After finishing the video for Pastor Paul Liang, a centenarian preacher in Guangxi, I came from Nanning to Binyang County to visit Litang Church.
According to historical records, the gospel was introduced to Binyang County in 1917, which was 106 years ago.
According to the history of Litang Church, in 1996, Pastor Shi Yujian (female, Zhuang nationality) spread the gospel to his hometown of Litang. She began her first service in her living room with just five listeners. By 1999, the original meeting space was too small for the meeting group, and after buying a house land of 160 square meters, it took more than four years to build a church of four and a half stories, and the dedication ceremony was held on December 21, 2003.
As of 2023, the Litang Church has more than 400 baptized believers and currently has three full-time workers (including one pastor). There is also a choir group, a service group, a visiting group, an intercession group, and a couple group in the Litang Church. Every week, there are Sunday services, Wednesday prayer meetings, Friday formation classes, Saturday choir growth classes, and witness meetings. The church has seven deacons, and the deacons govern the organization democratically for the church.
The current head of the church is Pastor Li Yong, who graduated from the Zhongnan Theological Seminary in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in 2003. He went to study at the Alliance Bible Seminary in Hong Kong in 2007 and graduated with a Master's Degree in Divinity in June 2010.
The first head of the Litang Church is Pastor Shi Yujian, a graduate of the Alliance Bible Seminary. She was the vice chairman of the Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Christian Movement in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and became the founder of the Litang church in Binyang County and Shanglin County. She retired from work and rested in the bosom of the Lord in February 2016. Her real name was Shi Yuhua, and she decided to dedicate her life to the Lord because of an amazing experience.
As early as the 1920s, the Christian and Missionary Alliance missionaries had spread the gospel to many places in Guangxi. When she was only eight years old, Shi Yujian had the opportunity to listen to the sermons in the church with his grandmother every week. Five years later, Shi was baptized into Christ at Xiangxian Church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
When Shi Yujian was about eleven years old, her mother suffered from a strange illness. Due to her long illness and inability to eat, she became emaciated.
Once, Shi Yujian served rice soup to his mother and said to her, "Mom, have some rice soup!" Her mother replied, "Why don't you ask the one inside? Did you ask him if he wanted to have something?" Shi is still shocked and says, "This is a miracle! Although I was only about eleven years old at the time, I didn't quite know what kind of miracle it was. But I knew there was a God who had saved my mother's life, and I’m going to seek opportunities to serve him."
God accepted this tiny voice, and from then on, Shi embarked on the road of evangelism, development, and dedication throughout her life.
In 1999, when they built the new church, they did not seek to expect something fancy but built it according to the funds they had. Building one story a year, they gradually built a church of four and a half stories. Due to the slow construction, machinery and equipment could not be withdrawn. Thus, the profit of the construction company was minimal. However, when the church was completed, the construction company began to receive several government projects.
During the 20 years since the church was built, Litang Church has experienced three years of COVID-19, and the number and offerings of believers have even increased.
Unlike other churches where the elderly are the majority, Litang Church's followers are mainly young and middle-aged, and they are highly educated, with nearly half of the believers being Zhuang people.
They have a team of church deacons composed of Han and Zhuang ethnic groups. Pastor Li Yong said, “When they meet to discuss some issues and decide on some matters, the meeting usually does not exceed 10 minutes.” He exclaimed that the communion of saints was true and that the Holy Spirit really moves everyone.
Litang Church often carries out training and family pastoral care for believers. Christian families are also elected every year, provided that both husband and wife are believers and that their adult children are believers and participate in church activities. The Church also participates in social charity activities, such as the annual Chong Yang Festival for the Elderly, sending gifts to elderly believers and those who do not believe in Christ.
(The author is a staff writer from the Gospel Times reporting from Nanning, Guangxi.)
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
在完成为广西百岁老传道人梁保罗牧师拍摄的视频资料后，我从南宁来到宾阳县拜访黎塘教会。
据史料记载，福音在1917年传入宾阳县，距今已经106年了。
据黎塘教会的历史简介：1996年，石愈坚牧师（女，壮族）将福音传回家乡黎塘。她在自家客厅中开始第一堂礼拜，当时聚会人数仅5人。到1999年原聚会场地已不敷应用，购买到一百六十平方宅基地后，经过四年多时间建造成共四层半的教会，并在2003年12月21日举行献堂典礼。
截止到2023年，教会受洗在册的信徒已逾四百人，现有专职同工三人（其中牧师一人）。并设有圣诗班、后勤组、探访组、代祷组、伉俪小组。每周有主日崇拜、周三祷告会、周五信徒造就班、周六诗班成长班、见证会。教会有执事七人，执事会为教会民主管理组织。
教会现任负责人为李勇牧师，他2003年于湖北省武汉中南神学院毕业。后于2007年到建道神学院进修，2010年6月毕业，获道学硕士学位。
教会首任负责人为石愈坚牧师，为建道神学院肄业。曾任广西壮族自治区基督教三自爱国运动委员会副主席，成为宾阳、上林两县教会的奠基人，于2016年2月息劳归主。她原名为石玉华，是因一次奇异的经历而决志将生命奉献与主。
早在上个世纪二十年代，宣道会传教者已将福音传播至广西多处。年仅八岁的石愈坚便有机会随着祖母每星期到教堂内听道。五年后，石在宣道会上林巷贤堂受洗加入教会。
在石愈坚十一、二岁那年，她的母亲得了一场怪病。由于久病不愈，加上食不下咽，她变得瘦骨嶙峋。
有一次，石愈坚为母亲端上米汤，对母亲说：“妈妈，喝点米汤吧！”石母答说：“你问里边的那一位吧？你问他吃不吃？”石愈坚至今仍犹有余悸，说：“这是个神迹！虽然我当时年少只有十一、二岁，不太清楚这是一个怎么样的神迹。但我肯定：有一位神祂已经拯救了我母亲的性命，我一定要寻找机会，服事这位真神。”
神悦纳了这微小的声音，从此，石走上了一生传福音、开拓、奉献之路。
在1999年他们建新堂不贪大求洋，是“摸着钱包”来建设。一年建一层，逐步建起来4层半的教堂。这样一拖几年，机械设备不能撤出，施工方利润微乎其微。然而当教堂竣工后，这家施工方就陆续就到了几宗政府的有关项目。
黎塘教会建堂二十年来，经历了三年的新冠疫情，信徒数量和奉献不减反增。
不同于其他教会里老年人居多，该教会的信徒以中青年为主，他们的知识结构也比较高，壮族的信徒有约近一半。
他们有一个汉族、壮族组成的教会执事班子。李勇牧师说：他们开会讨论一些议题、决定一些事项的话，一般不会超过十分钟。他感叹大家真的是信徒相通、圣灵感动。
黎塘教会经常开展信徒培训、信徒家庭牧养。每年还评比基督家庭，条件是夫妻都是信主的、成年子女也要是信徒，参与教会活动。教会还参与社会的公益慈善活动，比如每年的九九重阳老人节，为信主的和不信主的老年信徒送去礼物。
（福音时报特约撰稿人于广西南宁报道）
广西教会印象
After finishing the video for Pastor Paul Liang, a centenarian preacher in Guangxi, I came from Nanning to Binyang County to visit Litang Church.
According to historical records, the gospel was introduced to Binyang County in 1917, which was 106 years ago.
According to the history of Litang Church, in 1996, Pastor Shi Yujian (female, Zhuang nationality) spread the gospel to his hometown of Litang. She began her first service in her living room with just five listeners. By 1999, the original meeting space was too small for the meeting group, and after buying a house land of 160 square meters, it took more than four years to build a church of four and a half stories, and the dedication ceremony was held on December 21, 2003.
As of 2023, the Litang Church has more than 400 baptized believers and currently has three full-time workers (including one pastor). There is also a choir group, a service group, a visiting group, an intercession group, and a couple group in the Litang Church. Every week, there are Sunday services, Wednesday prayer meetings, Friday formation classes, Saturday choir growth classes, and witness meetings. The church has seven deacons, and the deacons govern the organization democratically for the church.
The current head of the church is Pastor Li Yong, who graduated from the Zhongnan Theological Seminary in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in 2003. He went to study at the Alliance Bible Seminary in Hong Kong in 2007 and graduated with a Master's Degree in Divinity in June 2010.
The first head of the Litang Church is Pastor Shi Yujian, a graduate of the Alliance Bible Seminary. She was the vice chairman of the Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Christian Movement in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and became the founder of the Litang church in Binyang County and Shanglin County. She retired from work and rested in the bosom of the Lord in February 2016. Her real name was Shi Yuhua, and she decided to dedicate her life to the Lord because of an amazing experience.
As early as the 1920s, the Christian and Missionary Alliance missionaries had spread the gospel to many places in Guangxi. When she was only eight years old, Shi Yujian had the opportunity to listen to the sermons in the church with his grandmother every week. Five years later, Shi was baptized into Christ at Xiangxian Church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
When Shi Yujian was about eleven years old, her mother suffered from a strange illness. Due to her long illness and inability to eat, she became emaciated.
Once, Shi Yujian served rice soup to his mother and said to her, "Mom, have some rice soup!" Her mother replied, "Why don't you ask the one inside? Did you ask him if he wanted to have something?" Shi is still shocked and says, "This is a miracle! Although I was only about eleven years old at the time, I didn't quite know what kind of miracle it was. But I knew there was a God who had saved my mother's life, and I’m going to seek opportunities to serve him."
God accepted this tiny voice, and from then on, Shi embarked on the road of evangelism, development, and dedication throughout her life.
In 1999, when they built the new church, they did not seek to expect something fancy but built it according to the funds they had. Building one story a year, they gradually built a church of four and a half stories. Due to the slow construction, machinery and equipment could not be withdrawn. Thus, the profit of the construction company was minimal. However, when the church was completed, the construction company began to receive several government projects.
During the 20 years since the church was built, Litang Church has experienced three years of COVID-19, and the number and offerings of believers have even increased.
Unlike other churches where the elderly are the majority, Litang Church's followers are mainly young and middle-aged, and they are highly educated, with nearly half of the believers being Zhuang people.
They have a team of church deacons composed of Han and Zhuang ethnic groups. Pastor Li Yong said, “When they meet to discuss some issues and decide on some matters, the meeting usually does not exceed 10 minutes.” He exclaimed that the communion of saints was true and that the Holy Spirit really moves everyone.
Litang Church often carries out training and family pastoral care for believers. Christian families are also elected every year, provided that both husband and wife are believers and that their adult children are believers and participate in church activities. The Church also participates in social charity activities, such as the annual Chong Yang Festival for the Elderly, sending gifts to elderly believers and those who do not believe in Christ.
(The author is a staff writer from the Gospel Times reporting from Nanning, Guangxi.)
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Impression of Litang Church in Guangxi
