Helan County of Yinchuan, Ningxia held the ground-breaking ceremony for its first new church on July 8, 2017.
Helan County is located adjacent north to Yinchuan, the capital city of Ningxia Muslim Autonomous Region. It is situated at a mere distance of 8 kilometers away from central Yinchuan, thus named as "the backyard" of the city. In the recent years, the Christian population has grown at a tremendous speed as a massive crowd comes from nearby cities, mining zones, and villages to the county.
After decades of prayer, the church gained the official approval and a land of six mu or 0.988 acres was allocated by the local authority for the building project. All the formalities were attended to in May 2016.
According to the building plan, the new Han-and-Tang-Dynasty-style venue will take up 4000 square meters of land with 5678 square meters of the overall building space. There will be 4 vehicle parking lots and a 2-storeyed sanctuary(2600 square meters large). It is estimated to cost 12 million yuan in total.
The church borrowed money from local brother churches. On the ceremony day, it received a total construction fund of 300,000 yuan from the congregation and a local church.
A lunch was set in the church's current gathering place about 3 kilometers away from the new church site. Dishes made by the congregation were placed on the table. "Some believers brought 15 chicken and some donated 30 roast ducks ... The church only bought 7000 mantou (Chinese steamed buns)." Said Elder Zhang, the church leader. He added that the church had a construction fund of only 4 million yuan and the congregation was active in donating, hoping for the completion of the new church as soon as possible.
-Translated by Karen Luo
