher=Airiti Press |page=76 |isbn=9789865663254}}

{{multiple image

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| image2 = Zenas Sanford Loftis.png

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| footer = Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) missionaries to Bathang, East Tibet

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In 1908, Albert Shelton and James Clarence Ogden of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society of the Disciples of Christ arrived in Bathang after studying Chinese and Tibetan languages for four years in Tachienlu, where they established a mission station.{{cite book |last=Shelton |first=Albert L. |date=1921 |title=Pioneering in Tibet: A Personal Record of Life and Experience in Mission Fields |url=https://archive.org/details/pioneeringintibe00sheluoft/page/50 |location=New York |publisher=Fleming H. Revell Company |pages=50–60}} Zenas Sanford Loftis joined the Bathang mission on 17 June 1909,{{sfn|Loftis|1911|p=142}} but died from typhus fever and smallpox two months later.{{sfn|Loftis|1911|p=158}} By 1922, Bathang became the centre of the Tibetan Christian Mission of the Disciples of Christ. Due to the constitution of Sichuan at the time, Bathang fell outside the western boundary and belonged to the special territory of Chwanpien, a mostly Tibetan-inhabited region.{{sfn|Stauffer|1922|p=222}}

File:Seventh-day Adventist Church at Tatsienlu.png with local converts standing outside the Adventist Church at Tatsienlu, East Tibet, {{circa|1931}}.]]

In 1914, the Adventist Mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church established a mission station in Chungking. Their Szechwan Mission was officially formed in 1917.{{cite web |url=https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/assets/pdf/article-9JGH.pdf |title=Szechwan Mission (1917–1919) |last=Hook |first=Milton |author-link=Milton Hook |date=2020 |website=encyclopedia.adventist.org |access-date=27 September 2022}} In 1919, the mission was divided into East Szechwan Mission and West Szechwan Mission for easier administration.{{cite web |url=https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=FHPC |title=East Szechwan Mission (1919–1951) |last=Hook |first=Milton |date=28 November 2021 |website=encyclopedia.adventist.org |access-date=27 September 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=BJGI |title=West Szechwan Mission (1919–1951) |last=Hook |first=Milton |date=28 November 2021 |website=encyclopedia.adventist.org |access-date=27 September 2022}}

By the end of 1921, there were 12,954 baptized Protestant Christians in Sichuan, the Methodists enrolled almost one half of this number, namely 5,788. The Anglicans shared almost the other half with 5,474 church members. The American Baptists and English Quakers followed with 1,263 and 429 members respectively. 63 per cent of these 12,954 Protestants were men.{{sfn|Stauffer|1922|p=228}}

Lutheranism also had a small presence in Chungking. The Lutheran Holy Cross Church was founded in Wanhsien in 1925, under the supervision of {{ill|George Oliver Lillegard|zh|黎立德}},{{cite web |url=https://gospeltimes.cn/portal/article/index/id/36600 |title=重庆市万州区基督教圣十字堂的百年历史 |trans-title=A Centenary History of the Holy Cross Church in Wanzhou District, Chongqing |last=Dai |first=Yuetan |date=28 September 2016 |website=gospeltimes.cn |language=zh-hans |access-date=27 September 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602214602/https://gospeltimes.cn/portal/article/index/id/36600 |archive-date=2 June 2021}} a pastor-missionary sent by the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.{{cite book |last=Tiedemann |first=R. G. |author-link=R. G. Tiedemann |date=1 July 2016 |title=Reference Guide to Christian Missionary Societies in China: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHeTDAAAQBAJ&dq=Missouri+Evangelical+Lutheran+Mission+George+Oliver+Lillegard&pg=PT528 |location=Milton Park |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781315497310}}

File:Church of Christ in China Szechwan Synod Annual Meeting, 1939.jpg

By 1934, the Canadian Methodist Mission had joined the Church of Christ in China (CCC);{{cite book | last1=Yrigoyen | first1=Charles Jr. |last2=Warrick |first2=Susan E. |date=7 November 2013 |title=Historical Dictionary of Methodism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aWUYAgAAQBAJ&dq=Methodism+in+Sichuan&pg=PA41 |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=Scarecrow Press |page=41 |isbn=9780810878945}} an annual general meeting of the CCC's Szechwan Synod was held on 9 February 1939.{{cite web |url=https://library.vicu.utoronto.ca/exhibitions/vic_in_china/sections/vics_commitment_to_west_china_missions/victoria_university_honours_its_chinese_missionaries.html |title=Victoria University Honours its Chinese Missionaries |author= |date= |website=library.vicu.utoronto.ca |access-date=27 September 2022}} In 1940, the CCC established a mission station in Lifan, a county lies in the Sichuan-Khams Tibetan border region, as part of their Border Service Movement. This movement had a marked character of Social Gospel, with the aim of spreading Christianity to the Tibetan, Qiang and Yi peoples.{{cite journal |last=Yang |first=Tianhong |date=2010 |title=中华基督教会在川、康边地的宗教活动 |trans-title=The Religious Activities of the Church of Christ in China in the Sichuan-Xikang Border Region |url=http://194.246.119.58/pdfs/CNKI/CJFD/LSYJ201003016.pdf |language=zh-hans |journal=Historical Research |issue=3 |pages=165–182 |issn=0459-1909 |access-date=27 September 2022}}

In 1935, the True Jesus Church established their first mission station in Chungking. Two years later, Kwang'an became their new mission centre where they baptized 186 people in one month.{{cite book |last=Cheng |first=Chia-cheng |date=2015 |title=真耶穌教會歷史講義 |trans-title=History of the True Jesus Church |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJqoDwAAQBAJ&dq=%E7%9C%9F%E8%80%B6%E7%A9%8C%E6%95%99%E6%9C%83+%E5%9B%9B%E5%B7%9D+1935&pg=PA97 |language=zh-hant |location=Taichung |publisher=Philemon Bookstore |page=97 |isbn=9789867893758}}

In 1939, two American Mennonite missionaries, {{ill|Henry Cornelius Bartel|zh|包志理}}, founder of the {{ill|China Mennonite Mission Society|zh|孟那福音會}}, and his wife Nellie Schmidt Bartel, travelled to Kwangyüan in northeastern Sichuan.{{cite book |editor-last1=Qin |editor-first1=Heping |editor-last2=Shen |editor-first2=Xiaohu |date=2008 |title=四川基督教资料辑要 |trans-title=A Collection of Historical Documents on Christianity in Sichuan |language=zh-hans |location=Chengdu |publisher=Bashu Publishing House |page=253 |isbn=978-7-80752-226-3}} In 1941 the Bartels started work in the Szechwan-Kansu-Shensi border.{{Cite BDCC |url-id=bartel-henry-cornelius |title=Henry Cornelius (Bao Zhili) Bartel (1873—1965) |last=Anderson |first=Gerald H. |access-date=26 October 2022}} A mission centre was established at {{ill|Sandui|zh|三堆鎮}} in early 1949, but all activities had ceased shortly before the Cultural Revolution launched in 1966.

The Kweichow-Szechwan Mission of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) had its district on the borders of Kweichow and Szechwan Provinces and adjacent to Hunan and Hupeh Provinces. The C&MA missionary personnel were all withdrawn during the year 1949.{{cite book |last=Truax |first=E. A. |date=1950 |title=Triumph & Tradition in Miaoland |url=https://archive.org/details/godestablishes00trua |location=New York |publisher=Christian and Missionary Alliance |page=1}}

After the communist takeover of China in 1949, Protestant Churches in China were forced to sever their ties with respective overseas Churches, which has thus led to the merging of all the denominations into communist-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Church.{{cite book |last=Ferris |first=Helen |date=1956 |title=The Christian Church in Communist China, to 1952 |location=Montgomery, AL |publisher=Air Force Personnel and Training Research Center |page=8 |oclc=5542137}}

In 1958, a "religious reformation" movement swept through Tibet. Churches in Bathang were desanctified and converted into communal canteens, along with demolitions of Buddhist temples and burning of sacred texts.{{cite book |last=Namloyak |first=Dhungser |author-link=Lhade Namloyak |date=2021 |title=西藏：復國VS亡國 |trans-title=Tibet: Restoring the State VS the Colonial "Autonomic" (1951–2021) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yyZREAAAQBAJ&dq=%E5%A3%A4%E5%A1%98%E7%B8%A3%E6%9C%89%E5%9F%BA%E7%9D%A3%E6%95%99%E5%A0%82%E5%97%8E&pg=PA152 |language=zh-hant |location=Taipei |publisher=Asia-Pacific Politics, Philosophy & Culture Publishing |pages=151–152 |isbn=9786269532933}}

Radio Free Asia reported an arrest of eight Christians in 2010 during a gathering of a house church in Suining, while two were beaten. The police detained them for six hours and treated them as if they were criminals.{{cite web |url=https://chinaaid.org/suining-christians-arrested-beaten-and/ |title=Suining Christians Arrested, Beaten, and Released |author= |date=21 May 2010 |website=chinaaid.org |access-date=2 October 2022}}

In 2018, Wang Yi, a well-known pastor from Chengtu, along with 100 Christians, were detained by authorities. Wang was reportedly arrested on allegations of "inciting subversion of state power".{{cite web |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/15/asia/wang-yi-early-rain-church-intl/index.html |title=Detention of 100 Christians raises concerns about religious crackdown in China |last=Berlinger |first=Joshua |date=17 December 2018 |website=edition.cnn.com |access-date=27 September 2022}} That same year, four Christian churches in Sichuan have been given an ultimatum and told they must join the Three-Self Church or be shut down.{{cite web |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-churches-facing-ultimatum-in-chinas-sichuan-join-communist-network-or-be-shut-down.html |title=Christian churches facing ultimatum in China's Sichuan: Join Communist network or be shut down |last=Zaimov |first=Stoyan |date=19 November 2018 |website=christianpost.com |access-date=27 September 2022}}

In 2019, 200 congregants in Chengtu began to meet in secret after their state registered Three-Self church has been shut down.{{cite web |url=https://www.barnabasfund.org/us/news/courageous-chinese-christians-meet-in-secret-after-sichuan-three-self-ch/ |title=Courageous Chinese Christians 'Meet in Secret' After Sichuan Three-Self Church Shutdown |author= |date=12 March 2020 |website=barnabasfund.org |access-date=27 September 2022}}

On 17 November 2021, police raided the Qingcaodi Reformed Church in Deyang. Days later, one of the church members, Liu Wuyi, was detained criminally.{{cite web |url=https://www.persecution.org/several-house-church-christians-detained-shanghai-sichuan/ |title=Several House Church Christians Detained in Shanghai and Sichuan |author= |date=30 November 2021 |website=persecution.org |access-date=2 October 2022}}

On 14 August 2022, police in Chengtu raided a Sunday gathering of the Early Rain Covenant Church (a congregation of the Reformed tradition founded by Wang Yi) and detained a leader.{{cite web |url=https://www.ucanews.com/news/chinese-police-raid-christian-gathering-arrest-one/98416 |title=Chinese police raid Christian gathering, arrest one |author= |date=17 August 2022 |website=ucanews.com |access-date=27 September 2022}}

{{Main|Early Rain Covenant Church}}

{{See also|Wang Yi (pastor)}}

Early Rain Covenant Church is one of the largest and most resilient house churches in Sichuan.{{cite book |last1=Yang |first1=Fenggang |author-link1=Fenggang Yang |last2=Pettit |first2=J. E. E. |date=2018 |chapter=Chapter 8 Southwest China: 23. Sichuan |title=Atlas of Religion in China: Social and Geographical Contexts |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill Publishers |doi=10.1163/9789004369900_011 |doi-access=free |isbn=978-90-04-36990-0}} The congregation was started as Early Rain Blessings Fellowship in April 2005 by Pastor Wang Yi and his wife Jiang Rong, in their own home in Chengdu, which was formally established as a house church in April 2008. It had been variously known as Early Rain Blessings Church, Early Rain Reformed Church and Early Rain Reformed Presbyterian Church before changing its name to Early Rain Covenant Church.{{cite web |url=https://chinachange.org/2018/12/21/the-crackdown-on-chengdu-early-rain-covenant-church-a-backgrounder/ |title=The Crackdown on Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church: A Backgrounder |author= |date=21 December 2018 |website=chinachange.org |access-date=30 March 2024}} As the church grew larger, several other house churches in Chengdu have joined Early Rain over time to form the Presbytery of West China Reformed Churches. This has led to other institutional extensions such as a kindergarten, a day school, a seminary (Western China Covenant Theological Seminary), and a liberal arts college (Western China Covenant College).{{cite journal |last=Xue |first=Max |date=2021 |title=Li Ma, Religious Entrepreneurism in China's Urban House Churches: The Rise and Fall of Early Rain Reformed Presbyterian Church |url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/swc.2021.0358 |journal=Studies in World Christianity |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=326–327 |doi=10.3366/swc.2021.0358 |access-date=30 March 2024}} In December 2019, Pastor Wang Yi was sentenced to nine years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power" and "illegal business activity".{{cite web |url=https://www.state.gov/irfba-statement-on-chinese-religious-prisoner-of-conscience-wang-yi |title=IRFBA Statement on Chinese Religious Prisoner of Conscience, Wang Yi |author= |date=20 October 2023 |website=state.gov |access-date=30 March 2024}}

File:Journal of the West China Border Research Society (1922-23; vol. I).pdf, Volume I, 1922–1923]]

The West China Missionary News, established in 1899 by the West China Missions Advisory Board, was the first and longest-running English-language newspaper in Sichuan. Together with the Journal of the West China Border Research Society established in 1922, these two publications cover a wide range of topics including studies of local languages, customs, religion, economics, medicine, natural environment, and ethnic minorities, as well as translation of historical works concerning the Ba–Shu region.{{cite journal |last=Kilborn |first=L. G. |author-link=Leslie Gifford Kilborn |date=1941–42 |title=President's Address |journal=Journal of the West China Border Research Society |location=Chengtu |publisher=West China Border Research Society |others=Printed by the United Church of Canada Mission Press |issue=A |pages=101–106 |oclc=977595689}}

The 1900 dictionary Western Mandarin, or the Spoken Language of Western China compiled by Adam Grainger, a British missionary of the China Inland Mission, has 803 pages, 3,786 characters, and 13,484 entries, as well as 401 proverbs.{{cite book |last=Chiba |first=Kengo |editor-last=Simmons |editor-first=Richard VanNess |date=2022 |chapter=The Demarcation of Western Mandarin and the Designation of the Chéngdū Dialect as Its Standard Form in Modern China |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/hong-kong-scholarship-online/book/45092 |title=Studies in Colloquial Chinese and Its History: Dialect and Text |location=Hong Kong |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |pages=153–172 |isbn=978-988-8754-09-0}} In 1917, Canadian Methodist missionary Omar Leslie Kilborn published his own Sichuanese-language textbook titled {{ill|Chinese Lessons for First Year Students in West China|zh|華西第一年學生用中文教材}}.

Prior to 1950, the Protestant churches in Sichuan had a close relationship with Szechwan Lodge {{numero|112}} under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of the Philippines. In addition to having its meeting point at the West China Union University in Chengtu,{{cite web |url=http://www.kernowkid.com/uploads/2/9/1/2/29126801/how_freemasonry_came_to_china_revised.pdf |title=How Freemasonry Came to China |last=Coak |first=Brian L. |website=kernowkid.com |accessdate=16 March 2024 |page=5}} several masters were also missionaries, e.g., American Baptist missionary David Crockett Graham;{{cite news |author= |date=18 September 1961 |title=Dr. Graham, Missionary, Dies at 77 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-daily-star-dr-david-graham-dec/16952573/ |work=Arizona Daily Star |location=Tucson |page=16 |access-date=16 March 2024}} American Methodist missionary {{ill|Ralph Ansel Ward|zh|黃安素}};{{cite magazine |last=Avery |first=George A. |date=1957 |title=From Our Grand Secretary's Office |url=https://pagrandlodge.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/FreemasonMagazine-1957-11.pdf |magazine=The Freemason |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania |page=3 |access-date=16 March 2024}} Canadian Methodist missionaries Albert James Brace{{cite web |url=https://madspace.org/Asset/Source/adPrint_ID-684_No-01.pdf |title=Our Constitutional Family |author= |date=1937 |website=madspace.org |page=2 |access-date=16 March 2024}} and Thomas Harry Williams.{{cite magazine |last=Williams |first=T. H. |date=1 June 1937 |title=Consecration Event Proves Universality of Masonry |url=https://grandlodge.ph/sites/default/files/cabletow/Cabletow1937-1.pdf |magazine=The Cable Tow |location=Manila |publisher=Grand Lodge of the Philippines |volume=XV |issue=1 |page=234 |access-date=16 March 2024}} Brace was one of the founders of the West China Border Research Society.{{cite journal |others=Printed by the Canadian Methodist Mission Press |date=1922–1923 |title=Organization and First Year's Program |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AJournal_of_the_West_China_Border_Research_Society_(1922-23%3B_vol._I).pdf&page=9 |journal=Journal of the West China Border Research Society |volume=I |page=1 |access-date=16 March 2024}} Graham organized the first archaeological excavation of what is now known as Sanxingdui, which is supposedly the capital city of the ancient kingdom of Shu. He wrote "A Preliminary Report of the Hanchow Excavation" published in the Journal of the West China Border Research Society.{{cite journal |last=Graham |first=David C. |editor-last=Kilborn |editor-first=L. G. |others=Printed by the United Church of Canada Mission Press |year=1934 |title=A Preliminary Report of the Hanchow Excavation |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AJournal_of_the_West_China_Border_Research_Society_(1933-34%3B_vol._VI).pdf&page=230 |journal=Journal of the West China Border Research Society |location=Chengtu |publisher=West China Border Research Society |volume=6 |pages=114–131}}

The work of Protestant missions had led to many firsts in Sichuan. The following table is based on the article "Outline of the History of Protestant Christianity in Sichuan" by Pastor Wang Yi.{{cite web |url=http://www.pacilution.com/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=1025 |title=基督教在四川的历史要略 |trans-title=Outline of the History of Protestant Christianity in Sichuan |last=Wang |first=Yi |date=25 September 2007 |website=pacilution.com |language=zh-hans |access-date=16 March 2024}}

The 1936 novel Ripple on Stagnant Water by Li Chie-ren gives a detailed account of the conflicts among the three parties in the Chengdu area during the 1890s, namely, the local Christian communities, Elder Brothers Society and the bureaucracy.{{cite web |url=https://www.merwinasia.com/ripple-on-stagnant-water |title=Ripple on Stagnant Water: A Novel of Sichuan in the Age of Treaty Ports |author= |date=2014 |website=merwinasia.com |access-date=20 April 2024}}{{cite journal |last=Zhu |first=Shoutong |date=2011 |title=試論中國新文化運動的'第三個中心' |trans-title=On the "Third Center" of the New Culture Movement |url=https://journal.ipm.edu.mo/images/journal_c/2011_4/p156_163.pdf |language=zh-hant |journal=Journal of Macao Polytechnic University |issue=4 |issn=0874-1824 |page=158}} The novel was adapted into a 12-episode television series in 1988 titled {{ill|A Woman to Three Men|zh|死水微瀾 (1988年電視劇)}}, a feature film in 1992 titled {{ill|Ripples Across Stagnant Water (film)|lt=Ripples Across Stagnant Water|zh|狂 (電影)}}, and a namesake series in 2008.

File:Map of Szechwan showing stations of CIM, CMS and BCMS.png|Map of Szechwan showing Anglican mission stations of China Inland Mission (CIM), Church Missionary Society (CMS) and Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society (BCMS)

File:Canadian Methodist Mission in Central Szechwan.png|Canadian Methodist Mission in Central Szechwan

File:West China Mission (The United Church of Canada).jpg|West China Mission of the United Church of Canada (Methodist)

File:American Methodist Episcopal Area in Szechwan.png|American Methodist Episcopal Mission area in Szechwan

File:American Baptist Mission in Szchuan.png|Map of Szechwan showing American Baptist Mission stations

File:Area of Sz-chwan compared with British Isles.png|Area of Szechwan compared with British Isles. Shaded portion is Friends' Foreign Mission Association's district.

File:Friends' District in Sz-Chwan.png|Friends' Foreign Mission Association's district in Szechwan (Quaker)

File:Protestant Mission Fields in Szechwan.png|Map of Szechwan showing division of the field by six Protestant mission societies in 1922: ABF, CIM, CMM, CMS, FFMA, and MEFB.

{{div col}}

• Christianity in Sichuan
• Church of the East in Sichuan
• Catholic Church in Sichuan
• Protestantism in Mianyang
• Anti-Christian Movement (China)
• Anti-missionary riots in China
• Antireligious campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party
• Denunciation Movement
• House church (China)
• :Category:Anglicanism in Sichuan
• :Category:Methodism in Sichuan
• :Category:Quakerism in Sichuan
• :Category:Baptist Christianity in Sichuan
• :Category:Sichuanese Protestants
• :Category:Protestant churches in Chongqing
• :Category:Protestant churches in Sichuan
• :Category:Protestant missionaries in Sichuan
• :Category:Protestant missionaries in Tibet

{{div col end}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Baker |first=Richard T. |date=1946 |title=Methodism in China: The War Years |url=https://archive.org/details/methodisminchina00bake |location=New York |publisher=Board of Missions and Church Extension}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Broomhall |editor-first=Marshall |editor-link=Marshall Broomhall |date=1907 |chapter=The Province of Szechwan |chapter-url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Chinese_Empire._A_General_%26_Missionary_Survey/The_Province_of_Szechwan |title=The Chinese Empire: A General & Missionary Survey |location=London |publisher=Morgan & Scott}}
• {{cite book |last=Cochrane |first=Thos. |author-link=Thomas Cochrane (doctor) |date=1913 |chapter=Chapter XI. Szechuan |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofmissiona00cochrich/page/188 |title=Survey of the Missionary Occupation of China |location=Shanghai |publisher=The Christian Literature Society for China}}
• {{cite book |last1=Levenson |first1=Rosemary |last2=Service |first2=John S. |author-link2=John S. Service |date=1981 |title=State Department Duty in China: The McCarthy Era, and After, 1933–1977 |url=https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/rohoia/ucb/text/statedutychinaera00johnrich.pdf |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=University of California Press}}
• {{cite book |last=Loftis |first=Z. S. |date=1911 |title=A Message From Batang: The Diary of Z. S. Loftis, M.D. Missionary to Tibetans |url=https://archive.org/details/messagefrombatan0000loft |location=New York |publisher=Fleming H. Revell Company}}
• {{cite book |last=Norris |first=Frank L. |author-link=Frank Norris (bishop) |date=1908 |title=Handbooks of English Church Expansion: China |chapter=Chapter X. The Church in Western China |chapter-url=http://anglicanhistory.org/asia/china/flnorris1908/10.html |location=Oxford |publisher=A. R. Mowbray}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Service |editor-first=John S. |editor-link=John S. Service |date=1991 |title=Golden Inches: The China Memoir of Grace Service |url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft3k4005b9 |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520074163}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Stauffer |editor-first=Milton T. |date=1922 |chapter=The Province of Szechwan |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/thechristianoccupationofchina00shan/page/n247 |title=The Christian Occupation of China |location=Shanghai |publisher=China Continuation Committee}}

• {{YouTube|aezEXiu5KTQ|"Protestant Educational Mission in West China: Vanguard of What?" — Lecture by Jeff Kyong-McClain (April 12, 2022)}}

{{Christianity in Sichuan}}

{{Christianity in Tibet}}

{{History of Christianity}}

{{Protestant missions to China}}

Category:Protestantism in Chongqing

Category:Protestantism in Tibet

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Category:Persecution of Protestants