Painting is creation in response to God, a form of praise and worship towards God. In the past few decades, the church-printed wall calendars have mostly been decorated with Western Christian oil paintings, and it is rare to see Chinese painting techniques, materials, and compositions in the calendars.
The 2024 wall calendar of Huaxiang Church (also known as Flower Lane Church) in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, has been decorated with a Chinese painting background that illustrates the century-old church building.
The story behind the calendar started shortly after the 2023 Spring Festival. At that time, Senior Pastor Chen Lifu visited Sister He Jing and Brother Guo, the directors of the church's Wuyi Exchange Service Center for Christian Culture and Art established in June 2022, hoping to create a wall calendar with Chinese-style paintings. Brother Guo, an amateur painter, accepted it gladly.
After that, he used his spare time for nearly half a year to create more than 90 Chinese paintings showing Huaxiang Church buildings, and the church council selected seven or eight of them for the 2024 wall calendar. It was learned that a total of 2,000 copies of the 2024 calendar were printed and distributed to staff workers in the church as Christmas gifts.
Brother Guo revealed that the Huaxiang Church 2025 calendar is decorated with paintings depicting the Genesis stories. He is also expected to show his Chinese paintings with more Chinese charm in future calendars.
Brother Guo, a native of Fuzhou, worked as a doctor after graduating from Fujian Health College and soon transferred to the provincial government. His wife, Sister Tang, said, "Guo's paintings and calligraphy are all self-taught." His calligraphy and paintings have also been published in newspapers such as Fujian Health News.
After retirement, Guo led the whole family to serve in the church and worship the Lord. He also took the initiative to lead the senior fellowship in spiritual practice on Thursday morning, preaching in gathering sites in Gushan village and Xiushan village.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
