"The blessings of the Lord make people rich, without worry", said Pastor Wu Weiqing, of Haidian Church in Beijing when preaching God's Word to the congregation from his home.
The senior pastor of one of the flagship three-self churches claimed that people, in pursuit of wealth and pleasure in their own ways, tend to plunge themselves and others into anxiety, sorrow, and even to bring a great disaster to the nation; but the prosperity of the Lord God was without any worries...
The above method of online Sunday worship is being adopted by many churches in Beijing, especially during the last two weeks. Since the coronavirus outbreak, in accordance with the spirit of Beijing Christian Council &Three-Self Patriotic Movement (CC&TSPM), churches in Beijing have suspended all gatherings from since January 24. Although they cannot meet at the usual venues, church services still go on by live webcasts or recorded audio and videos.
On February 2nd, Pastor Liu Cuimin of Chongwenmen Church in Beijing, urged the congregation on a live webcast, "In this special time we cannot come to church, and brothers and sisters must not be weak and far from God. Instead, because there is a lot of time at home, one should use this time to get closer to God, read more and pray more. It is hoped that by the end of the epidemic, our brothers and sisters are not found to have strayed away from God. Although it is not possible to come to the church, each one is expected to love the Lord more and thirst for the Lord more." The Church WeChat public platform updates spiritual information on a daily basis so that the congregation can receive pastoral care from the Church in a timely manner.
On the same day, Beijing Zhuchengkou Church also carried out Sunday worship through the network platform. According to the sermon, the core of the Bible was the salvation of life, and that God's heart was "unwilling to have one person perish, but to have everyone repent." According to man's opinion, God's promise does not seem to have been achieved immediately; however, God's heart remains hidden among men on purpose, as He waits for man to repent.
"The change of environment should not affect our pure trust in God's words - the environment is used to put our lives to the test; after the test, the foundation of our life will be more solid, the direction of life will be clearer, the pace of life will be more dynamic", he encouraged the congregation at the end.
In addition to the online supply of spiritual messages, Beijing churches have also launched a prayer for the epidemic and a donation initiative for epidemic areas. Beijing Chaoyang Church organized volunteers according to the service of the group in their respective homes to take turns to pray every day, asking God to show mercy and compassion, comfort the hearts of the people, stop the plague, and bring peace to the land. Beijing Zhuchengkou Church, Beijing Nanyuan Church and Beijing Daxing Evangelical Church, through their WeChat public platforms or websites, issued a donation initiative for epidemic prevention and control, calling on brothers and sisters to extend a helping hand to Wuhan medical workers and compatriots in affected areas for their work in epidemic prevention and control.
- Translated by Charlie Li
