The Current Triple-Type Attributes of and Policy Issues for Christian Social Service Organizations in China: From a Multi-Disciplinary Perspective

Abstract

This paper explores the typological attributes, practical characteristics, and policy connotations of Christian social service organizations in present China. This is achieved from the perspectives of religion, public administration, social work, and history. Data collection and analysis are based on the literature research and field research methods. The main points are as follows: (1) Christian social service organizations are simultaneously faith-based organizations, legal-person organizations, and professional organizations. These different types of characteristics put forward different requirements for their service functions and performance standards. It is necessary to understand their corresponding boundaries in theory and coordinate or optimize their corresponding functions in the system; (2) Christian social service organizations present the characteristics of pluralism and transition in the practice process, as well as form complex symbiosis and embedded relationships with non-religious professional service systems. Further, they have begun to reach a consensus on industry codes of practice, service concepts, and clinical models, especially in regard to the culturally sensitive service centered on the clients; and (3) the triple-type attributes of Christian social service organizations require government departments and professional circles to direct more attention to the “matrix” of policy tools—in other words, formulate more discerning and diverse policy measures in line with policy objectives, as well as strengthen the legalization of the policy implementation mechanism and the level of collaborative governance of religious social service organizations.

1. Introduction

The public, government departments and religious organizations themselves have multiple understandings or expectations in regard to the mission and role of religious, social services. As far as Christian social service organizations in contemporary China are concerned, there are complex overlapping or parallel relationships among their belief types, legal status types, and professional types. Under a broad concept, any religious organization with the function of social service or charity can be called a “religious social service organization”; in a narrow sense, religious social service organizations refer to those direct service agencies that mainly provide professional and specialized social services, which are different from membership associations, non-operational foundations, seminaries, etc. This paper discusses the functional characteristics and policy environment of different types of Christian social organizations participating in social services in China (including Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox organizations and services) and is mainly based on the broad concept type of organizations. When discussing religious social service organizations in a narrow sense, the term “religious social service agencies” is utilized instead to show its difference from the broad meaning of the concept.

1.1. Research Context

1.1.1. The Reconstruction of Christian Social Services

After the founding of “New China” in 1949, Christian organizations and service institutions were under full control and forced to cease all activities during the “Cultural Revolution” (1966–1976). From the mid-1980s to the early 2020s, Chinese Christian social groups and organizations experienced nearly 40 years of reconstruction. Some of the most representative institutions included the Amity Foundation (1985), Huiling Service (1985), and the Liming Family (1988), who pioneered the provision of social services by private forces in the era of reform and the opening up of mainland China. However, compared to the Christian social service organizations that existed before the founding of New China, contemporary Christian social service organizations do not exist within a relaxed social environment but, instead, are under the tight control of the new “authoritarian system”. Their quantitative scale, autonomous capacity, and service level are quite limited, and they are still at an early stage of development.

1.1.2. The “De-Religious” Orientation of Government Policies

After the National Religious Affairs Administration and the other six departments issued Opinions on Encouraging and Regulating Religious Circles to Engage in Charitable Activities in 2012, then, at one point, this meant that the scope for religious communities to engage in social services and loosened the registration of service organizations was relaxed. The new Regulations on Religious Affairs (revised in 2017) clearly stipulates that religious bodies, institutions of religious education, and religious venues are non-profit organizations. Further, they are classified as charitable organizations in terms of their organizational attributes so as to further provide the legal basis for the management of religious social service institutions and activities. However, an analysis of the policy texts and implementation practices of government departments in the past few decades has revealed that these policies are characterized by a more direct administrative (i.e., interventionist) approach. It must be noted that this is a restrictive rather than an encouraging orientation to their activities. Furthermore, certain “encouragement” measures were preferential and adaptive in nature rather than rights-based. A series of mandatory direct administrative measures involved: (1) de-evangelization: strict restrictions on belief signs, overseas donations, international personnel exchanges, etc. in service places (NRAA 2018; NRAA 2021; SCNPC 2016); (2) mainstream ideologization: religious bodies and places are required to carry out “four-entry activities” (referring to the national flag, the Constitution, laws and regulations, socialist core values, and traditional Chinese culture entering religious activity spots), and “party building” (referring to the setting of Communist Party members as guides in religious bodies or service organizations) (Wang 2021); (3) de-publicity: restricting the open and autonomous dissemination of belief information (NRAA et al. 2021), which shows that the basic orientation of de-evangelization and restriction on the development of religious social service organizations has not changed but has even strengthened for a long time (Gao 2021). One notable example was Shepherd’s Field Children’s Village in Langfang (Shepherd 2022), an orphaned children’s care program founded and managed by foreign volunteers with a Christian background that operated for 23 years but was closed down in 2018 as it had not been able to obtain registration as a legal entity and because the government had formulated a new regulation that “orphaned and disabled children were no longer allowed to be foster cared for across provincial areas” (Baker and Baker 2018).

1.2. Research Questions

In this article, three issues related to the three types of religious social service organizations in mainland China—namely, the attributes of faith, the attributes of legal status, and the attributes of the professional—will be answered. Indeed, the goal of this study is to investigate and answer the following:

• What is the impact of the inherent structure and function of the three types of organizations—namely, faith-based organizations, legal person organizations, and professional organizations—on their functional positioning and service provision?
• What are the practical characteristics of each of the three types of systems in the operational field?
• What are the public policy issues that need to be raised by each of the three types of systems? It involves two dimensions: how can new policy tools and implementation mechanisms be developed from the perspective of government policies to effectively promote the standardized development of religious social service organizations? For the purposes of Christian social organizations specifically, what are the strategic options for realizing their multiple service functions in order to improve performance management?

1.3. Literature Review

Christian social service organization research is an important multidisciplinary, or even interdisciplinary, research field. The Blue Book of China Charity Development Report has conducted a series of reviews on the status of religious social services and organizations (Qiu et al. 2020; Zheng 2013). Theological experts and scholars from different disciplines have conducted a number of useful discussions on the pluralistic model of religion and the type of service organizations based on theological typology, the relationship between service organizations and sectarian churches, and the relationship between the gospel and service (Chen 2019; Zhao 2006; Zhu 2020; Wang 1997; Ellor et al. 1999). The sociological perspective on religious service organizations entails a focus on typological function, modernity (i.e., legitimacy, sanctity, etc.), cultural interaction, etc. (Yang 2004; Li 2019); some of the literature notes that the relationship between Christian social service organizations and the state and society is studied from the perspective of religious characteristics (McCarthy 2017; Huang 2010; Lv 2019). The legal status type of religious social service organizations is a relatively local issue, mainly focused on basic research related to public administration and law (Feng 2017; Zhong 2018; Wu 2015; Research Center of NRAA 2013), as well as organizational case studies (Zuo 2006; Cao and Chen 2010; Shuyi Sun 2010). With regard to the development of social work and welfare policy disciplines, the professional issues of Christian social service institutions have also begun to enter the research horizon (Shanyi Sun 2018; Zuo 2016; Xu and Situ 2009). The research on the development policy of religious social service organizations has not yet formed a separate topic, which is usually included in the history, role, and current situation of Christian charitable services (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) (Dong 2012; He 2014; Zhu 2008; Gao 2008; Chang 2018), as well as the special research of foreign religious NGOs (Xu et al. 2008).

There have been some developments and breakthroughs in the comprehensive research and case studies on the attributes of the types of religious social service organizations in China, which have enriched and fulfilled the research literature base. However, compared with the development scale and potential of Chinese Christian social service organizations, the breadth and depth of the existing research is far from enough. This study attempts to introduce and build a multidisciplinary analysis framework, thereby focusing on the triple typological attributes, practical characteristics, and policy issues of Christian social service organizations in China. This is performed in order to fill certain gaps in the existing research dimensions and evidence.

1.4. Methodology

1.4.1. Multidisciplinary Perspectives

A multidisciplinary perspective reveals the diversity of the same topic from a number of different methodological perspectives. Whilst drawing on Sider and Unruh’s (2004) typological framework, in this paper, the religious characteristics of Chinese Christian service organizations are discussed; this study is based on the type of legal status of non-profit organizations in China and the social service functions of Christian service organizations in China are explored. Furthermore, the professional functions of Christian social service organizations in China with reference to the classification of professional service organizations are also discussed; this is after sorting out and summarizing the main practical characteristics of the three types of organizational systems. When drawing on the concepts of policy tools in the public management academic community (Rothwell 1985; Salamon 2002), we propose issues that require inclusion into policy actions, as well as attempt to construct a certain guiding policy matrix. The historical perspective of this paper focuses on displaying key events, factual data, and sequences of development. Further, using only a few concepts, patterns, and inferences to illustrate the themes is avoided.

1.4.2. Method

This study is conducted via literature-based research assisted by the field research method.

Literature-based research is conducted in order to construct a specific “space-time” presentation of social facts and scientific cause-and-effect explanations. The main literature analysis methods used in this paper include: (a) the literature review and citation is mainly achieved by aiming at or borrowing the research literature and data published by academic and professional circles in China and abroad; (b) case and historical analysis (involving historical statistical analysis, comparative analysis, systemic function analysis, feature category analysis, etc.) mainly entails focusing on various case data, including various reports on institutional websites (e.g., Local CC&TSPM, Jinde Charities, etc.), professional newspapers (e.g., the Gospel Times, Tianfeng, Faith Weekly, etc.), and WeChat official accounts; (c) content analysis entails mainly focusing on official government documents, including government policies, regulations, work summary reports, etc.

Field research is conducted by on-site visits, as well as observational, individual, and group interviews. The authors visited twelve service organizations of Christian and Catholic backgrounds, four local Christian associations, two venues for Christian activity, and one secular faith-based partner organization in the Shandong, Hebei and Fujian Provinces during 2018–2022. Informed consent was obtained from each respondent to participate in the study. Ten of these organizations and their project examples are cited in this paper. The authors conducted a multilevel thematic analysis of the qualitative attitude data (i.e., people’s thoughts, beliefs, and self-report needs were obtained) and the qualitative behavior data (e.g., observations on the behavior of organizations and members); moreover, certain interview transcripts and field observation records are cited in this paper.

2. Triple-Type Attributes of Chinese Christian Social Service Organizations

There is a complex intersection or parallel relationship between the belief types, legal status types and professional types of Christian social service organizations in China.

2.1. The Types and Attributes of Faith-Based Organizations

In China’s current development stage and policy context, the “sensitivity” of Christian social service organizations mainly stems from their belief characteristics but not their legal status and service functions.

2.1.1. Type Connotation

According to the degree of correlation of the contributing factors or defining features of the religious NGOs and programs, American scholars Sider and Unruh (2004) proposed a six-tiered continuum classification: faith-permeated organizations, faith-centered organizations, faith-affiliated organizations, faith-based organizations, faith–secular partnerships, and secular organizations. The first five types can be generally differentiated by the degree of their relevance to religious matters, which are: highly relevant, relatively high in relevance, fairly relevant, relatively low in relevance, and lowly relevant (which can be defined on a 5–1 star basis). In terms of the proportion of types, the first two types of 5-star (faith-permeated) and 4-star (faith-centered) service organizations are small in number. As such, of the organizations that were investigated, mainly 3–1-star organizations were found to be operating. The naming of the organization can reflect the attributes and degree of faith. According to the government social organization inquiry platform, the vast majority of social organizations with “Christian” and “Catholic” in their names were religious groups, and social service organizations account for only 1.4% of them (N = 41, see

Table 1. Social organizations with the titles “Christian” and “Catholic”.

Type of Legal Status	Christian		Catholic
	N	%	N	%
Religious groups	2085	98.3	758	99
Private non-enterprise	33	1.6	8	1
Foundation	3	0.1	0	0
Total	2121	100	766	100

Source: MCA (2022).

; note: no social organization with the title “Orthodox Church” was identified). Comparing two inquiries made in August 2018 and August 2022, the number of social service organizations with the title “Christian” has decreased. This reflects the “neutrality” and “de-sensitivity” of naming on the one hand and indicates that the registration of certain religious organizations tends to be standardized and updated as religious venues from private non-enterprise units or religious bodies on the other (see

Table 2. Types of operations in regard to social service organizations with “Christian” in their name1.

Type of Specialization	2018 (August)		2022 (August)
	N	%	N	%
Training institutions	2	3.9	4	12.1
Aged care providers	28	54.9	16	48.5
Societies	8	15.7	2	6
Churches	5	9.8	4	12.1
Hospital clinics and rehabilitation facilities	7	13.7	6	18.2
Music and other arts studios	1	2.0	1	3.1
Total	51	100	33	100

Source: CSOPSP (2018); MCA (2022).

).

2.1.2. Case Examples

One of the typical cases for faith-permeated organizations (5-star) in mainland China is Yunan Baoshan Gospel Voluntary Drug Rehabilitation Centre, which was established and registered in 2009. This organization is managed by the Baoshan Christian Council and has learned from the operation mode of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (WUOI 2022; Wang 2016; Yang 2019). The Jinan Faith Hope Love Disabled People Service Center and the Shouguang Faith Hope Love Elderly Home in Shandong Province are two typical grass-root Christian faith-centered social service institutions (Faith Hope Love 2017; Tian 2011; Zhang 2010; Wang 2015). The Hebei Jinde Charities Foundation (the “first Catholic non-profit organization in China”) (Jinde 2022) and the Liming Family (one of the Catholic social service institutions established in the late 1980s mainly engaged in the care of orphans and disabled children, run by the Diocese Teresa Women’s Monastery) (Liming Family 2022) pertain to faith-affiliated organizations (3 star).

The YMCA/YWCA is the only Christian social service organization with a national association in China. As a professional service organization, its legal status is a religious organization rather than a private non-enterprise unit2. The person in charge of the Jinan LCQN Center identifies themselves as a “faith-based organization” rather than a “faith-affiliated organization”. “If we put faith organizations at the top, it will greatly interfere with other participants; I hope that more people will participate in the work out of respect for human dignity; we do not emphasize in the work and do not require staff to accept our faith; in this case, we can absorb participants in a wider range, so that people who do not have faith or who reject faith can more freely participate in service work”. (#MC-20220714)3 Huiling, China’s largest non-governmental community service organization for people with intellectual disabilities, is a typical example of a faith–secular partnership (Huiling 2022). The organization and management of Weifang SJ Community Golden Sunshine Elderly Care Service Center is completely secular, thereby allowing for optional religious resources and activities (e.g., religious prayer rooms). However, the project has no obvious religious content overall: “with or without clear expression, the faith of religious partners is seen as a project asset”. (#MZ-20180813).

2.2. The Types and Attributes of Legal Person Organizations

2.2.1. Type Connotation

Under the conditions of modern society, social organizations have generally become a “Legal Corporation”, i.e., they obtain legal status through registration with government management departments. This is conducted so as to play a wide range of social functions. Religious social (service) organizations in Western countries have been among the earliest and largest system of voluntary organization systems and are usually without special registration (O’Neill 2002). The legitimacy of religious social service organizations in Hong Kong usually derives from their Ordinances, which were incorporated into the Hong Kong legal system (HKCSS 2022; Hong Kong e-Legislation 2022). In China, similar to other non-religious social organizations (non-profit organizations), the five types of religious social organizations have gradually been integrated into a diversified legal status system. Furthermore, they are registered as associations, private non-enterprise units, foundations, “donor legal status”, and public institutions (see

Table 3. The five types of legal status in regard to religious organizations in China.

Religious Organizations	Type of Legal Status	Service Supply Form	Legislative Documents	Government Authorities
Service Institutions	Private non-enterprise units	Institutional operations	Interim Regulations on the Registration Administration of Private Non-Enterprise Units, 1998	Civil Affairs Departments
Religious Bodies	Association	Charitable activities and projects	Regulation on the Administration of the Registration of Social Organizations, 1998, 2016	Religious Affairs Administrations
Fund Organization	Foundations	Charitable activities and projects	Regulations on the management of Foundations, 2004	Civil Affairs Department or Religious Affairs Administration
Religious Venues	Donation-based legal person	Charitable activities and projects	Regulations on Religious Affairs, 2017	Religious Affairs Administrations
Institutions of Religious Education	Public institutions	Charity education, activities, and projects	Regulations on Religious Affairs, 2017	Religious Affairs Administrations

).

Religious private non-enterprise units are direct service institutions that include all kinds of nursing homes, service centers for the disabled, hospitals, etc. Certain larger religious social service organizations are usually registered or rebranded as foundations. The vast majority of Christian registered associations are the local CC and TSPM4; their social service functions are realized in three ways, which is to say by (1) advocating and coordinating the public welfare and the charitable activities of group members; (2) directing and providing social services by directly subordinating social service departments or non-permanent professional committees (including social services and family services); and (3) establishing or funding service organizations with a certain kind of subordinate relationship in order to provide services. The social service functions of religious activity sites are mainly embodied in (1) carrying out public interest charitable activities through donations, materials, and related project operations; (2) conducting community volunteer services through social ministry; and (3) church reordering5, i.e., the provision of premises for third-party social services. The social service function of religious schools as non-profit institutions is mainly reflected in participating in various public welfare charitable activities or projects. Institutions of religious education have also begun to direct attention to social service professional education, such as the Shandong Theological Seminary, the Yunnan Theological Seminary, the Jiangsu Theological Seminary, etc., in order to offer social work or social service courses (e.g., “social care service”), as well as to plan to open social work professional directions (CCC and TSPM 2022; Yao 2018).

2.2.2. Case Examples

There is no special setting for religious private non-enterprise units as a legal status in government religious department documents; furthermore, there is no continuous statistical data from government civil affairs departments. According to official statistics, in 2017, there were 400,000 registered private non-enterprise units nationwide, 115 of which were classified as “religious” (MCA 2018). In 2020, 511,000 private non-enterprise units had been registered, of which there was no single datum on “religion”. Most social service organizations run by religious circles are not registered as “religious” institutions but rather as “social services” and “health” private non-enterprise units. According to incomplete statistics, in mainland China by the end of 2019, there were 151 foundations with religious backgrounds (around 3/4 were Buddhist-background foundations, however), of which 15 were with Christian backgrounds and 5 were with Catholic backgrounds, thereby accounting for 13.2% of the total (Qiu et al. 2020). The Amity Foundation (1985) and the Hebei Jinde Charities Foundation are two of the most typical examples of operational foundations. Seven social organizations with Christian backgrounds, including the Sichuan Luzhou Committee of Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches, have set up a special fund with the Amity Foundation (Qiu et al. 2019). As of August 2022, a total of 6157 religious social groups have been registered by China’s civil affairs authorities, 2085 of which are Christian bodies, and 758 of which are Catholic bodies, accounting for 46.2% of all religious social bodies in China (MCA 2022). When a religious association or church establishes a social service organization as the sponsor, the established service organization will be registered as a private non-enterprise unit. They become two separate entities in terms of legal status. In order to maintain the affiliation between the two and to embody the concept of Christian social service in the service organization, “the most common method is that the board of directors of the (service) institution is appointed by the organizer (religious association or church) with full power” (He 2018). According to China’s official regulations, religious venues are mainly divided into two levels: “churches” and “other fixed locations for conducting religious activities (gather points)” (State Council 2017). China currently possesses 144,000 religious venues registered with the government’s religious administration departments, including around 60,000 Christian churches and meeting points, 98 Catholic dioceses, and more than 6000 churches and activity halls (The White Paper 2018). More and more religious venues have begun to accept service organizations and programs that rely on church annex facilities to provide services. There are currently 22 institutions of Christian education and 12 institutions of Catholic education in China (CCC and TSPM 2022; Xin 2009). They are divided into two levels: tertiary and secondary. The institutions of Christian education have long operated under the name of the sponsoring religious bodies of the organizer and do not have independent legal status. According to the Regulations on Religious Affairs (2017), institutions of religious education established with approval may “apply for legal entities in accordance with relevant regulations”. In terms of specific policy implementation paths, at present, they are currently registered (in the main) as “public institutions” by local government institutions. This is while a small number of colleges and universities are registered as “private non-enterprises” (e.g., Beijing Catholic Theological Seminary).

2.3. The Types and Attributes of Professional Institutions

2.3.1. Type Connotation

In the process of the development of various religious social service organizations, a specialized division of labor has emerged for different service settings, strategies, and target groups. Various professional factors, such as professionalization, industrialization, standardization and qualification certification, have continued to be strengthened. Social service organizations are divided by type of specialization into family and community services, i.e., child and youth services, elderly services, rehabilitation services, etc., according to professional type (HKCSS 2022). They can also be divided into comprehensive social service organizations and specialized social service organizations; these divisions are in addition to local, national, and international (overseas) service organizations, as well as large, medium, and small service organizations according to their geographical location and size.

2.3.2. Case Examples

At present, the largest comprehensive social service organizations of Christianity and Catholicism in China include the Amity Foundation, the Shanghai YMCA (YWCA), the Hebei Jinde Charities Foundation6, the Catholic social service center of Xi’an diocese, etc., which all have formed subordinate departments or subinstitutions with different functions within the organization in order to provide services to various groups of people. The Amity Foundation has dozens of service departments, institutions, projects, and social enterprises and is currently the largest Christian service organization group in China (Amity Foundation 2022a). There are 86 full-time staff at the headquarters of the Amity Foundation, and nearly 1000 staff in subordinate institutions and projects (Amity Foundation 2022b; Qiu 2015). It is worth noting that there has been a clear emergence of certain social work service organizations founded by Christian believers, such as the Guangzhou Yiren Social Service Center, which mainly rely on the resource of local government projects and mainly engage in community-based social services. During the period of restoration of Christian social services, out of a need for the legality of services and foreign resource support, an extremely vulnerable group at that time—orphaned and disabled children—was chosen. Certain social service organizations with Catholic backgrounds have played the role of pacesetters, such as the Huiling (Guangdong), the Liming Family (Hebei), Angel House (Guangxi), the Zhiguang Center (Shandong), etc. According to a survey by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there are 878 individual and private institutions that take in orphans and abandoned babies in China, of which 649 are with religious backgrounds, thereby accounting for 74% (Qiu et al. 2019). Since 2013, the central and local governments have gradually revoked the qualifications of religious and non-religious social service organizations to participate in the adoption of orphaned and disabled children. Further, they have been replaced by child welfare institutions established by civil affairs departments at, or above, the county level (NRAA and MCA 2014; Guangdong 2020).

According to available statistics, there were 171 Christian church pension institutions in 2018 (Gao 2018). Moreover, a total of 121 nursing homes were established in Catholic dioceses and parishes in China (Qiu et al. 2020). There are more than 400 elderly care institutions that possess a religious character, with a total of about 29,000 beds (The White Paper 2018). In regard to public information, certain hospitals or clinics with a Christian background (e.g., the Sichuan Luzhou Gospel Hospital) (Jiang 2012; Chen 2011), rehabilitation institutions for the disabled (such as Amity Bakery), institutions for drug rehabilitation or AIDS prevention, and treatment institutions (e.g., Yunnan Baoshan Evangelical Drug Rehabilitation Center, Liaoning Shengjing Caritas Social Service Center), etc. can be found. According to available statistics, there are currently eight hospitals, ninety-nine clinics and ten disabled nurseries in various Catholic dioceses and parishes in China (Qiu et al. 2020).

The overseas services (including international exchanges) of Chinese Christian social service organizations are still in the initial stage of development. Certain well-known Chinese Christian social service organizations (e.g., Amity and Huiling) relied on overseas resources for the purposes of support and management guidance during the recovery period in the 1980s. Since 2013, the Amity Foundation has raised more money domestically than overseas. Further, it has launched the establishment of an office in Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, etc.) and an international office in Geneva. The foundation has also begun to join international organizations (e.g., the International Council of Voluntary Agencies and ICVA). In contrast, as a Christian institution, the Hong Kong Cedar Fund is mainly engaged in international and regional (Middle East, Asia, Africa, Chinese mainland, etc.) charity relief and development projects. It implements more than 80 poverty alleviation development and relief projects every year, with a financial outlay of HKD 22.372 million in 2021, reflecting its mission goal of “Building a Just and Loving World Together” (Cedar Fund 2022).

3. Practical Characteristics of Chinese Christian Social Service Organizations

At present, the developing religious social service institutions and activities have achieved some obvious capacity enhancement but are characterized by certain “dispersed”, “temporary”, “arbitrary”, and “small, scattered, and chaotic” (Qiu et al. 2020) on the other.

3.1. Practical Characteristics as Faith Organizations

Religious social service institutions and programs have characteristics, such as “ambiguity”, “liquidity”, and “diversity” (or “pluralistic”), in specific belief attributes or types. These characteristics reflect the deformation of Sider and Unruh’s American practice-based typological model in the context of Chinese politics and culture; it is also reflected in the structural tension faced by traditional religious service organizations and projects in the process of universal specialization and modernization.

3.1.1. Ambiguity

Many religious social service organizations (e.g., Hebei Jinde, Hebei Liming and Shouguang Faith Hope Love Elderly Home) were founded and managed, in actuality, by external religious entities (e.g., the local Catholic Patriotic Association and CC/TSPM). According to the registration template for the private non-enterprise units provided by government departments, there must be no clear statement of a religious mission in the organization’s charter. Moreover, external religious entities usually participate in the management of institutions in their individual capacity and as members. In the early days of their establishment and on their institutional websites, a considerable number of religious social service organizations placed relative emphasis on the “Evangelical Mission”, the preferred the value of “Glorifying God”, and individuals being responsible for the consequences of their actions; however, in the process of promoting and implementing service projects, the strategy of avoiding the expression of religious beliefs is generally adopted. Judging from the practice since the reconstruction of religious social services, many service organizations and service projects tend to be religiously neutral. This trend is driven by a variety of factors—i.e., the dependence on public subsidies, social fundraising strategies, and the trend towards service specialization. Certain religious organizations and projects are sensitive to different pressures, influences, and patterns of institutional change. They may accept restrictions on the religious character of a particular project without changing the religious nature of the organization as a whole.

3.1.2. Liquidity

The religious identity and expression of service providers may be separated or conflicted with the non-religious or different religious identities and the expression of the service recipients. As such, certain service institutions have changed their evangelical orientation to a professional services or public welfare charity positioning, as well as accepting the supervision and accountability of the public, including believers (Shanyi Sun 2018). In the abovementioned cases of religious faith, the Shouguang Faith Hope Love Elderly Home began to transform from a “faith-centered institution” to a “faith-affiliated institution”, after 2018. The Jinan Faith Hope Love Disabled People Service Center for the Disabled was originally founded by religious individuals. Further, the previous council members and ordinary employees did not have a single faith background. However, after the current institution came under the supervision of the provincial CC and TSPM, it changed from a social service organization with a faith-based focus to a faith-centered social service organization.

3.1.3. Diversity

There are a variety of differences between the various religious social service organizations and the programs they operate, such as: (1) they may operate a program with different religious characteristics from the organization. For example, a faith-centered organization may run a program that works with the secular community or a secular organization (e.g., a hospital) may accept a service program that is of a religious nature; (2) an organization can run several projects that fall into different faith attribute categories. Differences in the type of belief mean that social services, including spiritual services, can be applied to diverse needs. Social service organizations with religious backgrounds usually provide specific and diverse forms of spiritual services, which are beneficial to different degrees in order to enhance the “spiritual well-being” of specific service recipients, i.e., religious, social, and cultural capital brings a sense of belonging and security to clients with the same faith background (Ruan and Liu 2011; Jiang and Zhang 2013). Similarly, certain secular service institutions (such as nursing homes and daycare centers) provide places of worship for service recipients with different religious beliefs, thereby reflecting unique service advantages.

3.2. Practical Characteristics as Legal Person Organizations

During the harmonious society period of the Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao governments, a nationwide upsurge of public volunteer activities was triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake disaster in 2008. The legal status registration policy for social organizations was loosened, and the number of social service organizations with various religious backgrounds that were registered increased. Religious social service organizations with legal status can obtain independent civil subject status, conduct civil activities autonomously, and also are subject to more restrictions from state institutions.

3.2.1. The Improved and Still Limited Capacity

The “Social Service Department” of the Chinese CCC/TSPM and the “Charity and Social Service Committee” of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association have always served an important guiding and exemplary role in the advocating for and implementing of social services; their work development goals are largely guided and restricted by various government policies (CCC and TSPM 2022; CCPA and BCCCC 2018). The members of the Shandong CC/TSPM have enhanced the organizational functions of the Provincial CC/TSPM and thus strengthened the capacity of direct service institutions by joining the Council of Jinan Faith Hope Love Disabled People Service Center for the Disabled. As the person in charge of the latter stated, “the provincial CC/TSPM have given us more resources to coordinate, including the church members’ donation, public fund raising, training and learning opportunities” (# FZ-20220717). However, according to the search statistics of the official websites of the CC/TSPM and the Catholic One Mission in 31 different provinces (i.e., autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) in China, 13 provincial-CC/TSPM had created official websites in July 2022 (three of which could not be opened)—of which Shandong, Zhejiang, and Sichuan provinces were those who had only set up part-time professional committees of social services. When compared with the search results in January 2020, there is little change (

Table 4. The opening of the official websites and the departments of social service of the provincial level CC/TSPM and CPA/BCCCC.

	2022		2020
	Christianity	Catholicism	Christianity	Catholicism
Official website	13	3	12	n/a
Social Service Department	3	0	2	n/a

Source: Internet search statistics.

)7. When looking at the current operation of more than ten Christian foundations, the vast majority are operational and non-public funds, with many limitations in terms of service efficiency and fund-raising capacity. In general, in recent years, religious public welfare charity has been affected by objective environmental factors, as well as a lack of major breakthroughs and innovations in terms of scale, form, etc. (Qiu et al. 2020).

3.2.2. The Transition of Internal Management System from the Traditional Rule of the People to the Modern Rule of Law

Certain religious social service organizations are partly initiated and sponsored by churches, while many are run by individual Christians either independently or in partnership. According to the authors’ field research on 12 social service organizations with Christian backgrounds, such as the economic organizations in the early stage of marketization, many social service organizations rely heavily on the personal ambition, cognition, and social relationship resources of the founders and responsible persons, who often show the following characteristics: (1) a reliance on the personal authority of the first generation of founders and the operation process being highly unstable (i.e., the institutions are prone to cease to exist or change with the change in the founder); (2) limited staff, often one employee is responsible for the work of several positions or even several departments, without a clear job responsibility and process system; and (3) in regard to institutions founded by individual Catholics, it is a common phenomenon for key positions to be held by family members. According to certain statistics, among the 151 foundations with religious backgrounds mentioned in China in 2019, only 24 (which accounts for 16%) could be understood to possess a clear organizational structure and department composition (Qiu et al. 2020). As such, in this vein, the degree of transition from humanistic to institutionalized management is a sign of maturity in the management of social service organizations.

3.2.3. Multiple Restrictions from a Localized Dual Management System of the Registration and Operation

These restrictions are manifested in four aspects: (1) Restrictions on territoriality. That is, social service organizations cannot operate across regions and can only be managed by government departments and, thus, conduct services in their local areas (usually cities and districts and counties). The Huiling Service Group has formed a cross-regional chain operation, but under the territorial management mode, it cannot be named “China Huiling Headquarters” and, thus, cannot officially implement group operation management; (2) restrictions on the business supervisor. Social organizations need to find a local government functional department or group organization to be the professional supervisory unit. Then, they can apply for relevant registration management at the civil affairs department. Non-profit social organizations do not enjoy the market-oriented openness of for-profit organizations and the right to have no professional supervisory unit. The government once stipulated that the four types of social organizations (which includes industry associations and chambers of commerce, science and technology, public welfare charities, and urban and rural community services) did not require direct registration by the competent business authorities (General Office CCCPC and the General Office of the State Council 2016). However, this has not resulted in any significant practical improvements; (3) restrictions on civil registration and annual inspection. Organizations require applying for and completing the registration in accordance with the document content template prescribed by the registration department. In the recent annual inspection of social organizations, the criterion of “party building” has been added, and institutions without party members, workers, or dispatched party building work instructors cannot pass the annual inspection; and (4) restrictions on the exchange with overseas institutions and funds. The government has imposed strict regulations on the amount of overseas funds and the movement of personnel (e.g., SCNPC 2016; NRAA 2018), effectively cutting off the opportunities for Chinese religious service organizations to engage in exchange with overseas professionals and to receive foreign donations. At the same time, it is difficult for religious social service organizations to form or participate in national or regional professional alliances, and they have long been isolated from each other and lack cooperation.

3.3. Practical Characteristics as Professional Organizations

The practical characteristics of the trend toward specialization of Christian service organizations in the new era are mainly manifested in the following aspects:

3.3.1. The Transformation from Volunteering to a Professional Service

In the early days of reconstruction, religious social service providers were generally not paid a formal salary and received only a small subsistence allowance. At present, this situation of non-professional employment has changed, and the staff of religious social service institutions generally enjoy wage remuneration and social insurance: “When we started working in 2004, wages were very low and there was no social insurance. But the departure of a very attentive young colleague had a great impact on us and led to our transformation; her parents vehemently opposed her doing the job and forced her to leave; I am also reflecting that if you continue to committed to your work based solely on your enthusiasm for your work, it seems noble, but in fact it can’t last and it’s not fair…. From 2009, we started to raise wages as much as possible and pay social security” (#MC-20220714). The latest government regulations require clergy to “participate in social security and enjoy relevant rights in accordance with the law” (State Council 2017; NRAA 2021). However, according to the authors’ field research data, the current salary standards of the staff of these service institutions are generally lower than the official average social wage level, and there are fewer types of social security insurance paid by institutions for them.

3.3.2. The Transformation from “Religious Charity” to “Social Welfare”

Service risks, civil rights, and third-party government commissions in modern society have had many countervailing effects on the professionalism of religious services. In the Modern Litigious Society, the service of religious affiliates is subject to many legal constraints (Ellor et al. 1999). According to a local survey, most of the social service activities of church bodies in a certain area are organized and institutionalized as “modern charity” activities, and the beneficiaries are more concerned with the general public (Liu and Sun 2019). The Shanghai Huaai Community Service Management Center under the Shanghai YMCA and the YWCA have commissioned the management of 10 community service organizations (including Luoshan Guild in Pudong New Area and Dapuqiao Community Cultural Activity Center in Huangpu District, etc.) (YMCA and YWCA of Shanghai 2022), generating a brand effect of professional management of non-profit institutions. Service provision is separated from faith transmission—the service process generally does not “bundle” with the function of faith transmission function. When resolving differences in faith with clients, they can consciously take the client as the primary starting point and respect the principle of self-determination of the client.

3.3.3. The Transformations Led by Process Management and Quality Evidence

Increasingly, religious service organizations are beginning to focus on the professional qualifications (licenses) of management and service personnel rather than faith affiliation. They are transforming to specialization in terms of concepts, procedures, standards, etc., and are gradually introducing professional social workers and even setting up a social work department.

If the government department grades (evaluates) our institutions, we (staff) also need this social work certificate. With professionalism, there is a vision and a pattern. If we can improve the professionalism of our service staff, we may provide more professional services.

(#FW-20220727)

Faith is what lifts us up on a spiritual level, that is, to focus on a belief. For example, I do these things, serve a child who is very dirty (hygienic), the Lord Jesus can give us a motivation, but I want to serve, only motivation, if I have no way, I don’t know how to put it into practice with this child, if we feed, we have the motivation to be willing to feed him, he spews out food, we don’t dislike him, but we don’t know, what kind of skills are better to serve him, how to better speak for her, how to better equip it with assistive devices, so this all requires professional knowledge.

(FW-20220727)

4. Policy Issues of Chinese Christian Social Service Organizations

4.1. Regarding Faith Organizations

Policy tools—also referred to as policy instruments, “governing instruments” and the “tools of government”—are the techniques (including principles, programs, and measures) of governing that help define and achieve policy goals. From the perspective of public policy, it is necessary to establish the guiding principle of classifying operations according to their faith attributes and practical characteristics of religious social service organizations. This is, in addition, to the need to promote social development and change by formulating and using appropriate and diversified policy tools (including policy concepts).

4.1.1. A More Precise Definition of the Legality and Boundaries of Religious Activities

The policy tools of Western academia (Rothwell 1985; Salamon 2002) do not usually include the tools of policy ideas or principles. Yet, in China’s policy process, it is necessary to establish a universal concept tool first. Respecting the constitutional right to “freedom of religious faith” and other civil rights implies recognition of the right of religious organizations to engage in social services. The government departments and the professional community need to distinguish between the following two provisions: “No organization or individual shall make use of public welfare and charitable activities to propagate religion” (State Council 2017) and “No religion shall be spread in charitable activities” (NRAA et al. 2012). The former, as the latest legal provision, has a clearer meaning, i.e., it can be specifically interpreted as such that in public welfare and charitable activities, service users without religious beliefs or other religious beliefs are not allowed to attach specific religious activities or convert expectations, rather than being prohibited from other signs and activities without religious and cultural sensitivity, or from service users’ related faith activities. Cultural tolerance among secular and interreligious people is promoted through the implementation of “freedom of religious faith”. Chinese mainland government administration methods can be modeled upon the HKSAR Social Welfare Department’s “Service Performance Monitoring” metric. That is to say, through such documents and procedures, such as the Funding and Service Agreement, Service Quality Standards and Service Quality Assessment (Social Welfare Department HKSAR 2012), this can be achieved. This is further conducted by restricting or regulating the service projects commissioned or funded by government departments to meet the needs of the public, as well as to avoid or prevent forced faith transmission and religious service discrimination.

4.1.2. Recognition of the Important Role and Function of Religious Service Resources in the Welfare Provision of Specific Groups of People and Communities

Religious social services play an irreplaceable role and function in safeguarding the objective and subjective well-being of believers. The extent to which social services or public interest charities can retain their faith-based attributes should respect their industry codes of practice and give due consideration to the wishes and needs of the target population they are intended to serve. In certain districts and counties where the elderly believers of Christianity are relatively concentrated, Christian homes for the elderly have developed rapidly, which reflects the internal norms and responsiveness, self-help, and resource mobilization ability of the religious social service organizations in meeting the specific social needs of their adherents. In the context of policy discourse, protecting freedom of faith and encouraging interfaith exchanges are complementary policy tools.

4.1.3. Provision of Effective Public Support According to the Principle of Classification Operation

The HKSAR Social Welfare Department recognizes the legitimacy and rationality of religious social service organizations and provides fixed public funding to many religious service organizations (e.g., the Salvation Army and Caritas). There are policy tools that need to be developed for policy issues that specifically distinguish the differences or plurality gradients of the faith-based characteristics of Christian social service organizations, as well as make appropriate distinctions in policy implementation and project cooperation (including permitted procurement and project cooperation for different types and levels of faith-based organizations according to specific criteria). There is also a need to promote the establishment of public information platforms in order to encourage and supervise religious social service organizations rather than administrative information shielding (NRAA et al. 2021). Further, there is a need for relaxing restrictions on normal international exchanges8, thereby strengthening the capacity of religious social service organizations.

4.2. Regarding Legal Person Organizations

NGOs are independent organizations with civil rights and bear civil obligations in accordance with the law. This is achieved through their autonomy and self-governance, as well as through the realities and problems that have come forward with many new demands for future policy objectives, issues, texts, and implementation.

4.2.1. Implementing an “Equalization” Policy for Religious Public Welfare Charity Activities under the Framework of “Partnership”

Judging from Christian social resources and the experience of developed countries, the number and proportion of social service organizations with a Christian background in China has greater intrinsic development potential. The “equalization” policy measures to encourage and support public welfare and philanthropy in religious circles imply a multiple “partnership” which can strengthen the capacity building at a higher management level through the establishment of social service departments or special committees under the CCC/TSPM and CCPA/BCCCC. In regard to religious bodies such as the YMCA (YWCA), which have been transformed into professional social service organizations, the rehabilitation or rebuilding of these organizations in major cities should be ramped up in due course. More government subsidies should be provided to religious service organizations and projects. At the same time, the localized dual registration process requires further reform such that religious non-profit organizations can enjoy more equal rights in the context of their operation (Wang 2013; Yang and Ruan 2009).

4.2.2. Policies and Measures for Optimizing and Improving the Internal Governance of Religious Service Organizations Requires More Analysis

In order to enhance the construction of Christian social service organizations in China, it is necessary to coordinate the links between direct government administration with self-management via legal entities. Furthermore, there is a need to improve the internal governance structure of various legal entities through research and development contracts, information services, annual inspections of competent units, etc. In the policy document (NRAA et al. 2012), which encourages and regulates religious circles to engage in public interest charitable activities, there are six departments (including the State Administration for Religious Affairs) that have proposed a series of goals for improving organizational mechanisms. These mechanisms include: cultivating a team of specialized talents, formulating and improving work plans, reporting systems, evaluation systems, information disclosure systems, and property management systems. These all improve the ability and level of self-management, self-education, self-monitoring, self-service, and self-improvement, as well as accepting guidance, management, supervision, and inspection from the relevant departments. Although it is also mentioned to accept “supervision from all sectors of society”, the question of how to solve the problem of shortcomings of social supervision commonly faced by government departments and social organizations through the rule of law will undoubtedly require changes in China’s political and social system.

4.2.3. Improving the Level of Rule of Law in the Categorical Management of Legal Entities

At present, China’s religious social service organizations, foundations, and social organizations have been incorporated into the official legal status system comprising three types of social organizations. Further, the initiative of the government department to grant religious activity sites (i.e., churches) the status of “donor legal persons” has not yet been realized. There is a kind of dual-track framework between the official legal status system of the three types of social organizations and the nascent “donor legal status”. Therefore, certain legal experts have proposed that a “comprehensive religious legal status system”—consisting of three types of legal status, namely religious bodies, institutions of religious education, and religious venues—can be established under laws and regulations, such as the Regulations on Religious Affairs, the General Principles of the Civil Law, and the General Provisions of the Civil Law (Feng 2018). This could be in addition to another option, which is creating a separate type of religious legal person under “non-profit legal status” in the General Provisions of the Civil Law, by including religious associations, religious activity sites, and religious schools, as well as all religious organizations that are recognized as religious legal persons (Zhong 2018). By setting up a separate religious legal entity in order to participate in welfare provision, the principles of the “separation of church and state” and “categorical operation” can undoubtedly be optimized.

4.3. Regarding Professional Organizations

How can policy formulation adapt to the trend of development reform and be more effective in achieving the desired results in the process of policy implementation? The abovementioned service practices can provide certain expansive and innovative insights.

4.3.1. Recognition of the Professional Contributions of Christian Social Service Institutions

Support policies for religious social services that need to be based not only on the affirmation of their faith foundations and historical traditions but also on the recognition of their professional contributions and technical value. In terms of the appropriate social division of labor, the emergence of the Christian social service organization system and professionalization has promoted the professional development of the entire human service cause. In terms of service areas, clinical applications, and professional methods, Christian professionals have input valuable knowledge into the mentally disabled, drug rehabilitation, and community service. Further, this is in addition to hospice and palliative care staffs’ “self-awaken” ability and their awareness of the integrity of people and services. When accounting for the Hong Kong Social Welfare Department (HKSAR), as an example, there are about 800,000 Christians and 400,000 Catholics. Furthermore, Christian and Catholic groups have run a large number of different types of service organizations, undertaking more than 60% of social welfare services9, of which 60% of the social welfare subsidized by the Social Welfare Department (HKSAR) are also provided by churches or church institutions in Hong Kong (Zhu 2008). Therefore, in the policy guidance of government departments, recognizing the practical methods and clinical value of Christian social service organizations, as well as supporting religious social service agencies to hire more professional social workers by setting industry standards and providing job subsidies, will be conducive for the purposes of further tapping into the utilization potential of these resources.

4.3.2. Expanding the Policy Space for Industry Management

The trend of “modern governance” calls for, on the one hand, a greater expansion of the social participation of religious social service organizations by opening up policy space to promote religious circles in order to establish their own coordination and communication mechanisms (Zhao 2006). On the other hand, there needs to be a line drawn between direct government administration and self-management by industry associations. The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) provides a good example in this regard. According to the latest statistics in November 2022, the HKCSS has a total of 503 members, covering more than 3000 service units. Further, there are 154 organizations (30.6%) that indicated a “religious background” in the member profile form, of which there were 142 (28.2%) institutions with Christian or Catholic backgrounds (HKCSS 2022)10. Hong Kong Christian social service organizations recognize and fulfill the unified mission of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, which undoubtedly has enhanced the social accountability of various types of welfare service organizations, promoted better religious social welfare services, and facilitated the ability of institutions to serve society.

4.3.3. Exploring Inclusive Spiritual Services

In the late 20th century, developed countries developed spiritual social work (Canda and Furman 2010; Chang and Jiao 2014), which raised the level of professional services for those in need. Religious and non-religious spiritual services have also become more popular in China with the growth of various service organizations (e.g., spiritual music therapy, grief counseling, etc.), and they have continued to develop and embrace each other. The important role of religious spiritual services in regard to terminal care for the sick, hospice care, family adoption, drug rehabilitation, reassurance in the event of the death of relatives and friends, and relief from disasters and pains is widely recognized by society as good (although a higher proportion of respondents recognize non-religious spiritual services, as well). Advancing the professionalization of social services and advocating for culturally or spiritually sensitive services requires promoting compatibility rather than segregation between religious and non-religious services. Based on the development experience of developed countries and regions, professional communities and policymakers need to jointly explore and construct service policies that can conform to and promote professional and culturally sensitive services, as well as facilitate certain innovative and inclusive spiritual social services through government purchases, grants funds, supervision and evaluation, and international exchanges.

4.4. Update of Policy Toolbox and Policy Matrix

In this paper, various policy tools that can be used to address the multiple legitimate rights, interests, and types of attributes of Christian social service organizations (see

Table 5. Policy toolbox of religious social service organizations.

	Policy Tool	Policy Principle (Concept)	Regulation	Financial	Services
Legal Status
Faith-based Organizations		Freedom of faith and civil rights	Administrative management and associational rules	Permitted procurement and research grants	Project, cooperation, and interfaith communication
Legal Person Organizations		Social development and partnership	Administrative management, inspection and evaluation, and social supervision	Government subsidies, tax incentives, and R & D contracts	Project cooperation and information platform
Professional Organizations		Encouragement, standardization, and modern governance	Industry management, supervision, and evaluation	Government purchases, social and overseas donations, special funds	Professional standards, spiritual services, education and research, and international exchanges

) are proposed. In particular, in view of the lack of ideas and misalignment in China’s policy system, universal principles, such as “freedom of faith”, “partnership”, and “modern governance”, are included in the subcategories of the “policy tools” box, thereby serving as the “litmus test” for policy modernity. In a literal sense, these conceptual tools have been incorporated into the official policy discourse, but they need to be reinterpreted and manipulated in the light of universal concepts and situational conditions in order to advance the level of policy formulation and implementation.

Based on Salamon’s analysis framework on the attributes of policy tools (200211), policy tools can be further matrixed (

Table 6. Exploratory policy matrix for religious social service organizations.

		Degree of Coerciveness
		High	Medium	Low
Degree of Directness	Low	Codes of practice	Classification operation (such as permitted procurement)	International communication, and spiritual service	High	Degree of Automaticity
	Medium	Inspection and evaluation	Tax preferences, R & D contracts, and social and overseas donation licenses	Education and research, information platform, and interfaith service	Medium
	High	Administrative management	Research grants, government subsidies, government purchases, and special funds	Professional standards, and project cooperation	Low

)—according to the type, characteristics, and direction of development of target objects, various policy tools are provided with different degrees of implementation methods, thereby aiming to promote the scientific and legal level of policy governance measures.

5. Summary and Discussion

Chinese Christian social service organizations are in the comprehensive environment of national religious policies, their own religious traditions, and social welfare systems; further, there are certain types of differences in their legal status types, faith attributes, and professional functions. These typological differences define their organizational mission, structural functions, and performance standards. The pluralistic and transitional characteristic of Christian social service organizations in the process of practice is manifested in the imbalance of their internal and external development. Certain newly established Christian service organizations, who are in the teething stage of dealing with the relationship between the evangelization mission and universal responsibility, do not understand the broad connotation of cultural sensitivity and tend to integrate social service with the transmission of faith. These organizations are in need of further professional growth. A Christian community organization or activity site needs to maintain corresponding boundaries in the scope and form of its social services. It requires those service items suitable for the legal person organization of the community or place of activity to be developed and to form a reasonable division of labor with professional service institutions.

The practices in developed countries and regions show that most service organizations with Christian backgrounds, in terms of specialization and globalization, are similar in organizational structure and mode of operation to secular social service organizations. For example, services are provided by professionally qualified people who usually do not share a common religious faith or affiliation with the employing agency. A growing number of Christian professional service institutions in China are also beginning to converge and cooperate with non-religious service institutions in terms of industry codes of practice, service philosophies, and clinical models, especially in the area of client-centered, culturally sensitive services, thereby forming a complex symbiosis and interlocking relationship with the non-religious professional service system.

When cooperating with various types of religious legal person organizations to conduct service projects and allocate service resources, government departments need to identify the functional expertise and practical capability of different legal person organizations. Certain service organizations with strong Christian faith characteristics have an irreplaceable role in meeting the mind (spiritual) well-being of the Christian community or in using religious spiritual services and thus require to be provided with specific policy space. Under new social conditions, however, through the full implementation of the “equalization” support and encouragement policy, Christian social service organizations can be promoted to have full discretion in utilizing their traditional advantages in human services, such that they can truly become one of the organizational subjects of welfare services and collaborative governance. For the time being, the above policy issues raised in this study are difficult to incorporate into present China’s highly regulated religious policy process. However, the accumulation of academic knowledge of the types and attributes of relevant policy instruments will help to enhance the social potential for future policy changes.