Letter From China Details Church Life
Episcopal News Service. March 29, 1984 [84069]
We write to you in the Diocese of Los Angeles for the first time since your visit to us in April, 1982, and send you greetings.
When the youth delegation from your diocese visited us (last summer) and brought pictures which you took when you were here, it recalled the happy occasion of your visit, which provided an opportunity for us to meet each other, to know each other, and to deepen the fellowship between Christians of our two nations. We hope our friendship will be further consolidated and developed, and that the flowers of Sino-American friendship will blossom all over our two countries.
After liberation, under the guidance of God, the Guanzhou Christian Church was going onward step by step, holding to the principle of Three-Self (self-administration, self-support and self-propagation) along with the other churches all over China. Then came the ten catastrophic years of the so-called cultural revolution (1966-1976). Church buildings were closed, normal religious activities were obstructed, religious freedom was practically non-existent.
We thank God that that period has ended, that the People's Government has reaffirmed and reimplemented its policy of religious freedom, and that churches have been gradually repaired and reopened.
In September, 1979, the Dong-Shan Church was the first to reopen for public worship in Guanzhou. The Zion Church and Ho-Nan Churches reopened soon afterward. (These are the churches you visited.) Because of huge crowds attending these churches, it has been necessary to open more churches. At the end of 1982 we got back two more church buildings: the Church of Our Savior (a former Anglican Church shut down and turned into a factory and badly damaged during the cultural revolution and Shi-Pu Road Church (a former Methodist Church used as a primary school during that period.) Both of these churches are being repaired, though they need a lot of renovation and it takes time. We are negotiating with the government to reopen a sixth church in the southwestern part of the city which has been used as a kindergarten for the past 16 years.
Some times it is not easy to reopen old churches, because the buildings have been taken over by schools, factories, warehouses, etc. It is not easy to ask them to leave when there is no other place for them under the acute housing shortage. However, we are hopeful that the sixth church will become available soon, and that Christians residing in all parts of the city can attend worship services in a church in their own neighborhood.
The Church of China is now in a post-denominational period. There are still differences based on historical backgrounds and past experiences. We are developing a spirit of respect towards those with different traditions from what our own may be. For instance, members of our churches are given the choice of baptism by either sprinkling or immersion.
At the three churches which have reopened in Guanzhou, there are mid-day worship services on Sunday as well as a Sunday evening service and also a mid-day Saturday service to accommodate people who work on Sunday. (This is also in favor with former Seventh-Day Adventists.)
About 2,500 people attend the three Sunday services at each of the three churches. On Christmas and Easter Day the crowd was so large some people had to sit on the stairways, while others stood in the aisle or outside.
We have Holy Communion on the first Sunday of every other month in each church. Each church also has weekly Bible study and prayer meetings. In regard to those who seek baptism, we take it slowly. An inquirer's class is opened in each church whenever required. Since the recovery of the churches, we have had eighteen such classes, and 872 believers have been baptized, many of them youth. Every church has a choir of forty-sixty young people who sing for Sunday services and for special occasions. Sections of Handel's "Messiah" were sung by the combined choirs at Christmas this past year.
It is hoped that a million copies of the Holy Bible printed by the National Three-Self and the National Christian Council will be available by the end of 1983. There are plenty of Bibles for all who wish them in Guanzhou now. The National Christian Council is conscientiously working to publish a new hymnal which contains many hymns composed by Chinese Christians.
The harvest is great, but the workers are few. The lack of clergy has been a big problem in developing our churches. Therefore, the training of preachers is one of the urgent tasks for us. We have sent four young people to the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary for a four-year course. The first Guangdong Province Theological Training Class since the cultural revolution was inaugurated in Guangzhou on September 12, 1983, with thirty church workers and lay persons of the local churches and home meetings in the province enrolled for three months of basic training. Many young people expressed a wish to come and study, but it was too many for us to handle.
Ten new pastors from the medium-size cities and rural areas of Guangdong Province were ordained by the laying on of hands by other pastors in July, 1982. This was the first ordination in Guangzhou since the People's Government decided to put wrong things right. (1976.) Many persons have subscribed to the journal syllabus (correspondence course) of the Nanjing Seminary, and most of them are the layworkers who conduct worship services in home meetings. Each church has a Church Affairs Committee elected to carry on the work of ministry. The Guangzhou churches send ministers to outlying congregations to conduct Holy Communion and baptism. We also send preachers to home gatherings in rural areas where there are no chapels yet.
No matter where we worship, all Christians are members of the same body, enjoying in Christ the fellowship of mutual love and help.
One of the significant achievements of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of Chinese Christianity is to change the people's view of Christianity. In old China, a common saying was "One more Christian, one less Chinese." So we must do our best to make Christianity really Chinese, to bear witness and bring the Gospel to Chinese. More and more people in China have come to recognize that they should no longer look upon Christianity as a foreign religion. Many noted fellow-Christians have been elected to the People's Congress or the People's Political Consultative Conference. They work alongside the rest of the people and government cadres in all sorts of community activities and work toward the Four Modernizations of our Motherland.
We have many shortcomings and weaknesses, and there still many difficulties and problems to be solved. Yet the Guangzhou Church is pushing forward. We are confident that God is leading our Church to a still brighter future. We are thankful to God for His guiding hand, to our people for their sympathy, and to Christians overseas for their good will and prayers.