On Oct. 31, Fujian Putian Church held a celebration for the 150th Anniversary of bringing the Gospel into Futian and the 100th Dedication anniversary. About 3,000 people attended it.
The CCC&TSPM official website states that the Futian Church was formerly called the hall of Annual Hinghwa Conference of the Methodist Church. In August 1865, 150 years ago, Pastor Lin Zhenzhen preached the Gospel outside the east gate of Putian, which was the first time the Gospel was preached into Pucheng and also the first case that a Chinese man preached to Chinese people. In October 1915, the Putian Church building was established and has since been there for 100 years.
In the thanksgiving worship, the choir of one hundred people sang the hymns: Hallelujah, O Lord You are My Most Intimate Friends and River of Life, River of Joy. Then Pastor Yue Qinghua, Chairman of Fujian TSPM and Dean of Fujian Theological College, gave the sermon, "Behold! God's Church." He believes that the Putian Church is a holy church loved by the Lord for over one hundred years, a church that highly lifts up Christ and a church saved by Jesus's blood. It continues to live out God's love and life according to the truth, being a good testimony for the Lord.
For over a hundred years, Putian Church has made great efforts in preaching and shepherding, spreading culture, social services, and the following important ministries:
Preaching the Gospel and deepening shepherding.
In the 1930s, the evangelist John Sung held retreats and organized evangelistic teams to preach the Gospel. In the 1980s, when it restarted congregating, the Putian Church organized the first preaching teams in the Fujian Province. It also held ministry tutoring classes, monthly communication of church parishes, volunteer training and founding the magazine, The Voice of Shepherds. The church set the prayer meetings, Bible studies, and youth meetings. It founded eight fellowships in places like Qu Bridge and Xizhu and organized many kinds of fellowship teams, visiting teams, which greatly increased the number of people who were saved.
Promoting the social civilization.
The church founded around 50 kindergartens, primary schools, and middle schools. It started an anti-illiteracy campaign, providing an opportunity for women, children and the poor learn how to read or write. It founded the first newspaper, the Fengxing News, in the history of Xinghua and operated the Hingwha Mission Press to spread knowledge. At that time, it made contributions to leading the society to civilization in the fields like abolishing foot-binding, banning smoking, anti-drug movements and discarding superstitions.
Devoting itself to social service.
It established the four hospitals of traditional Chinese and western medicine: Saint Luke, Xingren, Union, and Renji. It also set up the St. Luke Senior Nursing School, the Rebecca MacCabe Orphanage and the leper hospital. It cultivated many medical talents, which helped the poor and brought hope to the sick and orphans. After recongregating, it founded aged homes, the senior service center, Aiguo kindergarten and two voluntary teams. It also donated money for disaster relief. The church also held a candle prayer meetings for the Wenchuan Earthquake and the Christians in this city donated over 1.48 million yuan.
