On Nov 21, six pastoral leaders from Xuwen Church went to Beili Island which is known by Xuwen Church as the Island of Patmos. The pastors from Xuwen Church visited Beili Church. After learning that the church building had become unsafe after being hit by a typhoon, they held a discussion with the church committee members regarding building a new church.
Guangdong Province Zhanjiang City Xuwen County lies in the southeast of China. Beili Island is the furthest among the few islands of the county. The island is 48 km in sea to Xuwen County Xucheng Town with 2.76 square kilometers, and the shortest distance between the northwest of the island and the mainland is 0.4 nautical miles. Beili Island is in the South China Sea with a bad environment, and the island is almost covered with sand. Due to the remote location, there are three cable ferries to connect it with the outside. Right now with He'an pier as the main route, ferries come three times a day. If one misses the sailing time, he'll have to rent a boat and it takes an hour to get to the island.
Beili Island is surrounded by the sea and is a typhoon prone area. Every year there are dozens of typhoons of different strengths, and every time they affect Beili Island the most. On Sep 29, 2011, Beili Church was greatly damaged after being hit by the F13 typhoon Nesat. The church was identified as unsafe by the Housing Property Bureau of Xuwen County. In order to keep the congregants safe during services, the church urgently needs to be rebuilt.
It was learned that the Gospel was introduced to Beili Island through Xinliao Island 70 years ago. When the church first started, the believers worshiped under the shade of trees. Later they moved to an old brother's house. On Jan 1, 1981, a villager of Dongtang in Beili village committee donated a homestead to build a new church. Because the land was not big enough, on Dec 3, 2006, the church spent 46,000 CNY and bought a piece of land from a Beili villager to build a new church. When they started preparing to build the new church, the congregation wanted a new site to rebuild the church but encountered many difficulties they couldn't solve over the years. Xuwen CCC&TSPM suggested Beili Church rebuild on the old site and has been actively communicating with the church workers. The current plan is to build a three-story church of 500 square meters with a reinforced concrete structure. The budget is 1,500,000 CNY. The building cost is 20% higher than building on the mainland because all the materials need to be shipped to the island.
There are nearly 600 believers in the church, but no full-time preacher. Usually, the believers guide the church voluntarily. There are more middle-aged and young believers, because many young people cultivate shrimp on the island. However, in recent years many young people have chosen to go out to work due to an economic depression.
Beili Island is called the Island of Patmos by Xuwen Church. According to Pastor Wu Changyi of Xuwen Church, Beili Church is similar to Old John who suffered for the sake of God on the Island of Patmos with a bad environment in the old days. Beili Church is far away from Xuwen with few believers, and the situation of the non-believers worshiping false gods is serious. The church is a vulnerable group and is often bullied by non-believers, so Xuwen Church calls Beili Island "the Island of Patmos." Moreover, the meaning of "the Island of Patmos" is that it is distant to the land with inconvenient transportation and is very isolated.
Translated By: Grace Hubl
