This month, a third edition of a Christian church history book was published, written by a pastor serving in Jiangsu.
The first version of The History of Christian Church was released in 2008 after the six years' efforts of Rev. Yin Shaohua from Nanguan Church in Xuzhou.
In a 2015 interview with Gospel Times with a Chinese Christian daily news website, Rev. Yin shared why he wrote the book. Born in Pei County, Jiangsu, in 1971, Rev. Yin taught church history in Jiangsu Bible School (currently renamed Jiangsu Theological Seminary) from 1999 to 2003. At that time, there was no textbook in the school, thus leaders of Jiangsu Christian Council & Three-Self Patriotic Movement (CC&TSPM) put forward an idea that every teacher could compile a textbook while teaching.
Another reason that contributed to the publication of the book was that many students liked his church history course. He printed out the handouts to them, but most of them were thrown away during graduation seasons.
The revision is more concise and informative, comprised of the 2000-year-history of the early church, the church in the Middle Ages, the Reformation, and modern times.
The content covers the history of the spread of the gospel, the gospel of Christian doctrines and theology, key historical figures and their thoughtful writings, and the church's important historical events.
The book can be seen as a simple doctrinal theological work for seminary students, participants in local church training programs, pastors, and the laity. The Chinese book has 300,000 words and 360 pages (32K).
"Pray that the book can benefit more people and build them up. Glory to God the heavenly father and to my Lord Jesus Christ.", said Rev. Yin.
