From July 28 to 29, CCC/TSPM hosted a seminar on Reconstruciton of Theological Thinking and Building-up Harmonious Churches in Nanjing. About 90 participants from CC/TSPM of 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities as well as leadership of CCC/TSPM were present at the seminar.

The seminar was strongly supported by the United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee, State Administration on Religious Affairs, Jiangsu United Front and Jiangsu Religious Bureau, etc. Leaders from above-mentioned units also attended the seminar and gave due guidance.

Mr. Jiang Jianyong, Vice Director-General of SARA made a very positive comment on the achievements the church community has scored in building-up harmonious churches. At the same time, he advocated that the church community should develop in accordance with the route of the socialist society, safeguard the national interest, promote the societal harmony and promote Reconstruction of Theological Thinking as well as the building-up of the harmonious churches.

At the opening ceremony, Elder Fu addressed the audience that fruits of Reconstruction of Theological Thinking should serve as the academic catalyst of Building-up of the Harmonious Churches. The Building-Up project should not only fit the request of the government, but also meet the internal needs of the church. Focusing on the academic research as well as the transform of the research results into practices, church clergies and congregations should form a uniting force to facilitate the building-up project voluntarily. He also encouraged to enhance the sense of social responsibility, to promote the harmony of the church and the society, and to create a beneficial external surrounding for the building-up project through Reconstruction of Theological Thinking.

In the unit of “Exploration of the Harmonious Theory”, attendees reviewed the Building-up project theologically. They all affirmed the biblical basis and theological ground of the Building-up project. The project would enrich the meaning of Reconstruction of Theological Thinking and broaden the vision as well as vitalize the contextualization of Reconstruction of Theological Thinking. In the unit of “Sharing Experience” and the unit of “Church Building in a Harmonious Society”, attendees shared their unique experience with one another. They proposed to include the building-up project into the plan of better managing the church, and to fulfill the harmony of the church by strengthening the internal construction. In the unit of “Promoting Harmony through Social Service”, all recognized social service as the entry point for the church to get integrated into the Chinese society, the effective medium for the society to understand and accept the church, and the factor to form a positive atmosphere for the building-up project.

With the theological review and the practical experience of the building-up project as the main thread of the seminar, dynamic discussions were held in three dimensions, i.e., theological theory, internal construction and interactions between church and society. Grass-root ministers, seminary teachers together with CCC/TSPM co-workers had abundant dialogues to reflect how the Harmonious Theory could facilitate the building-up project, how the practical experience drawn from the project could boost Reconstruction of Theological Thinking, and how to realize mutual promotion eventually.

Last but not least, Elder Fu Xianwei summarized the seminar by recognizing the active participation of all attendees while pointing out that the seminar embodied the sense of responsibility and mission towards the construction and the development of the Church in china. He mentioned that the building-up project must fully exert the function of local CC/TSPMs and churches to coordinate with the local religious bureaus and orderly promote the work. He said that it is important to study and work assiduously to ground the project. All local CC/TSPMs are required to strengthen the guidance, sense of service, ability of service and the quality of service to lead the church better carrying out the project. From the actual perspective, Elder Fu also stressed that the project must hold tightly to “four combine” when it comes to the concrete measures, which is to combine the project with insistence on the Three-Self Patriotic Principle and deepen Reconstruction of Theological Thinking, to combine the project with the internal construction of local CC/TSPMs and churches, to combine the project with comprehensive solidarity, and to combine the project with more social service work.