A church in China’s southwestern coastal Guangdong Province held services over two days to mark its 30th anniversary of reopening, witnessing the growth of the church in the past 30 years.
Following hymns after the flag-raising ceremony on June 25, Senior Pastor Xie Xuguang walked the congregation through the 30-year history and ministries of Shamian Church in Guangzhou.
Starting with no full-time staff members, the church now has four paid pastoral staff, with about 30-50 people baptized every year.
After carrying out renovations and maintenance activities since 1992, the church opened a reading room and an official WeChat account with a website. It also founds several more choirs and an orchestra, carrying out the couple fellowship family camp and socials for singles. To help nurture talent, it has donated 1.39 million yuan to 738 impoverished students.
Built in around 1865 for foreign believers, it was one of the earliest completed buildings on the island along with the British Embassy at that time. Managed and used by government departments after the Cultural Revolution in 1949, the church was put under the management of the Guangdong CC&TSPM in 1989, reopening in 1992 after renovation. It once served as the second campus of Guangdong Union Theological Seminary from 1994 to 2001, being an important base for the Guangdong church to train pastors. The church was listed as a national key cultural relic by the State Council in November 1996.
Besides three services on Sundays, the church conducts Bible study classes, prayer meetings, catechism classes, and other weekday ministries, providing books to read and wedding services.
In the afternoon, Rev. Xu Jieping, president of Guangdong Union Theological Seminary, gave a seminar with the title "Discussing the Spiritual Meditation in the Chinese Context From Form and Meaning", sharing three aspects including "biblical meditation", "the role of meditation", and "spiritual meditation in the Chinese context". He put forward that “the rich cultural resources of the Chinese nation were an important condition for the sinicization of Christian spirituality and believers could meditate on Chinese philosophy and socialist core values same or similar to the Bible”.
In the evening, the church hosted a worship and praise meeting in which choirs sang 16 hymns which were composed by believers from the church, with a sermon titled "The Day You Truly Understand God's Grace" by Rev. Lin Enling, secretary-general and director-general of Guangdong CC&TSPM. Believers were admitted by tickets that were not easy to obtain that night. All donations received at the meeting will be used for ministries of alleviating poverty and aiding students.
The next day, Sunday, the centurial church held three services in the morning, afternoon, and evening, as well as an evangelistic meeting.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
6月25-26日，广州基督教沙面会堂举办复堂30周年系列纪念活动，见证了沙面会堂复堂三十年来的成长历程。
6月25日，上午复堂庆典以升国旗仪式拉开帷幕。几首赞美诗后，沙面堂主任牧师谢旭广牧师向会众做了沙面堂30年事工介绍及展望。
从起初没有专职人员，发展到今天有四位专职教牧同工，每年受洗人数约有30-50人。
92年至今堂会进行多方面维护升级；开设书刊室；创办公众号和网站，增加多个诗班和乐团合唱团；开展如单身联谊会，夫妻团契营等。重视人才培养，致力于助学扶贫事工。自04年至今，沙面堂共资助738人次，捐款139.41万元。
沙面堂建于晚晴时期，约1865年，与当时的英国大使馆同为岛上最早竣工建筑之一。沙面堂经历1949年文革，期间由政府部门代管及使用，1989年教堂收归广东省基督教两会管理，经修缮于1992年恢复开放。1994年至2001年沙面堂曾作为复办后广东协和神学院第二院址，成为广东教会培育教牧人员的重要基地。1996年11月沙面堂被国务院认定为国家重点文物。
目前教堂设主日早、午、晚崇拜及查经班、祷告会、慕道班等周间信徒牧养关怀事工及婚礼、书刊等服务。
下午2:00，广东协和神学院院长许洁平牧师在副堂以《从形式与内涵探讨灵修默想中国化》为题开展做基督教中国化专题讲座，从“圣经中的默想”“默想的作用”“灵修默想的中国化”等三个方面进行了分享，他提出，中华民族具有丰富多彩的文化资源，是基督教灵修得以中国化的重要条件，因此，我们可以用凝聚中国思想内涵的中国哲学以及社会主义核心价值观与圣经相同或者相近观念进行默想。
晚上7:30，沙面堂举办了创作圣乐感恩赞美会，赞美会曲目由沙面堂信徒创作，沙面堂诗班与合唱团献唱16首赞美诗，省基督教两会秘书长兼总干事林恩灵牧师以“真知道神恩惠的日子”为题证道。赞美会按票入座，现场甚至出现了“一票难求”的情况，可见其受欢迎程度。赞美会上收到的所有奉献将用于沙面堂的扶贫助学事工。
26日，主日当天，沙面堂举办了早午晚三场感恩崇拜和一场福音布道会。https://www.gospeltimes.cn/article/index/id/63487
广州基督教沙面会堂举办复堂30周年系列纪念活动
A church in China’s southwestern coastal Guangdong Province held services over two days to mark its 30th anniversary of reopening, witnessing the growth of the church in the past 30 years.
Following hymns after the flag-raising ceremony on June 25, Senior Pastor Xie Xuguang walked the congregation through the 30-year history and ministries of Shamian Church in Guangzhou.
Starting with no full-time staff members, the church now has four paid pastoral staff, with about 30-50 people baptized every year.
After carrying out renovations and maintenance activities since 1992, the church opened a reading room and an official WeChat account with a website. It also founds several more choirs and an orchestra, carrying out the couple fellowship family camp and socials for singles. To help nurture talent, it has donated 1.39 million yuan to 738 impoverished students.
Built in around 1865 for foreign believers, it was one of the earliest completed buildings on the island along with the British Embassy at that time. Managed and used by government departments after the Cultural Revolution in 1949, the church was put under the management of the Guangdong CC&TSPM in 1989, reopening in 1992 after renovation. It once served as the second campus of Guangdong Union Theological Seminary from 1994 to 2001, being an important base for the Guangdong church to train pastors. The church was listed as a national key cultural relic by the State Council in November 1996.
Besides three services on Sundays, the church conducts Bible study classes, prayer meetings, catechism classes, and other weekday ministries, providing books to read and wedding services.
In the afternoon, Rev. Xu Jieping, president of Guangdong Union Theological Seminary, gave a seminar with the title "Discussing the Spiritual Meditation in the Chinese Context From Form and Meaning", sharing three aspects including "biblical meditation", "the role of meditation", and "spiritual meditation in the Chinese context". He put forward that “the rich cultural resources of the Chinese nation were an important condition for the sinicization of Christian spirituality and believers could meditate on Chinese philosophy and socialist core values same or similar to the Bible”.
In the evening, the church hosted a worship and praise meeting in which choirs sang 16 hymns which were composed by believers from the church, with a sermon titled "The Day You Truly Understand God's Grace" by Rev. Lin Enling, secretary-general and director-general of Guangdong CC&TSPM. Believers were admitted by tickets that were not easy to obtain that night. All donations received at the meeting will be used for ministries of alleviating poverty and aiding students.
The next day, Sunday, the centurial church held three services in the morning, afternoon, and evening, as well as an evangelistic meeting.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Guangdong Centurial Church Celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Reopening
