From April 23 to 25, more than 20 members of Binhai County CC&TSPM in Yancheng, Jiangsu, participated in an exchange visit relating to the sinicization of Christianity held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. They listened to staff workers from Sicheng Church, Pan Shi Church, Chongyi Church, and Gulou Church in Hangzhou, Zhejiang to share their experiences in church development and administration. It had been seven years since church workers in Binhai conducted an out-of-town study tour last time.
As a former exemplary church, Binhai County Church gets out to exchange, stemming from a growth mindset.
A church with advanced management skills
On May 16, 2011, Binhai County Church held its inauguration ceremony, being the largest church in the county town. More admirable than the grand architecture was its management system.
Rev. Lv Feng, vice chairman of Binhai County TSPM, explained that they conduct a unified financial management system for 125 meeting points in the county; each church submits monthly financial reports, and any expenditure exceeding 3,000 yuan is required to be applied for in advance. Since 1983, all personnel files and all financial statements across the county have been recorded; about 50 seminary students from the county are all locally trained. Around 2015, more than 8,000 believers attended services at Binhai County Church, with public welfare activities launched.
From 2015 to 2023, during the Religious Charity Week which is designated in the middle of every September since 2012, believers across the county raised over two million yuan for poverty alleviation.
On July 8 in 2015, at the church experience exchange meeting held in Jiangsu Province, Rev. Wang Linzhuan, chairman of Binhai County TSPM, was invited to share on the topic "How to Manage a Large Number of Believers Orderly—Exploration and Practice of Binhai County Church." Highlights included talent cultivation, job recommendation and selection, the retirement system, regular organizational re-election, supervision and evaluation systems, archive management, financial management systems, and religious charities.
Difficulties of the present
During the 10th Jiangsu Christianity Conference in May 2019, attendees proposed that the construction of Christianity shift from "quantity growth" to "quality improvement," calling for the development of quality-type churches across the province. Having not seen substantial progress, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out seven months after the conference. The nation was forced into lockdown, and the church's weekly gatherings and Sunday services were suspended.
The most obvious problem was the loss of believers. Rev. Lv Feng explained that the Sunday service attendance reached 8,000 to 9,000 before the pandemic, with only 6,000 churchgoers left now. In the 2015 report, there were 100,000 Christians in the county; recent statistics show less than half remain. The pastor said that one reason for this significant loss was the lack of pastoral care exposed during the pandemic.
Looking at the 2024 worship and meeting schedule of Binhai County Church, six full-time pastors conduct eight services every week, except during the Spring Festival and National Day holidays. In international churches, the normal ratio of pastors to believers should be maintained at one to one hundred and fifty; Binhai Church falls far short of this requirement.
In the 21st century, urbanization in China and the rise of urban churches have led to the loss of believers, especially young adults, causing rural churches to age and become hollow. During the pandemic, the consecutive deaths of elderly believers accelerated the decline of rural churches. To improve the effectiveness of pastoral care and increase the vitality, Binhai County Church chose to go out and take a look.
New paths bringing hope
Pastor Lv summarized the experience of the visitation activity in one sentence: "We visit with questions, purposefully."
He said the pre-departure mobilization meeting was crucial. After the itinerary was confirmed with the Hangzhou CC&TSPM, the Binhai Church held a meeting for staff workers, where they wrote down the difficulties faced in their ministries; if there were none, they noted down their strengths. The attendees were also meeting participants during the visit in April this year. Churches from different regions have their own characteristics; Jiangsu excels in organizational management, while Zhejiang focuses more on pastoral care within the church. Pastor Lv expressed that after presenting issues to churches in Hangzhou, the Binhai delegation maintained a humble attitude of learning, no longer being tourists. Consequently, the work atmosphere underwent a significant change. During the post-visit summary meeting, they acknowledged the disparities, saying they "learned a lot."
Listening to the advanced practices of the visited churches, Binhai Church decided to start training over 700 core volunteers in batches. Besides assessing the faith, service mindset, physical condition, and family situation of the staff workers during recruitment, continuous training, and counseling sessions will be conducted, led by pastors, for practical training and doctrinal nurturing.
The second step is to launch youth pastoral ministry and seminars on workplace, relationships, and mental health. They are focusing on nurturing local talents while inviting professionals to conduct seminars.
The on-site visits helped the two sides establish genuine friendships, laying the foundation for further mutual learning and cooperation. It is expected that the initiation of new ministries at Binhai Church will receive detailed guidance from churches in Hangzhou.
"Leaders need to have a vision." Pastor Lv believed that for church-to-church visits and exchanges to bear fruit, leaders need to open their hearts first, either by stepping out of past glory or changing a conservative mindset of clinging to traditions. It is important to identify and solve the problem, which can be settled by many solutions and relying on faith, which is beyond circumstances.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
