Pingliang Church in China's north-central Gansu Province has been holding daily morning prayer meetings for eight years since 2013.
One day in October 2021, I attended one of the meetings.
The daily morning prayer meeting begins at 8:00 am. On that day, I entered the prayer room on the third floor. Elder Guo Aiying reminded everyone of the verses and contents that were going to be read that day and then led everyone to read the scriptures aloud. Next, Deacon Mu Yingxia led the prayer part in the second half. Mu first made a deep interpretation of the scriptures which had just been read, and at the same time further refined the theme of the scriptures read. The next step was to pray and lead everyone else to pray together according to the scriptures.
After the meeting, the seminar about morning prayer meetings began, led by Pastor Li Jianguo. He introduced the idea that after the implementation of the policy of religious freedom in 1984, Pingliang Church also resumed church meetings in that same year. The morning prayer meetings were organized voluntarily by several elderly people. Sometimes only as few as three people attended the morning prayer meetings who were Grandpa Liu, the church doorman back then, his wife and daughter. The maximum attendance was about fifteen.
After he graduated from the seminary in July 1991, Pastor Li was assigned to serve full-time at Pingliang Church. Since then, he has attended morning prayer meetings every day, and he took it as an opportunity to organize Bible studies. He did so for about years, starting with Genesis, then went through the whole of the Old and New testament.
The morning prayer meeting led by the heads of each church began in 1999. Every morning from 6:30 to 7:30 at Pingliang Church, people from the twelve congregations in the city under the jurisdiction of the church would take turns leading the morning prayer meetings. Three years later, one day towards the end of 2012, the Pingliang Church Council decided after consultation: Firstly, that holding the morning prayer meeting once a day should be included in the important ministry of the church. Second, that the morning prayer meeting should be organized by the church with a dedicated person. The time was set to start at 8 am in the morning and end at 9 an. Thirdly, the venue to hold the morning prayer meetings should be fixed in the prayer room on the third floor of the church. Then the said prayer room was renovated and fitted with air-conditioning.
During the seminar, Elder Zhang Baohua said that while he was serving in Kongtong Gospel Church, the church building had to be relocated in 2017 due to the needs of a waterworks. However, when they prayed with one heart every morning at the Pingliang morning prayer meeting, the Kongtong Gospel Church was not moved.
Sister Liang Hongling shared that although she oversaw the church calligraphy group, she actually did not know how to write calligraphy herself. It was the daily morning prayer meetings that gave her the confidence to learn how to write calligraphy well. Moreover, the calligraphy learning activities over the years made her realize that calligraphy is a good window for the church to spread the gospel. Most people who came to the church every year to learn calligraphy were not Christians at first. But by coming to the church to participate in calligraphy activities and writing God's Word, they gradually learnt about Christ Jesus, and also began to read the Bible. Most of these calligraphy lovers finally believed in the Lord.
In the end, Pastor Li mentioned that the person leading prayers should take the initiative to collect the content needed for the prayer in advance and use a passage of the Bible to guide daily prayers. Those who lead morning prayer meetings should also learn by themselves and prepare encouraging messages and short verses and poems to lead the prayer in advance. At the same time, during the morning prayer meetings, there must be scripture reading, prayer, and singing of praise.
- Translated by Stephen Huang
甘肃平凉基督教堂自2013年以来，坚持八年如一日的举办每天一次的早晨祷告会。
笔者曾在2021年10月的一天，参加了一次早晨祷告会。
那天，进了三楼祷告室，上午8：00，平凉基督教堂每天一次的早晨祷告会开始了。郭爱英长老提示大家今天要朗读的经文章节及内容，然后带领大家朗读了经文。 其次接下来，是慕映霞执事主持后半场的祷告专题。慕姊妹对上面所读经文，一是做了引深解读，同时提炼出所读经文主题思想；二是依据所读经文章节，依次代祷和带领大家同声祷告。
之后，关于晨祷会的座谈会在李建国牧师主持下开始了。李牧师介绍到：自从1984年国家落实宗教政策后，平凉教堂当年也恢复了礼拜聚会。当年的晨祷会，是由几位老人自发组织的。参加晨祷会人数最少时只有三个人，有当年在教堂看门的刘爷爷、刘奶奶和他女儿，最多时参加晨祷会的有十五人左右。
1991年7月份他神学院毕业后，被分配在平凉教堂专职侍奉。从那以后，他每天都会去参加晨祷。并且依此为契机，在晨祷会上组织大家从创世记开始查经，时间约有十年之久。藉着每天晨祷会讲完了旧约圣经，又接着讲新约圣经。
到了1999年，开始了由各堂点负责人带领举行的晨祷会。每天早晨六点半至七点半在平凉教堂，由平凉教会所辖城区的十二个堂点来人轮流带领晨祷会。三年后的2012年末一天，经过平凉教会堂委会研究决定：一是每天一次的晨祷会，列入教会重要事工。二是晨祷会由教会统一组织、专人负责，时间定为每天早晨八点开始，九点结束。三是举行晨祷会地点，将固定在教堂三楼祷告室。对教堂三楼祷告室进行了装修和安装了空调。
座谈会中，张保华长老说，他在崆峒福音堂任职吋，2017年因自来水厂的需要，教堂被要搬迁。当年同心合意祷告，加上平凉堂晨祷会的每天晨祷，最终崆峒福音堂没有被搬迁。
梁红玲姊妹分享，虽然自己在教会书法小组负责，其实她不会写书法，是每天的晨祷会，给了我有信心去学习写好书法，并且多年来的书法学习活动，让她体会到书法是教会传福音的一个好窗口。每年来教会学写书法的人，他们大多都不信主。但通过来教会参加书法活动，书写神的话语；使他们慢慢地在了解基督耶稣；并且也开始读看圣经，这些书法爱好者大多最后信了主。
最后李牧师提到：带领祷告的人，要提前主动搜集祷告所需内容，用每日经课的一段经文引领祷告；带领晨祷会的人，还要自我学习，提前预备带领祷告的鼓励信息、短经文诗歌。同时在晨祷会进行期间既要有读经、祷告，也要有歌唱赞美。
甘肃平凉市基督教堂八年来风雨无阻举办晨祷会
Pingliang Church in China's north-central Gansu Province has been holding daily morning prayer meetings for eight years since 2013.
One day in October 2021, I attended one of the meetings.
The daily morning prayer meeting begins at 8:00 am. On that day, I entered the prayer room on the third floor. Elder Guo Aiying reminded everyone of the verses and contents that were going to be read that day and then led everyone to read the scriptures aloud. Next, Deacon Mu Yingxia led the prayer part in the second half. Mu first made a deep interpretation of the scriptures which had just been read, and at the same time further refined the theme of the scriptures read. The next step was to pray and lead everyone else to pray together according to the scriptures.
After the meeting, the seminar about morning prayer meetings began, led by Pastor Li Jianguo. He introduced the idea that after the implementation of the policy of religious freedom in 1984, Pingliang Church also resumed church meetings in that same year. The morning prayer meetings were organized voluntarily by several elderly people. Sometimes only as few as three people attended the morning prayer meetings who were Grandpa Liu, the church doorman back then, his wife and daughter. The maximum attendance was about fifteen.
After he graduated from the seminary in July 1991, Pastor Li was assigned to serve full-time at Pingliang Church. Since then, he has attended morning prayer meetings every day, and he took it as an opportunity to organize Bible studies. He did so for about years, starting with Genesis, then went through the whole of the Old and New testament.
The morning prayer meeting led by the heads of each church began in 1999. Every morning from 6:30 to 7:30 at Pingliang Church, people from the twelve congregations in the city under the jurisdiction of the church would take turns leading the morning prayer meetings. Three years later, one day towards the end of 2012, the Pingliang Church Council decided after consultation: Firstly, that holding the morning prayer meeting once a day should be included in the important ministry of the church. Second, that the morning prayer meeting should be organized by the church with a dedicated person. The time was set to start at 8 am in the morning and end at 9 an. Thirdly, the venue to hold the morning prayer meetings should be fixed in the prayer room on the third floor of the church. Then the said prayer room was renovated and fitted with air-conditioning.
During the seminar, Elder Zhang Baohua said that while he was serving in Kongtong Gospel Church, the church building had to be relocated in 2017 due to the needs of a waterworks. However, when they prayed with one heart every morning at the Pingliang morning prayer meeting, the Kongtong Gospel Church was not moved.
Sister Liang Hongling shared that although she oversaw the church calligraphy group, she actually did not know how to write calligraphy herself. It was the daily morning prayer meetings that gave her the confidence to learn how to write calligraphy well. Moreover, the calligraphy learning activities over the years made her realize that calligraphy is a good window for the church to spread the gospel. Most people who came to the church every year to learn calligraphy were not Christians at first. But by coming to the church to participate in calligraphy activities and writing God's Word, they gradually learnt about Christ Jesus, and also began to read the Bible. Most of these calligraphy lovers finally believed in the Lord.
In the end, Pastor Li mentioned that the person leading prayers should take the initiative to collect the content needed for the prayer in advance and use a passage of the Bible to guide daily prayers. Those who lead morning prayer meetings should also learn by themselves and prepare encouraging messages and short verses and poems to lead the prayer in advance. At the same time, during the morning prayer meetings, there must be scripture reading, prayer, and singing of praise.
- Translated by Stephen Huang
Gansu Church Holds Morning Prayer Meetings for 8 Years in a Row
