Along with the first snowflakes in 2020, the Dawn Church in Baoji City, China’s northern Shaanxi, held its 14th annual Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, November 22.
At the beginning of the service, two choirs of Canaan and Joshua sang together to praise God.
Then came three sermons in the morning. First, Elder Yi Lianmei shared the gospel. She spent more than half an hour reviewing the 13-year journey of the church and sharing three things before the sermon. First, she said that on one day in September 2007, three believers were suddenly injured in an accident on a trip to Xi’an. Though they suffered severe injuries of varying degrees, they were saved under the protection of God. Because of God’s saving grace at that time, the church started to celebrate Thanksgiving Day every year.
Second, Elder Yi recalled three experiences of building the church and described in detail the hardships and labors with gratitude.
The third experience was of believers struggled to make contributions when Thanksgiving Day was approaching. Two months before this thanksgiving service, an older sister came to the church and donated all the expenses of the Thanksgiving Day. There were also countless believers who offered meat, rice, vegetables, and steamed bread.
In the afternoon, thanksgiving worship performances began. In the next two and a half hours, the three choirs of the elderly, Canaan, and Joshua, together with the five districts of the south, east, north and middle, presented 10 programs. They were poems, singing with action, dancing scenes, dancing, and choirs from each district.
There were also some special programs. The first were videos of a thanksgiving message from Elder Yi, the leaders of the three choirs, and more than a dozen believers in the choir, which were shown on the large screens on both sides of the sanctuary. They shared the development of the church, the growth of the choir fellowship, and their different service experiences.
The second was a musical melodrama created and directed by the choir themselves. With this year's pandemic prevention and anti-pandemic as the background, they let people from all walks of life to perform on stage to show the helplessness and the fear when facing the plague. The nurses and doctors came forward bravely and rushed to the front line to fight against the pandemic. Though the services were suspended, believers also served the Lord. While staying at home and listening to the sermons of the church’s pastors, they actively donated money and materials to support the fight against the pandemic.
(The author is a Christian in Shaanxi and the original article is published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
伴随着2020年第一场雪花，在11月22日主日，宝鸡曙光教会举办了第十四届感恩节崇拜聚会。
开始之后，首先是迦南、约书亚两个诗班合唱赞美。
接下来开始了上午的三堂证道。第一堂，是易莲梅长老证道。在证道开始前，她首先用了半个多小时，回顾了在神的带领供应下走过的十三年历程。重点讲了三个方面：一是回顾了十三年前2007年9月份的一天。因着三位弟兄姊妹前往西安出差途中，被突然出现的意外车祸，使三人受到了不同程度的严重外伤，但在爱我们的神保佑护驾下生命得以拯救。也因着这次神的救命恩典，曙光教会从此以后也就把每年感恩节这天，作为教会自己的感恩节。
二是易长老扳起指头，回忆了教会三次建殿的历程，细细描述了三次建殿的艰辛和劳苦。
三是简述了自举办感恩节以来，每到感恩节即将来临的前两个月份，就有弟兄姊妹争先恐奉献举办感恩节各项费用的见证。在今天举办感恩节崇拜的二个月前，就有一位年长姊妹前来教会奉献出了举办感恩节的全部费用。还有数不清的姊妹弟兄在这期间奉献了大肉、大米及蔬菜、馒头。
下午开始感恩节圣乐崇拜文艺节目的演出，在接下来的二个半小时里，由老年、迦南、约书亚三个诗班，会同东南西北中五个片区带来的10个节目依次演出，节目有诗朗诵、表演唱、舞蹈情景、还有舞蹈加自己片区的小合唱。
最值得一提的有三个特色节目中第一个是在主堂内两旁的大屏幕上，依次显示播放了易长老、三个诗班负责弟兄姊妹、十多位诗班弟兄姊妹的感恩短语视频发言。他们分别从教会的发展、诗班团契的成长、个人的不同侍奉经历中，用诗史般的语言简要叙述了一个个曾经发生的奇妙感恩见证。
第二个是诗班自己原创，自我导演的一部音乐情景剧。剧情以今年防疫抗疫为背景，让社会上各行各业的各色人物上台表演，那剧中人物内心的无奈和面对疫情突袭的恐惧得以惟妙惟肖的再现。白衣天使勇敢冲锋向抗疫第一线，神的儿女聚会虽停、但侍奉圣工未停。他们一边上网继续聆听曙光教会牧者证道，一边积极捐钱捐物支援抗疫一线作贡献。
（作者为陕西一基督徒。）
http://www.gospeltimes.cn/article/index/id/54362
陕西宝鸡曙光教会举办第十四届感恩节崇拜聚会
Along with the first snowflakes in 2020, the Dawn Church in Baoji City, China’s northern Shaanxi, held its 14th annual Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, November 22.
At the beginning of the service, two choirs of Canaan and Joshua sang together to praise God.
Then came three sermons in the morning. First, Elder Yi Lianmei shared the gospel. She spent more than half an hour reviewing the 13-year journey of the church and sharing three things before the sermon. First, she said that on one day in September 2007, three believers were suddenly injured in an accident on a trip to Xi’an. Though they suffered severe injuries of varying degrees, they were saved under the protection of God. Because of God’s saving grace at that time, the church started to celebrate Thanksgiving Day every year.
Second, Elder Yi recalled three experiences of building the church and described in detail the hardships and labors with gratitude.
The third experience was of believers struggled to make contributions when Thanksgiving Day was approaching. Two months before this thanksgiving service, an older sister came to the church and donated all the expenses of the Thanksgiving Day. There were also countless believers who offered meat, rice, vegetables, and steamed bread.
In the afternoon, thanksgiving worship performances began. In the next two and a half hours, the three choirs of the elderly, Canaan, and Joshua, together with the five districts of the south, east, north and middle, presented 10 programs. They were poems, singing with action, dancing scenes, dancing, and choirs from each district.
There were also some special programs. The first were videos of a thanksgiving message from Elder Yi, the leaders of the three choirs, and more than a dozen believers in the choir, which were shown on the large screens on both sides of the sanctuary. They shared the development of the church, the growth of the choir fellowship, and their different service experiences.
The second was a musical melodrama created and directed by the choir themselves. With this year's pandemic prevention and anti-pandemic as the background, they let people from all walks of life to perform on stage to show the helplessness and the fear when facing the plague. The nurses and doctors came forward bravely and rushed to the front line to fight against the pandemic. Though the services were suspended, believers also served the Lord. While staying at home and listening to the sermons of the church’s pastors, they actively donated money and materials to support the fight against the pandemic.
(The author is a Christian in Shaanxi and the original article is published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Shaanxi Church Marks Thanksgiving
