Bethany Church in Bayuquan District, Yingkou City, Liaoning Province, held an in-person Sunday service on February 19, 2023.
Bethany Church held communion services and praise meetings after resuming in-person services, and church attendance mostly reached up to 1000, according to elder Fu Fengjun, the church leader and TSPM vice chairman of Yingkou City.
The church introduction file says Bethany Church was founded in 1995 and started with only three believers gathering at home. With the spreading of the gospel, believers gradually increased, so they began to rent houses for service in 1996.
In 1998, they spent 210,000 RMB purchasing a house on Shugang Road as the church site and borrowed another 200,000 RMB for renovation.
In 2001, the church building was requisitioned by the government because of the expansion of Shuang Road. As compensation, the local administration granted them 5,000 square meters of land free of charge in another place, where the church was rebuilt in 2004, costing 3.3 million RMB.
Four years later, the church was demolished and relocated again due to the construction of the second phase of the Angang Steel Project, for which the government provided compensation of 3.9 million RMB and a 7018-square-meter land. The congregation spent six million RMB to reestablish it, and the church floor area is up to 3,295 square meters.
In 2018, church members borrowed money and donated together to repair the building: maintained the church's outer wall, wholly renovated the indoor toilets due to the sewer pipe problem, paved geothermal for all rooms, advanced the transformer capacity, and so on. The total expense was more than two million RMB.
During the past two decades, apart from the church building, the congregation expanded from three to 1000 believers. There was no church staff before, but now they have an elder, two pastors, a Bible teacher, and a seminary graduate. The church also sets up different ministries: groups of deacons, church workers, praising, finance, serving, book arrangement, new believers education, cleaning, logistical support, etc.
In addition, they also established the Unity Fellowship, the Fellowship for the Aged, and the Fellowship of Love, which is a team focusing on social charity and public welfare activities and mainly helps poor families, elderly people who live alone, and those with serious diseases.
More importantly, the church has 200 cell groups and 249 group leaders for evangelism and pastoral ministry.
To make the ministry stronger, they hold training sessions every week for preachers, cell group leaders, and other workers, and there is a dynamic layer system for all church staff.
At the same time, the church has participated in social charity activities. They have supported students from poor families in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces for many years by covering their tuition fees and sending them “small dining tables,” etc. Some of these students have already gone to college, while others have graduated and started working. Financial, material, and spiritual assistance are sent from the Bethany Church annually to Sichuan, Yunnan, and other regions.
Even though the church didn't meet as often and people gave less money during the last three years of the pandemic, it still gave more than 223,000 RMB, including 20,000 RMB in cash to the Red Cross Foundation, to help prevent and control epidemics in the area.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Kristina Ran
2023年2月19日主日，位于辽宁省的营口市鲅鱼圈区伯大尼教会举行主日礼拜。
据营口市基督教三自爱国运动委员会副主席、教会负责人付凤君长老介绍：近来恢复实地聚会后，教会举行了圣餐礼拜和赞美会，每场聚会的人数基本都在1000人左右。
从教会的简介上得知：鲅鱼圈伯大尼教会成立于1995年， 初建之时仅有三个信徒，在信徒家中聚会，传扬福音，信徒人数逐渐倍增。
1996年开始租房聚会，1998年在教会在还欠房租的情况下，在疏港路花21万元购置了房子作为教堂，另外又借了20万元装修改造。
2001年因疏港路扩建，教堂位置被征用。政府免费批给教会5000平方米的土地。于是教会开始重建家园，2004年教堂完工。总造价330万元。
2008年由于鞍钢第二期工程建设用地，被拆动迁，政府补偿教会人民币390万元、土地7018平方米，重建了建筑面积3295平方米，总造价600余万的教堂。
2018年，教堂外墙皮开始脱落需要维修，因下水管道问题室内卫生间整体改造，室内整体铺装地热，变压器需要增容，耗资两百余万元。弟兄姊妹参与奉献和借款。
这二十几年信徒从三人到近千人；从没有传道人，到如今长老一位、牧师两位、教士一位、神学生一位；设立有执事组、圣工组、诗班、财务组、服侍组、圣餐组、书刊组、初信栽培、值班组、马大组、保洁组、后勤组等。
另外又成立了合一团契、老年团契、爱心团契。其中爱心团契是教会参与社会慈善公益活动的一支团队，主要对贫困户、孤寡老人、重大疾病者给予帮助。
围绕着宣教事工和牧养事工，教会有248个小组长、约200个小组。
教会对传道人和同工不断加强培训和学习，坚持每周传道人学习、小组长、同工培训。从长老、牧师、教士、片长、点长，一层层的架构和有机整合。
同时教会参与社会的慈善公益活动，多年来，资助云南、四川等地区困难家庭孩子的读书，为他们交学费、资助“小饭桌”等。被助学的学生们有的考上大学、有的已经毕业参加工作。 他们每年一次对四川、云南等地区实行精准扶贫，从资金、物资和精神方面帮助。
教会即使在疫情三年实地线下聚会断断续续，信徒奉献款减少的情况下，也为当地抗疫捐款二十二万三千多元，其中红十字基金会现金两万元人民币等。
（福音时报特约撰稿人于辽宁营口鲅鱼圈报道。）
记辽宁营口鲅鱼圈伯大尼教会
Bethany Church in Bayuquan District, Yingkou City, Liaoning Province, held an in-person Sunday service on February 19, 2023.
Bethany Church held communion services and praise meetings after resuming in-person services, and church attendance mostly reached up to 1000, according to elder Fu Fengjun, the church leader and TSPM vice chairman of Yingkou City.
The church introduction file says Bethany Church was founded in 1995 and started with only three believers gathering at home. With the spreading of the gospel, believers gradually increased, so they began to rent houses for service in 1996.
In 1998, they spent 210,000 RMB purchasing a house on Shugang Road as the church site and borrowed another 200,000 RMB for renovation.
In 2001, the church building was requisitioned by the government because of the expansion of Shuang Road. As compensation, the local administration granted them 5,000 square meters of land free of charge in another place, where the church was rebuilt in 2004, costing 3.3 million RMB.
Four years later, the church was demolished and relocated again due to the construction of the second phase of the Angang Steel Project, for which the government provided compensation of 3.9 million RMB and a 7018-square-meter land. The congregation spent six million RMB to reestablish it, and the church floor area is up to 3,295 square meters.
In 2018, church members borrowed money and donated together to repair the building: maintained the church's outer wall, wholly renovated the indoor toilets due to the sewer pipe problem, paved geothermal for all rooms, advanced the transformer capacity, and so on. The total expense was more than two million RMB.
During the past two decades, apart from the church building, the congregation expanded from three to 1000 believers. There was no church staff before, but now they have an elder, two pastors, a Bible teacher, and a seminary graduate. The church also sets up different ministries: groups of deacons, church workers, praising, finance, serving, book arrangement, new believers education, cleaning, logistical support, etc.
In addition, they also established the Unity Fellowship, the Fellowship for the Aged, and the Fellowship of Love, which is a team focusing on social charity and public welfare activities and mainly helps poor families, elderly people who live alone, and those with serious diseases.
More importantly, the church has 200 cell groups and 249 group leaders for evangelism and pastoral ministry.
To make the ministry stronger, they hold training sessions every week for preachers, cell group leaders, and other workers, and there is a dynamic layer system for all church staff.
At the same time, the church has participated in social charity activities. They have supported students from poor families in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces for many years by covering their tuition fees and sending them “small dining tables,” etc. Some of these students have already gone to college, while others have graduated and started working. Financial, material, and spiritual assistance are sent from the Bethany Church annually to Sichuan, Yunnan, and other regions.
Even though the church didn't meet as often and people gave less money during the last three years of the pandemic, it still gave more than 223,000 RMB, including 20,000 RMB in cash to the Red Cross Foundation, to help prevent and control epidemics in the area.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Kristina Ran
Liaoning Bethany Church Attendance Reaches 1,000 After Reopening
