A church in Liaoning Province held a Sunday service after renovation.
On May 23, the Anshan Municipal CC&TSPM (Christian Council & Three-Self Patriotic Movement) arranged for Pastor Wang Yan, who is from Shahe Church and graduated from Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, to give a sermon in the church in Fruit Garden Village, Tangjiafang Town, Qianshan District, Anshan City. In the sermon titled Special Responsibilities, she shared the disciples’ acceptance of the Lord's word, urging the congregation to follow his word, citing Matthew 17:1-9.
At the 2017 autumn harvest thanksgiving service, the church had poor conditions for gatherings, cold in winter and hot in summer. The altar, seats, doors and windows, ground in the sanctuary, looked old and shabby. Later, due to various reasons, believers and leaders left the church. In response to this situation, the municipal CC&TSPM appointed Lv Yong, current director general of the municipal CC, to take charge of pastoral care and management in the church. Later, Pastor Gao Zheng, a graduate of Northeast Theological Seminary, was commissioned to serve there as a full-time pastor.
After the formation of a new pastoral team, they began to transform the church’s “hardware” (facilities and housing constructions), with the help and offerings from believers in the cities of Shenyang and Anshan.
It is said that the estimated investment cost for the renovation is 300,000 yuan. In the next step, ancillary houses, toilets, canteens, and auxiliary halls will be constructed.
One female believer said, “No matter how busy we are during the harvest season, we come here to worship God every Sunday morning, as the church’s conditions are getting better.”
“Thank God we are back in the arms of the Lord. With a more comfortable environment, there are full-time pastors managing the church, so we continue to communicate, sing and share, no longer walking away after services,” another Christian woman shared.
Church leaders also protect members from heretics, who dared not approach the church to cause disruption. At one time, cooperating with the ethnic and religious affairs departments of the municipality and district, they educated the congregation and expelled a heretical organization in this area.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
