History of a Christian Church in Jiangxi — Zhixia Gospel Church

The old Gospel Church of Zhixia, Jiangxi
The old Gospel Church of Zhixia, Jiangxi (photo: GospelTimes.cn)
By Grace ZhiMarch 20th, 2017

Zhixia Church is located in Zhixia Township, Qingyuan District, Ji'an City, and is a branch of Ji'an Inland Missions. There are over 200 believers and two gathering places under its jurisdiction, which are Futan and Pitou.

The Gospel was first introduced to Zhixia before liberation in the 20th century. The service was forced to stop due to the Cultural Revolution, and believers were scattered. A sister called Liu Jiuzhao accepted the Gospel when doing business in Fengcheng in the 1990s, and brought the seed of the Gospel back to her hometown. Later Hu Chongyou, Liu's great uncle from Fengcheng, came to Zhixia to preach the Gospel. Together, they were able to find three believers that converted before 1949 and the six of them started having meetings in a single room rented in the Economic Development Area.

In 1996, they moved to the home of old brother Lin near the vegetable market. Due to the number of believers increasing and other reasons, they started having meetings in bigger houses. Ji'an Church has also started sending fellow workers there to shepherd followers.

In 1997, the meeting place was moved to Zhixia Nursing home. They started having services in three different places because of the contradictions between fellow workers who could no longer work together. The church was worshiping in a rented space in the old street in 2000, and later moved back to the nursing home with 60 brothers and sisters.

Sister Yan Chunzhao was in poor health before her conversion, but after she believed in God in 2000, her condition got much better. She is very keen on participating in the church's service and is now the person in charge of the church. The church bought a warehouse of 70 m2 with 17,000 RMB. Later, they bought the 30m2 kitchen next to the warehouse.

Ji'an Gospel Church sent pastoral workers to lead the communion on the second week of the month for a while. People get together to enjoy a love feast after the service with food from the land donated by believers. There are over 200 believers in Gospel Church and 80 people in regular attendance today.

Translated by: Grace Hubl

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