Anxi Church in Pingnan County, Ningde City, Fujian Province, held a thanksgiving service for reconstruction last Wednesday.
Lin Shengfeng, senior pastor of Beimen Church in Jiaocheng District, said that to build a church to glorify the Lord's name, the members needed to rely on the Lord, let Him be the first and keep the Father's work in mind. He said irrespective of the external sanctuary or the internal believers’ heart, Anxi Church should be able to leave a good impression on people who came to Anxi Village and send out the aroma of Christ by establishing its own "brand".
Rev. Lin Jiaxing gave a sermon titled "New Creations in the New Church", in which he urged believers to be new creations who were of one mind, loved each other, adhered to the truth, and exalted Christ to glorify His name. Christians were encouraged to live out their faith by equipping themselves with truth to resist heretics and cults and to give full play to different gifts to build the temple of God.
Chen Changshi, the head of Anxi Church, introduced the brief history of the church. Introduced before 1949, the gospel was spread in 1981 again by Qiu Yinzhang from Daixi Township, who came to Anxi Village to make clothes. The number of believers grew from less than ten to more than one hundred, but there was no fixed place for gathering. With the support of Chen Daoyang, the church borrowed his land (about 160 square meters in Yangtou, Anxi Village) to build a simple meeting place in 1990. Till October 23, 2019, the church invested 60,000 RMB to purchase this land, with the foundation stone laying ceremony held on October 28, 2019. After the reconstruction was finished, they held a thanksgiving service for the new church on December 19, 2020, according to Pingnan CC&TSPM.
Rev. Xie Baihan, chairman of the Jiaocheng District CC&TSPM (Christian Council & Three-Self Patriotic Movement), exhorted believers to build themselves in the faith, strive to spread the gospel, and testify the Lord’s name, citing Hebrews 3:14, Psalms 119:11 and Philippians 1:27.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
