An Analysis of the Evolution and Causes of the Students' Fellowship in Church Schools Turning from Religious Belief to Political Revolution: A Study of The Yenching Christian Fellowship

Missionaries and church schools tended to force students to participate in religious education and organizations until the outbreak of the non-Christian movement in 1922. Since then the mode of forced religious education had been widely criticized, and thus freely organized fellowships by the tutors and students were formed. Later, the student fellowships gradually shifted from Christian faith to communism and became a breeding ground for the underground revolutionary forces. In terms of its historical impact, the most magnificent fellowship at that time was Yenching Christian Fellowship. It was the first faith-based and student-centered religious group in church schools. It not only led other schools to make changes to their missionary organizations, but also joined the revolutionary movement in the name of the fellowship. This article takes the Yenching Christian Fellowship as an example of turning from faith to revolution, and briefly analyzes the causes of this phenomenon.