A Survey of Urban Migrant Worker Christian Gathering Points

With the advancement of urbanization, the development of Christianity within China is shifting from rural areas to towns and cities, and the group of migrant worker Christians is gradually expanding. The religious beliefs of this group, especially the influence of Christian faith on their social role positioning and social integration, have attracted widespread attention from academia. Although many urban Christian churches still fall far short in addressing the difficulties faced by migrant worker Christians, in fact, Christian churches have become groups that welcome migrant workers entering the city. More importantly, the Christian church has become a home for the spiritual belonging of migrant workers, a faith community that provides comfort and recognition for rural Christians within a marginalized social structure. Since 2000, many domestic scholars have used various research methods to explore the organizational conditions of migrant worker Christian churches and the faith status of their believers. These studies are in-depth and detailed, but on the one hand, because the situations they reflect are mostly from a decade ago, it is difficult to present the latest developments; on the other hand, these studies mainly focus on migrant worker Christian gathering points cultivated by rural church teams, and rarely address gathering points organized spontaneously by migrant worker Christians themselves. For this reason, this article will attempt to conduct further research on this topic based on field data from a migrant worker Christian church in Beijing in recent years, striving to present a more comprehensive picture of the diversity of migrant worker Christian church organizations in the process of contemporary Chinese urbanization.

随着城镇化进程的推进，我国境内的基督教发展，正在从农村向城镇转移，农民工基督徒群体正在逐步扩大。这一群体的信仰情况，尤其是基督信仰对于他们的社会角色定位、社会融入影响等方面引起了学界的广泛关注。尽管许多城市基督教会在解决农民工基督徒的困境上还十分欠缺，然而事实上基督教会却成为欢迎进城的农民工的团体，更重要的是，基督教会成了农民工精神心灵寄托的一个家园，成为农村基督徒在被边缘化的社会结构中为其提供安慰和承认的信仰共同体。自2000年以来，国内诸多学者运用多种研究方法探究了农民工基督教会的组织状况和信徒的信仰情况。这些研究深入详实，但一方面，由于所反映的情况大多已有十年之久，难以呈现最新的发展状况；另一方面，这些研究主要聚焦于乡村教会团队培植下的农民工基督徒聚会点，较少涉及农民工基督徒自组织形式的聚会点。为此，本文将基于近年来对北京某农民工基督教会的田野资料，尝试对此议题展开进一步的研究，力求较为全面地呈现当代中国城镇化进程中的农民工基督教会组织的多样性特征。

I. Description of the Survey Object: An Overview of the Z Migrant Worker Church

一、调查对象描述：Z农民工教会概况

Existing field data indicate that migrant worker Christian churches in Beijing emerged at the end of the 20th century, most of them established by rural churches from neighboring provinces. From a geographical perspective, in the early stages of their founding and development, many migrant worker churches held their gatherings mostly in urban suburbs, villages within cities, or urban-rural fringe areas. Unlike existing studies that focus on migrant worker churches established under the cultivation of rural church teams, the Z church examined in this article is a quasi-Three-Self church affiliated with the Three-Self Church A. This church is located in the F community, a village within a city on the outskirts of Beijing, where the floating population constitutes an overwhelming majority. In the field investigation, the author participated in the daily religious activities of the Z church as an inquirer, using observation and interviews to understand the faith status of migrant worker Christians and the changes in the church, focusing on how they “use Christian doctrine and knowledge to interpretively understand and construct the meaning of their own life world.”

已有田野资料表明，北京的农民工基督教会兴起于20世纪末，大部分由邻近省份的农村教会建立。从地理空间来看，许多农民工教会在其创立及发展前期，聚会场所多数位于城市郊区、城中村或者城乡结合部。与已有研究多聚焦于乡村教会团队培植下建立的农民工教会所不同的是，本文所关注的Z教会是一个挂靠于三自教会A堂的准三自教会。该教会位于北京城郊的一个流动人口占绝大多数的城中村F社区。在田野调查中，笔者以慕道友的身份参与Z教会的日常宗教活动，通过观察及访谈的方式，了解农民工基督徒的信仰状况和教会的变迁情况，关注他们“如何运用基督教的教义与知识去解释性地理解与建构自我生活世界的意义”。

(1) Church Establishment and Changes

（一）教会建立与变迁

The Z church was founded in the 1990s, initially organized spontaneously by several migrant worker Christians from Anhui Province. As the scale of gatherings expanded, its influence grew, and the number of believers increased. In order to build a stable, sustainable gathering point close to believers’ homes and to expand the scale of Three-Self “pastoral care,” the Three-Self Church A intended to bring this fellowship point under its management. Against this backdrop, with the “pastoral” support of the Three-Self Church A, several migrant worker Christians established the Z gathering point affiliated with Church A in 2003, and began renting a venue for gatherings. The Z church aims to “pastorally care for” floating population Christians, with all daily expenses relying on believers’ offerings. Due to factors such as community demolition and the high mobility of migrant workers, some believers moved away, and church offering income decreased. In recent years, the total offerings received have been less than 100,000 yuan per year. After deducting expenses such as rent, ministry visits, and pastoral staff salaries, it can only maintain a basic balance of income and expenditure. Since its establishment, the Z church has faced significant financial pressure and has thus been unable to develop new gathering points.

Z教会创建于上世纪90年代，初期由几名安徽籍农民工基督徒自发组织聚会。随着聚会规模的扩大，影响力不断增大，信徒人数不断增长。为了给信徒建构一个稳定、可持续且离家近的聚会点，扩大三自“牧养”的规模，三自A教会有意将此团契点纳入管理。在此背景下，几名农民工基督徒在三自A教会的“牧养”扶持下，于2003年成立了隶属于A教会的Z聚会点，开始租用聚会场所。Z教会旨在“牧养”流动人口基督徒，日常开支全部依靠信徒的奉献。由于受社区拆迁和农民工的高流动性等因素影响，部分信徒搬离，教会奉献收入减少，近几年所得奉献款额不足10万元/年，扣除房租、事工探访和教牧人员工资等各项支出后，仅能维持基本的收支平衡。Z教会自成立至今一直面临较大的财政资金压力，因而也无力开拓新的聚会点。

Throughout its history, the composition of believers in the Z church has been relatively homogeneous, and prayer rituals have been relatively simple. Compared with traditional urban churches, the gatherings of migrant worker churches, whose main body is the floating population, remain in a primary differentiation model of “relational grouping.” In gatherings, believers mostly take geographical relationships (hometown) as a reference and interpersonal relationships from their place of origin (fellow townspeople) as a basis, forming several internal groups. Compared with migrant worker churches established under the cultivation of rural church teams, the Z church has a lower degree of organization and has not seen differentiation based on an institutionalized logic of grouping.

一直以来，Z教会的信徒构成较为单一，祷告仪式也相对简单。与传统城市教会相比，以流动人口为主体的农民工教会聚会仍然处于“关系分群”的初级分化模式，在聚会中信徒大多以地缘关系（家乡）为参照，以来源地人际关系（同乡）为基础，形成若干内部群体。与乡村教会团队培植下建立的农民工教会相比，Z教会的组织化程度更低，并没有出现制度化分群逻辑为依据的分化。

(2) Composition of Believers

（二）信徒构成

The church’s “pastoral care” mainly relies on Pastor Z from a house church, Pastor L from the Three-Self Church A, and Preacher H and Elder S from a house church. Pastor Z serves multiple churches in Beijing, including the Z church, and is mainly responsible for the Z church’s Bible study gatherings; Pastor L is a pastor of the Three-Self church and mainly presides over the Z church’s communion services and baptism ceremonies; Preacher H and Elder S are mainly responsible for the Z church’s Sunday worship. The group of nearly a hundred believers mostly came to the church through introductions from acquaintances such as fellow townspeople, workmates, and neighbors. Among them, middle-aged and elderly female believers constitute the majority; the vast majority of believers are floating population from outside the area renting in the F community and its surroundings; the main body of believers remains rural believers who have moved from the countryside to the city for work and life; the educational level of believers is generally low, with the vast majority having graduated from primary or junior high school, and some female believers being illiterate; in terms of occupation, male believers mostly work as security guards, construction workers, transport drivers, etc., while female believers mostly work as shopping mall cleaners or domestic hourly workers. Similar to many rural churches, this church does not maintain a special register of believers, so the exact number of believers has not been counted. The degree of participation in activities among migrant worker Christians varies considerably, mainly related to the believers’ faith and piety. Based on this, we can classify them into the following types:

教会的“牧养”主要依赖于家庭教会的Z牧师，三自A教会的L牧师和家庭教会的H传道和S长老。Z牧师在北京服侍包括Z教会在内的多个教会，主要负责Z教会的查经聚会；L牧师为三自教会牧师，主要主持Z教会的圣餐礼拜及受洗仪式；H传道和S长老主要负责Z教会的主日敬拜。近百人的信徒群体，大多通过老乡、工友、邻里等熟人介绍的方式来到教会。其中，中老年女性信徒占大多数；绝大多数信徒为租住在F社区及周边的外来流动人口；信徒主体仍然是从乡村进入城市务工生活的已有农村信徒；信徒受教育程度普遍不高，绝大多数信徒为小学或初中毕业，还有部分女性信徒是文盲；在职业上男性信徒多从事保安、建筑工、运输司机等工作，女性信徒多为商场保洁员、家政小时工。与很多农村教会相似，该教会没有对信徒进行专门登记，所以也未统计过信徒的确切数量。农民工基督徒的活动参与程度存在较大差异，主要与信徒的信心和虔诚度有关。据此，我们可以将其划分以下几种类型：

1. Church Co-workers

1.教会同工

Co-workers, as core members of the church, have absolute say and voting rights in the church’s daily affairs. The Z church currently has seven co-workers, including two men and five women. They are tacitly recognized as church co-workers by the other believers due to their high level of participation in gatherings and long service time, rather than through formal ordination. Since its founding, the church has had no ordination procedures.

同工作为教会核心成员，在教会的日常事务上拥有绝对的发言权与表决权。Z教会现有同工七人，其中男性二人，女性五人。他们都是因为聚会参与度程度高、参与服侍时间长，被众信徒默认为教会同工，并非按立确认。从创立至今，教会并无按立程序。

2. Choir Members

2.唱诗班成员

The choir currently has fifteen members, including five men and ten women, mostly in their forties and fifties, including five of the church’s co-workers. All choir members have been baptized and volunteered to join the choir. They learn to sing more hymns than ordinary believers and have a higher level of participation in gatherings, making them the main members of the church.

唱诗班目前共有十五人，其中男性五人，女性十人，年龄大多四五十岁，其中包括教会的五名同工。诗班成员均已受洗，自愿报名参加唱诗班。他们学唱的赞美诗歌比普通信徒更多，聚会参与度更高，是教会的主要成员。

3. “Sleepers,” “Hiders,” and “Christmas Believers”

3.“觉徒”、“混子”与“圣诞节信徒”

These categories mainly refer to believers who, although they have believed in Christianity or even been baptized for many years, still “stay away from God” in their daily lives. Their faith piety is relatively low, and they pay more attention to “spirit” rather than “faith.” Specifically, “sleepers” refers to believers who fall asleep during gatherings, mainly elderly believers with low energy; “hiders” is a term used by devout believers to mock those who dare not admit they are Christians in secular life; this category includes both some new believers and some who, although baptized for many years, do not regularly attend church activities; “Christmas believers” is analogous to “rice Christians,” referring to those who rarely participate in church activities except at Christmas. Especially the latter two types, in the view of many devout believers, can hardly be considered true Christians.

这几类称呼主要指那些虽然信仰基督教甚至已受洗多年，但日常生活却“远离神”的信徒。他们的信仰虔诚度较低，更注重“灵”而非“信”。具体而言，“觉徒”指的是聚会犯困之人，主要是精力不济的老年信徒；“混子”则是虔诚信徒戏称那些不敢在世俗生活中承认自己是基督徒的人，这部分信徒既包括部分初信者，也包括部分虽受洗多年却不定期参加教会活动的信徒；“圣诞节信徒”类比于“米饭基督徒”，指那些平日极少参与教会活动，只在圣诞节才来参加聚会的信徒。尤其是后两类信徒，在不少虔诚信徒看来很难称得上是真正的基督徒。

4. Ordinary Believers and Inquirers

4.普通信徒和慕道友

Most ordinary believers of the Z church only attend gatherings on Sundays, with the vast majority being migrant workers and elderly people who have moved to the city. Most believers are rural Christians who converted in their hometowns. In recent years, the Z church has had few inquirers. According to the co-workers, in the past three years, only six inquirers have been baptized at the Z church. On the one hand, this is related to a decline in believers’ enthusiasm for evangelism; on the other hand, it is also related to the church’s current cramped and shabby gathering space. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has also brought a significant impact on the church’s normal offline gatherings, with intermittent gatherings causing the loss of some believers and inquirers. Currently, the inquirers attending gatherings are mainly elderly people who have moved to the city, who have relatively ample disposable time on weekends and have low requirements for the gathering environment. Elderly inquirers who basically attend gatherings stably will, after a period of time, choose to be baptized and become true Christians.

Z教会的普通信徒大多只在周日参加聚会，绝大多数为农民工和进城老人，大部分信徒为老家皈信的农村基督徒。近年来，Z教会的慕道友并不多，据同工介绍，近三年来在Z教会受洗的慕道友总共才六人。这一方面与信徒的传福音热情度下降有关，另一方面也与教会当前简陋拥挤的聚会空间有关。与此同时，新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情对教会的正常线下聚会也带来了不小冲击，时断时续的聚会造成部分信徒和慕道友流失。目前参加聚会的慕道友主要是进城老人，周末可支配时间较为充裕，而且对聚会环境要求不高。基本稳定参加聚会的老年慕道友，经过一段时间的聚会后，都会选择受洗，成为一名真正的基督徒。

(3) Main Activities and Rituals

（三）主要活动和仪式

As a migrant worker church, Church Z’s schedule and ritual activities take full account of the actual conditions of migrant workers. Overall, the gathering procedure is relatively simple; during gatherings, believers frequently come and go freely, whisper to one another, and mobile phone ringtones sound from time to time. This stands in sharp contrast to the Three-Self Church [n1] such as Church A, which has clear church bylaws and gathering discipline, or to new urban house churches, a contrast deeply felt by pastoral co-workers and devout believers. Some scholars have also pointed out that the church form and believers’ mode of faith in migrant worker Christian churches in fact still maintain a fairly high degree of continuity with rural churches, while showing marked differences from urban churches, especially the so-called “third type of church” formed by intellectuals or professionals. Currently, Church Z’s main activities include three regular gatherings per week, a monthly co-workers’ meeting, and an annual Christmas celebration and Easter baptism ceremony.

Z教会作为一个农民工教会，其日程安排和活动仪式会充分考虑农民工的实际状况。总体而言，聚会程序比较简单，聚会期间时有信众自由出入，窃窃私语，甚至不时响起手机铃声。这与具有明确教会章程和聚会纪律的A教会等三自教会或新型城市家庭教会形成鲜明对比，对此教牧同工和虔诚信徒深有感触。有学者也曾指出，农民工基督教会的教会形态和信徒信仰方式其实仍然与乡村教会保持相当高程度的延续性，而与城市教会，特别是被称为“第三种教会”的知识分子或专业人士团契表现出显著的差异。当前Z教会的主要活动包括每周三次的常规聚会，每月一次的同工会议以及一年一度的圣诞节庆祝仪式和复活节受洗仪式。

1. Bible Study Gatherings and Prayer Meetings

1.查经聚会和祷告会

The Monday evening Bible study gathering has always been led by Pastor Z. Each Bible study gathering maintains a size of about thirty people. The pastor leads prayer and scripture study, and from time to time poses questions to the believers based on a Bible study manual. The prayer meeting is scheduled for Wednesday evenings and is organized by the believers themselves; the number of participants is equal to that of the Bible study gathering. Prayer takes the form of kneeling worship; believers take turns praying voluntarily, each using about five minutes, until the end.

周一晚上的查经聚会一直由Z牧师负责，每次查经聚会的规模大概维持在三十人左右，由牧师带领祷告和查考经文，并依照查经手册不时提问信徒。祷告会安排在周三晚间，由信徒自行组织，参与人数与查经聚会的规模相等。祷告为跪拜仪式，信徒轮流自愿祷告，每人用时5分钟左右，直到结束。

2. Sunday Worship and Holy Communion

2.主日敬拜和圣餐礼拜

Sunday worship is held on Sunday afternoons, with attendance ranging from about 70 to 100 people each time. The entire service is presided over by co-workers. First, believers sing hymns, then the choir offers a hymn, and believers stand for silent prayer. After this segment, the co-worker leads the congregation in learning new songs and welcomes newcomers. Then, Christians who wish to offer prayers or testimonies are invited to state their prayer requests and share testimonies. In this segment, the prayers or testimonies believers offer mostly concern their own or their relatives’ and friends’ everyday illnesses, unexpected incidents, employment and job selection, and children’s school advancement. On this point, some scholars have pointed out that while believers’ testimonies and miracle stories may not fully prove that the various promises of religion are true, they can indeed strengthen the mutual faith of the congregation in the divine. After prayer, the co-worker leads the believers in reading selected passages from the Bible, and then the pastor ascends the pulpit to preach. Holy Communion is generally held on the third Sunday of each month, presided over by Pastor L from Church A. The procedure is basically the same as Sunday worship, except that the Holy Communion ceremony takes place after the pastor’s sermon.

主日敬拜在周日下午举行，每次参加的人数大概在70至100人之间，全程由同工主持。首先信徒颂唱赞美诗，然后唱诗班献诗，信徒起立默祷。此环节结束后，同工便教唱诗歌和欢迎新人。随后邀请准备代祷和见证的基督徒告知代祷事项及分享见证事例。在此环节，信徒所做祷告或见证大多涉及自己或亲友的日常疾病、意外事件、就业择业和子女升学等事项。为此有学者指出或许信徒的见证和神奇故事并不能完全证明宗教的种种承诺是真实的，但它的确能够增强信众彼此对神灵的信心。祷告后，由同工带领信徒阅读《圣经》选段，再由牧师上台讲道。圣餐礼拜一般安排在每月第三周的周日下午举行，由A教会的L牧师主持。流程与主日敬拜基本相同，只是在牧师讲道环节后举行圣餐礼拜仪式。

3. Christmas Gathering

3.圣诞节聚会

For Christians, the most solemn festival of the year is Christmas. Believers at Church Z generally begin preparing for the Christmas celebration two months in advance; believers volunteer to sign up to arrange programs. The celebration ceremony generally lasts from morning until evening; during this time, the church provides a free lunch. The arranged programs include dance, hymn praise, skits, and so on. The gathering procedure still follows the fixed segments of hymn offering, prayer, sermon, and so forth, followed by the program performances. After the gathering ends, the church also prepares a small gift for each person, and Christmas is also the day with the highest attendance of believers in the year.

对于基督徒而言，一年中最隆重的节日莫过于圣诞节。Z教会信徒一般提前两个月开始筹备圣诞节庆祝活动，信徒自愿报名编排节目。庆祝仪式一般从上午持续到傍晚，在此期间，教会提供免费午餐。编排的节目包括舞蹈、诗歌赞美、小品等。聚会程序依然为固定的献诗、祷告、证道等环节，然后是节目表演。聚会结束后，教会还会为每人准备一份小礼物，而且圣诞节也是一年中信徒人数最多的一天。

4. Easter Baptism

4.复活节受洗

Church Z generally holds its annual baptism ceremony at Easter, with a pastor from the Three-Self Church A presiding over the sprinkling rite and issuing baptismal certificates. Two months before baptism, the church arranges a tutorial class, in which pastoral co-workers systematically explain the Bible to believers who intend to be baptized; only after passing an examination are they qualified to be baptized. The number of believers baptized each year at the church is not fixed, but the vast majority of believers attending gatherings have already been baptized.

Z教会一般在复活节举行每年一度的受洗仪式，由三自A教会的牧师主持洒水礼，颁发受洗证书。在受洗前两个月，教会安排辅导班，由教牧同工为有受洗意向的信徒系统讲解《圣经》，考核通过后才有资格受洗。教会每年受洗的信徒并不固定，但参加聚会的信徒绝大多数已受洗。

(4) Relations with Other Churches

（四）与其他教会关系

On the one hand, as an independent church within the “quasi-Three-Self Church” category, Church Z, a migrant worker church, does not have close exchanges with other urban churches. Its relations are more evident in the hiring of pastors from other churches to come and “shepherd”; the church’s daily gatherings and financial management are in fact independent of the pastors’ home churches. Although it belongs to the category of rural churches within the city, Church Z has little linkage with migrant worker churches cultivated by rural church teams; and with the Three-Self Church A, it maintains only a nominal subordinate relationship—as mentioned above, Church A only regularly sends pastors to preach and preside over baptisms, without interfering in its daily operations. As for new urban house churches located in various office buildings and residential complexes, as well as traditional Beijing churches, Church Z lacks contact with them even more; believers know very little about Christian ministries such as pastoral joint prayer meetings or “Peace China” [n2].

一方面，作为一个“准三自教会”中的独立教会，Z农民工教会与城市其他教会往来并不密切。更多的体现在聘请其他教会牧者前来“牧养”，教会的日常聚会和财务管理等实则均与牧者所属教会相互独立。虽然同属都市里的乡村教会，但Z教会与乡村教会团队培植下的农民工教会并无多少联动；而与三自A教会也仅仅保持名义上隶属关系，如前所述，A教会仅定期派遣牧师讲道和主持受洗，并不干涉其日常运作；至于位于各类写字楼和居民楼中的新型城市家庭教会和北京传统教会，Z教会更是与它们缺乏联络，信徒对教牧联祷会议、“平安中国”等基督事工更是知之甚少。

Beyond this, since its founding, Church Z has had no substantive connection with the neighborhood committee of the community where it is located. The neighborhood committee has not interfered with the church’s normal religious activities, only reminding the church to pay attention to fire safety and similar matters on a daily basis, while church believers have never participated in various community volunteer activities in the name of the church. Overall, Church Z’s external linkages are weak; it has no intention of expanding its ministries or reforming the church, and tends to maintain the status quo.

除此之外，Z教会自成立至今，与所在社区居委会也并无实质性联系。居委会并未干涉教会的正常宗教活动，日常仅提醒教会注意消防安全等事宜，而教会信徒也从未以教会名义参与到社区的各类志愿活动中。总体而言，Z教会的对外联动性不强，也没有开拓事工和变革教会的意愿，更倾向于维持现状。

II. The Current Situation and Characteristics of Church Z, a Migrant Worker Church

二、Z农民工教会的现状与特征

Existing research has found that migrant worker Christians in larger urban churches find it difficult to obtain concrete “spiritual” care and group identity, and even suffer varying degrees of discrimination due to their identity in some urban churches. This prompts them to tend to join churches composed of rural Christians with similar social and cultural backgrounds, constructing “rural churches within the city.” As for Church Z, the focus of this article, because it is located in an urban-rural fringe zone, the vast majority of its believers are migrant workers, and it was originally formed as a self-organized gathering point. Therefore, the current situation and characteristics it presents in its development process differ markedly from Three-Self churches, traditional urban churches, new urban house churches, and migrant worker churches supported by rural church teams. At present, this is mainly reflected in the following four aspects:

既有研究发现，农民工基督徒在城市较大规模的教会中难以得到具体的“属灵”关怀和群体认同，甚至由于其身份在一些城市教会中遭受不同程度的歧视。这促使他们倾向于加入同是由社会和文化背景相似的农村基督徒构成的教会，构建“都市里的乡村教会”。就本文所关注的Z教会而言，由于地处城乡结合地带，信徒绝大多数为农民工，而且创建之初为自组织形式，因此其发展过程中呈现出的现状与特征迥异于三自教会、传统城市教会、新型城市家庭教会和有乡村教会团队扶持的农民工教会。目前来看，主要体现在以下四个方面：

(1) “Mobile” Religious Activity Venues

（一）“流动的”宗教活动场所

Although Community F, where Church Z is located, has not experienced large-scale whole-village demolition due to urbanization, Church Z has moved nearly ten times within Community F since its founding. The frequent changes of gathering venues are mainly due to external factors. For example, lease expiration, excessive rent increases, demolition of illegal structures, and neighbor complaints about noise. Since most church believers rent housing in and around Community F, and considering the time and economic costs for believers, Church Z only “moves” within the community. Although the number of church believers is growing, the church’s current financial resources are insufficient to bear the higher costs of relocating “upstairs” [n3] outside the community.

虽然Z教会所在地F社区并未出现因城镇化而导致大规模的整村拆迁情况，但Z教会自创立至今已在F社区内搬迁近十次。频繁更换聚会场所的原因主要受教会外部因素制约。比如租房到期，房租上涨过快，违建拆除，邻居投诉扰民等。由于教会信徒大多租住在F社区及周边，因此考虑信徒的时间和经济成本，Z教会仅在社区内“流动”。虽然教会信徒呈现日益增长的态势，但是教会现有财力尚不足以负担更高的外迁“上楼”成本。

(2) Pastoral Team Contract System

（二）教牧团队聘任制

Migrant worker Christians are highly mobile, have low levels of education, and face significant survival pressures; being primarily focused on employment and work, they have little time and energy to undergo systematic theological training and become full-time pastors. As a self-organized gathering point mainly composed of migrant workers from other places, hiring full-time pastoral staff is clearly a considerable expense. Adopting a flexible contract-based pastoral “shepherding” model can reduce the church’s operating costs while meeting believers’ basic “spiritual” needs. This model has been in place since the church’s founding and has gained the recognition of all believers. Although Elder S, one of the pastoral team members, intends to promote Church Z’s transformation into an urban church, establishing a complete church organizational structure and a full-time pastoral team, this proposal has generated considerable disagreement among the believers.

农民工基督徒流动性大，受教育程度不高且生存压力较大，以务工就业为主的他们很难有时间和精力进行系统的神学知识培训，从而成为全职牧者。作为一个以外地务工人员为主的自组织形式聚会点，聘用专职侍奉的教牧人员显然是一笔不小开支，而采用灵活的聘用制教牧“牧养”方式可以降低教会的运营成本，又能满足信众的基本“灵性”需求。这种方式从创会延续至今，得到了众信徒的认可。虽然来自教牧团队成员之一的S长老有意推动Z教会向城市教会转型，建立完备的教会组织架构和专职侍奉的教牧团队，但是信众对此提议产生了较大分歧。

(3) Polarization of “Spiritual” Needs

（三）“属灵”需求两极化

Regarding the reform of Church Z, the believers are clearly divided into two camps. Most of the middle-aged and elderly believers who have been gathering here for many years are accustomed to the current gathering model and do not approve of the church’s reforms. They believe that the urban village [1]1 The Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) is the state-sanctioned Protestant church organization in China, operating under the principle of self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation. may be demolished at any time, and that Church Z is merely a temporary “shelter.” Moreover, constrained by life experience, language communication, and knowledge acquisition, they rarely take the initiative to evangelize or participate in urban Christian missionary work; thus, the future direction of the church is not within their immediate consideration. In contrast, a small number of young and middle-aged believers and catechumens believe that, due to the lack of a full-time pastoral team and a relatively loose organizational structure, there are deficiencies in their “pastoral care” and “spiritual concern,” and that differentiated and individualized needs cannot be adequately addressed, which does not help their “spiritual growth” or missionary work. Therefore, many believers consider the church to be irregular, merely a place for gatherings and hymn singing; if young believers wish to systematically study biblical theology, they still need to attend lectures at a regular church.

针对Z教会改革事宜，信徒明显划分为两个阵营。在此聚会多年的大部分中老年信徒已习惯当前的聚会模式，并不认可教会的改革事宜。他们认为城中村随时可能被拆迁，Z教会本就是临时“庇护所”。而且受生活经历、语言交流和知识习得等方面的限制，他们很少主动传福音，参与城市基督教传教事工，因而未来教会何去何从并不在他们的近期考虑范围之内。而在少部分中青年信徒和慕道友看来，由于教会缺乏专职侍奉的教牧团队以及组织架构较为松散，从而导致他们的“牧养”和“属灵关怀”存在欠缺，差异化和个体化需求无法得到足够回应，无助于他们的“属灵成长”和传教事工。因此不少信徒自认为教会不正规，仅是大家聚会、唱赞美诗的场所，如若年轻信徒系统学习《圣经》神学，还需要去正规教会听讲。

(4) Severe Imbalance in the Age and Gender Structure of Believers

（四）信徒年龄、性别结构严重失衡

Among the nearly one hundred believers in Church Z, in terms of age, the majority are from the post-1950s to post-1970s generations, with eight from the post-1980s generation and none from the post-1990s generation. In terms of gender, female believers constitute the vast majority, with fewer than twenty male believers. The believer structure of Church Z exhibits the typical “three many” characteristics of Chinese Christian groups: many elderly, many women, and many illiterates. Due to this characteristic of the church, combined with its location in an urban village and the简陋 [2]2 “Peace China” (平安中国) is a Christian ministry or campaign, likely referring to a prayer or advocacy initiative among urban house churches. gathering environment, Church Z finds it difficult to attract young congregants.

Z教会的近百人信徒中，从年龄上来看，以50-70后为主，80后8人，没有90后；从性别上来看，女性信徒占绝大多数，男性信徒不足20人。Z教会的信徒结构呈现出典型的中国基督徒群体的老人多、妇女多、文盲多的“三多”特征。由于教会的这一特征，加之地处城中村和简陋的聚会环境，Z教会很难吸引到年轻信众。

Most migrant worker Christian churches are located in urban villages, which means the churches are in a constant state of being subject to demolition; migrant worker churches are merely temporary, fluid faith communities. At the same time, the dual characteristics of migrant worker Christian churches themselves also affect the urban integration of migrant worker Christians: on the one hand, they construct a “faith-based family,” emphasizing “love” and “faith,” providing migrant worker Christians with a sense of belonging and helping them face external setbacks and hardships optimistically. On the other hand, their own tendency toward closure and lack of active communication with external society exacerbate, to a certain extent, the social segregation of migrant worker Christians.

农民工基督教会大多选址于城中村，这导致教会处于随时被拆毁的状态，农民工教会只不过是暂时的、流动的信仰共同体。同时，农民工基督教会自身具有的双重性特征也影响了农民工基督徒的城市融入：一方面，它建构了“信缘家庭”，注重“爱”与“信心”，为农民工基督徒提供了一种归属感，帮助其乐观地面对外在的挫折与艰辛。另一方面，其自身的封闭性倾向，缺乏与外在社会的积极沟通，在一定程度上加剧了农民工基督徒的社会区隔。

Compared with urban or rural churches, migrant worker churches in the process of social change face more complex practical difficulties: the fluid characteristics of migrant worker churches and their believers mean they inherently lack the possibility of internal institutional construction; coupled with a lack of external institutional support and guarantees, migrant worker churches represented by Church Z find it difficult to construct a sustainable, institutionalized gathering model in the short term. Overall, as an urban marginalized group, migrant worker Christians establish churches based on fellow-villager networks, using them as a “base” for integrating into the city. However, the incomplete organizational structure of migrant worker churches and the constant threat of demolition mean that migrant worker Christians must fluidly establish or seek out new church “homes.”

相比于城市教会或者农村教会，处于社会变迁进程中的农民工教会面临更为复杂的现实困境：农民工教会和农民工信徒的流动性特征使其本身缺乏内在的制度性建设可能性，加之缺乏外在的制度性支持保障，以Z教会为代表的农民工教会很难在短期内建构起一种具有持续性的、制度化的聚会模式。总体而言，作为城市的边缘群体，农民工基督徒基于同乡网络建立教会，以此作为融入城市的“基地”，而农民工教会组织架构的不完备以及随时面临被拆迁的命运等意味着农民工基督徒需流动性建立或寻找新的教会之“家”。

III. Discussion and Reflections

三、讨论与思考

With the advancement of urbanization and the large-scale influx of the floating population into cities, China’s urban and rural social structure has undergone significant changes. At the same time, accompanied by the collision of diverse values during the social transition period, the lifestyles and values of the rural floating population have changed considerably. Currently, in some cities in China, Christianity has a non-negligible impact on certain segments of the rural floating population. Due to the influence of multiple factors, migrant worker Christian churches will inevitably continue to exist in the present and for some time to come. In this regard, while paying attention to migrant worker Christian churches and the migrant worker Christian group, we should also deeply consider the issue of migrant workers’ religious belief and propose coping strategies from the perspective of doing a good job in religious work.

随着城镇化进程的推进和流动人口的大规模进城，中国的城乡社会结构发生了显著变化。与此同时，伴随着社会转型期多元价值观念的碰撞，农村流动人口的生活方式和价值观念发生了较大变化。当前，在我国的部分城市中，基督教对于部分农村流动人口，有着不可忽视的影响，而农民工基督教会，因受多种因素的影响，必然在当前及今后一段时期内继续存在。对此，我们在关注农民工基督教会和农民工基督徒群体的同时，也应深入思考农民工的信教问题，从做好宗教工作的角度提出应对策略。

(1) Strengthen the Management of Religious Affairs According to Law, and Regulate Religious Activity Venues for the Floating Population

（一）依法加强宗教事务管理，规范流动人口宗教活动场所

The Regulations on Religious Affairs [3]3 “Going upstairs” (上楼) is a colloquial term for relocating from ground-level or informal premises to a formal, multi-story commercial or residential building, which typically involves higher costs. stipulate that collective religious activities of religious citizens should generally be held within religious activity venues. The preparation, establishment, organization, and management of religious activity venues should all be implemented in accordance with relevant regulations. With the rural-to-urban transfer of Christianity in China and the growing scale of the floating population’s religious groups, the mismatch between the establishment and management of urban religious activity venues and population mobility has become increasingly prominent. At present, the management of gathering points for floating population religious groups such as migrant worker Christians is still deficient; many religious activity gathering points have loopholes such as lax management and formalism. When legal religious activity venues cannot meet the needs of migrant worker Christians, they tend to establish private religious activity venues or join underground missionary organizations. In view of this, we should effectively improve the management methods for floating population religion and promote the integration of grassroots community governance with religious governance. Relevant government departments can, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Regulations on Religious Affairs, on the one hand, strengthen the supervision of floating population religious activity venues, including migrant worker Christian gathering points. On the other hand, in conjunction with legal religious groups such as the Three-Self Patriotic Movement [4]4 The “dualistic structure” (二元格局) refers to the urban-rural dual social structure in China, which historically created separate systems for household registration (hukou), social welfare, and resource allocation between cities and the countryside, leading to differential treatment of rural migrant workers in cities., they should earnestly understand the religious needs of the floating population’s religious groups and carefully distinguish gathering points that are still in a gray area. Through reasonable and effective means, gathering points that meet the relevant conditions should be incorporated into legal and compliant religious groups and religious activity venues for coordinated management.

《宗教事务条例》指出，信教公民的集体宗教活动，一般应当在宗教活动场所内举行。宗教活动场所的筹备设立和组织管理等均应按照相关规定予以执行。随着中国基督教的乡城转移和流动人口信教群体规模的日益扩大，城市宗教活动场所的设置管理与人口流动的不相匹配问题日益凸显。目前来看，针对农民工基督徒等流动人口信教群体的聚会点管理尚有欠缺，不少宗教活动聚会点存在疏于管理、流于形式等漏洞。在合法宗教活动场所无法满足农民工基督徒的需要时，他们便倾向于私办宗教活动场所或加入地下传教组织。有鉴于此，我们应该切实改进流动人口宗教管理方式，推动基层社区治理与宗教治理相结合。政府有关部门可以依照《宗教事务条例》的相关规定，一方面加强对包括农民工基督教聚会点在内的流动人口宗教活动场所的监管力度。另一方面，会同基督教三自教会等合法宗教团体，切实了解流动人口信教群体的信仰需求，对尚处于灰色地带的宗教活动聚会点予以细致甄别。通过合理有效方式，将符合相关条件的宗教活动聚会点纳入合法合规的宗教团体和宗教活动场所进行统筹管理。

(2) Strive to Enhance the Legal Awareness of Migrant Worker Christians and Foster a Rational View of Religious Belief

（二）着力提升农民工基督徒的法治意识，理性看待宗教信仰

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC [5], the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to religious

党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央高度重视宗教工作。习近平总书记在全国宗教工作会议上指出，“要完整、准确、全面贯彻党的宗教信仰自由政策，尊重群众宗教信仰，依法管理宗教事务。党的宗教工作本质是群众工作。信教群众和不信教群众在政治上经济上的根本利益是一致的，都是党执政的群众基础。既要保护信教群众宗教信仰自由权利，最大限度团结信教群众，也要耐心细致做信教群众工作。”“必须坚持把广大信教群众团结在党和政府周围”“必须提高宗教工作法治化水平”。我们在调查中发现，部分农民工基督徒对于党的宗教信仰自由政策的认知存在偏差。在日常生活和宗教活动中具体表现为通过不断强化自身的信仰属性，塑造特有的基督教群体符号边界。而且这种认知也往往伴随盲目性与片面性，容易诱发一些非理性行为，无助于引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应。为此，我们应该着重加强普法教育力度，积极推动法治宣传教育进社区、进教堂。一方面引导信教群众到合法登记的宗教活动场所参加宗教活动；另一方面引导广大信教和不信教群众在遭受不法侵害时学会运用法律武器维护自身合法权益，客观理性看待宗教信仰。通过深入开展法治宣传教育，在一定程度上可以降低各类非法或地下传教组织对流动人口，尤其是农民工群体的诱惑。这既有利于城市发展，又有利于社会稳定，对于推动城市宗教治理具有重要意义。

(3) Providing necessary social public services to meet the needs of migrant workers for urban integration in multiple dimensions

（三）提供必要的社会公共服务，多维度满足农民工的城市融入需求

For migrant workers in a state of “semi-urbanization,” on the one hand, long-term urban life has blurred their identification with their original rural society. On the other hand, under the dualistic structure,[4]4 The “dualistic structure” (二元格局) refers to the urban-rural dual social structure in China, which historically created separate systems for household registration (hukou), social welfare, and resource allocation between cities and the countryside, leading to differential treatment of rural migrant workers in cities. the city’s exclusion of the migrant population also makes it difficult for them to develop a sense of belonging to the place of urban inflow. The anxiety and confusion generated by the weakening and marginalization of migrant workers’ social status drive them to turn to religion for solace; religious belief becomes a “pressure valve” and spiritual sustenance for alleviating their tension and anxiety, and also becomes one of the bridges for building a social support network for migrant workers. It can thus be seen that, when public services for the floating population in urban management are deficient to a certain extent, and when the church can provide them with a certain “sense of belonging” and “sense of identity,” believing in a religion and joining a Christian church becomes one of the options. By believing in a religion and joining a Christian church, migrant workers can, to a certain extent, compensate for the exclusion and isolation they suffer in urban work and life, and find a “sense of belonging” and “sense of identity.” To this end, relevant government departments should strive to improve the quality and content of urban services, not only providing service training in work skills for migrant workers, but also paying attention to their psychological needs. By integrating government and social resources, strengthening grassroots community governance, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers, and actively promoting community acceptance of migrant workers, striving to meet the practical needs of migrant workers in urban work and life from multiple dimensions, is the foundational work for correctly understanding and handling the issue of urban migrant worker Christian gathering points and for doing a good job in religious work.

对处于“半城市化”状态的农民工而言，一方面长期的城市生活使他们模糊了对原乡土社会的认同。另一方面，在二元格局之下，城市对外来人口的排斥也使他们难以产生对城市流入地的归属感。农民工的社会地位弱化和边缘化所产生的焦虑与迷惘促使他们转向宗教寻求慰藉，宗教信仰成为缓解他们紧张焦虑情绪的一个“排气阀”和精神寄托，也成为搭建起农民工社会支持网络的桥梁之一。由此可见，当城市管理中针对流动人口的公共服务存在一定程度上的欠缺，而教会又能够为他们提供某种“归属感”和“认同感”的情况下，信教并加入基督教会就成为了选择之一。通过信教并加入基督教会，农民工可以在一定程度上弥补他们在城市工作生活中所遭受的排斥与隔离，找到“归属感”和“认同感”。为此，政府相关部门应该努力提高城市服务的质量和内容，不仅为农民工提供工作技能方面的服务培训，还应关注到农民工的心理诉求。通过整合政府和社会资源，加强基层社区治理，维护农民工合法权益，积极推进社区接纳农民工，争取从多个维度满足农民工的城市工作生活的现实需求，是正确认识和处理城市农民工基督徒聚会点问题，做好宗教工作的基础性工作。

In summary, under the premise of urbanization advancement and population mobility, studying migrant worker Christians and their church organizational forms is a point of entry for us to understand the values, cultural views, and lifestyles of the religiously believing group among the contemporary floating population, and also helps us to comprehensively understand the diversity characteristics of the Christian belief group represented by migrant worker Christians. This topic has important practical significance and deserves our continued attention and research.

总之，在城镇化推进和人口流动的前提下，研究农民工基督徒及其教会组织形态，是我们了解当代流动人口中信教群体的价值观、文化观和生活方式的一个切入口，也有助于我们全方位了解以农民工基督徒为代表的基督教信仰群体的多样性特征。这一议题具有重要的现实意义，值得我们持续关注和研究。

Online editor: Rainbow

网络编辑：彩虹