The Bread of Life Church (Chinese: 靈糧堂; pinyin: Ling Liang Tang) is an independent Chinese church founded in Shanghai, Republic of China, in 1942, which now has churches in Asia, Australia, and North America.[1]
History
editDuring the Second Sino-Japanese War, the International Settlement in Shanghai was seized by Japanese troops in December 1941, putting a stop to Western missions in the region. The next year, in June 1942, the Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor Timothy Dzao (Chinese: 趙世光; 1908–1973) established the Bread of Life Church in Shanghai.[2] It aspired to be an indigenous church which followed the three-self principle.[1]
By the time of the communist victory in mainland China, Dzao moved his headquarters first to Hong Kong in 1949,[1] before moving it to Taipei, Taiwan in 1954. When Nathaniel Chow (周神助; born 1941) became the senior pastor of the Bread of Life Church in Taipei (1977–2011), the church began have a stronger emphasis on a charismatic infilling of the Holy Spirit.[3]
The church started a seminary in 1990 and, in 2005, the church was reported to have 33,132 members in Taiwan and 134 churches worldwide.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b c Tiedemann, R. G. (2009). "Ling Liang Church". Reference Guide to Christian Missionary Societies in China: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century. New York: Routledge. p. 245. ISBN 9781315497327.
- ^ Lian Xi (2010). Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-300-12339-5.
- ^ Synan, Vinson; Yong, Amos, eds. (2016). Global Renewal Christianity: Asia and Oceania Spirit-Empowered Movement: Past, Present, and Future. Charisma Media. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-1-62998-688-3.
- ^ Lo Lung-Kwong (2011). "Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau". In Peter C. Phan (ed.). Christianities in Asia. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 178–179. ISBN 978-1-4443-9260-9.