JOURNAL for the SCIENTIFIC STUDY of RELIGION Sect-to-Church Movement in Globalization: Transforming Pentecostalism and Coastal Intermediaries in Contemporary China KE-HSIEN HUANG Department of Sociology National Taiwan University After eight months of itinerant fieldwork across 17 provinces, I elaborate on how the largest Pentecostal group deeply localized in China, the True Jesus Church, has undergone sect-to-church movement through interactions among overseas, coastal, and inland churches in globalizing China. A critical intermediary role in this process has been taken by emerging coastal Fujian leaders, who have been successfully reforming not only their churches but also inland counterparts by tactfully utilizing overseas churches as stimuli, resources providers, and legitimizers for the transformation project. The Chinese fever of integration into the world and high status granted to the overseas are keys to smooth away the barriers of the traditionalist old guard. Accordingly, the originally enclosed, anti-political, sectarian, spirit-led group has turned more institutionalized, laity-oriented, text-based, and welcoming to the government and mainstream Protestantism. Keywords: Pentecostalism, sect-to-church movement, globalization, Christianity in China, True Jesus Church. INTRODUCTION In 1978, the Chinese Communist government decided to reopen its doors, resuming diplo- matic relations and economic ties with the outside world. A series of reforms has been loosening up in what had been a centrally planned economy and ideologically controlled society under Mao’s rule, including religious regulations. Along with rapid economic growth and all the ensuing societal transformations, a “Christian fever” has swept China from rural to urban ar- eas, with the Protestant membership increasing by at least 70 times since 1949 (Yang 2005). This surprising speed may send China on its way to becoming the next Christianized superpower in the near future, accommodating “the largest evangelical Protestant community of any country in the world” (Lambert 2006:19). The success benefits largely from the fact that Christianity has been better accepted by Chinese as native rather than foreign, since it has been much more indigenized in a state-regulated environment, isolated from foreign influence (Bays 2012; Hunter and Chan 1993). Taking up eye-catching Pentecostal practices of curing illness, exorcism, prophesizing with apocalyptic messages, and spiritual possession, the deeply localized faith has been readily approached by Chinese fellows who seek God to solve their mundane problems in everyday life (Hunter and Chan 1993; Oblau 2005); close-knit faith gatherings are formed within segre- gated, impoverished lands, holding to sectarian beliefs and strict regulations (Bays 2012:190–97; Acknowledgments: The author would like to thank Carolyn Chen, Wendy Griswold, and Gary Alan Fine for comments on the initial version of this article. This research is supported by Taiwanese Academia Sinica Fellowships for Doctoral Candidates in the Humanities and Social Sciences, the research grant for international studies provided by the Roberta Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies at Northwestern University, and the Fieldwork Fellowship provided by the Sociology Department, Northwestern University. Correspondence should be addressed to Ke-hsien Huang, Department of Sociology, National TaiwanUniversity, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan. E-mail: kehsienhuang@gmail.com Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2016) 00(0):1–10 C  2016 The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion