Barnabas Zhang (; 11 February 1882 – 25 January 1961), was an early pioneer of the Chinese

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True Jesus Church The True Jesus Church (TJC) is a non-denominational Christian Church that originated in Beijing, China, during the Pentecostal movement in the early twentieth century. The True Jesus Church is currently one of the largest Christian groups in Chi ...

().

Biography

Originally known as Zhang Dianju (), he was born in

Weixian Wei County may refer to the following locations in China: * Wei County, Handan (), Hebei * Wei County, Xingtai (), Hebei * Weifang (), formerly ** Weixian Internment Camp {{Geodis County name disambiguation pages ...

, Shandong Province, and worked as a collector of antiques. He was first introduced to the True Jesus Church through his relative Zhang Lingsheng, who came and proselytized in his hometown of Weixian. After hearing Zhang Lingsheng's preaching, Zhang Dianju, a Presbyterian, received the baptism of the

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and began to

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on 16 March 1912.

Paul Wei Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chr ...

, often considered the founder of the

, would likewise travel to Weixian in spring 1919. He actively proselytized to members of local

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churches, establishing local branches of the True Jesus Church. Wei ordained Zhang Lingsheng as bishop of Shandong and Zhang Dianju as elder, and all three would travel throughout many provinces of China and draw in over a thousand members, most of whom came from existing

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Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

, Seventh Day Adventist, or mainline churches. Many of these new converts would take on new names, including Zhang Dianju who would now be known as Barnabas Zhang. Despite Paul Wei's death in October 1919, the church continued to thrive and grow in the 1920s under two headquarters, one led by , the son of Paul Wei, and the other led by Barnabas Zhang. However, a growing north–south

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

developed between the two leaders with Isaac Wei being influential in northern China and Barnabas Zhang becoming increasingly influential in the southern provinces of

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and

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, as well as in

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and Chinese communities in

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. In a general assembly in 1930, Barnabas Zhang was

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

, placing the church under the leadership of Isaac Wei. However, Barnabas Zhang would still lead a number of followers in southern China and southeast Asia under the name the China True Jesus Church () until his death. Barnabas died in

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on 25 January 1961.General Board of the TJM, Part 5:Elder Barnabas died.

Notes

References

External links

True Jesus Mission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Barnabas 1882 births 1961 deaths People excommunicated by Christian churches True Jesus Church People from Weifang