Xiangning County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province is next to the Yellow River with a profound cultural background and long history. The total population is 230,000, and the local people are simple and honest. There are five counties and five villages under its jurisdiction with a total area of more than 2,000 square meters.
The Christian development in Xiangning County started from August 1840, Daoguang thirty years in Qing Dynasty, according to the county annals. Back then, two missionaries, Rev. Andrew from British and Rev. Thindre from Italian, came to the county for evangelism and presided over the religious affairs. Yuhongdong Church exercised control over it and built the church in the customary territory of the county. The church membership grew to nearly 100 people. Every Sunday, believers of both men and women would gather in church and listen to sermons.
During the Anti-Japanese war, the church was sacked by the Japanese army, and the pastors and believers were all dispersed. The believers gradually resumed the activities until after the liberation. However, there were still obstacles sometimes. Since the reform and opening up, and the gradual implementation of the religious reform policies, the believers started attending church activities. Hereafter, the number of congregants increased every year. So far, there are 6,000 believers in the whole county.
The Three Self Patriotic Movement Committee of the county administers the Chengguan region, including around 1,000 believers in the region. Among the current believers, females account for 80%, while males account for 20%. There are more sisters and seniors. From the perspective of educational level, college graduates account for 2%, primary school and below 50%, and junior college 48%. Looking at age, the young and middle-aged account for 50%, while people over 60 account for 50%. Geographically, in total there are 14 churches, an average of three churches in each town.
The believers in the county continued to use the church built by the foreign missionaries in Xiguan in 1840 till 2008. By then, it had been 168 years, and the church was in a bad condition. The County Government agreed to move the church in order to prevent any accident after the church became unsafe. After 8 years, the new church appealing was finally approved. The planned building area of the new church is around 2,000 square meters. The design of the main building is a five story building. The structure and main project have already finished. The total budget is about five million yuan. Since the construction began, believers have already donated more than three million yuan. At the moment, there is a fiscal gap of more than one million yuan for internal engineering and decorations.
Translated by: Grace Hubl
