On Nov. 5th, Mr. Hutchinson, the Secretary-General of the Canadian Bible Society visited several churches in Shanghai. This was his first visit to churches in China and he was received warmly by Rev. Shen Xuebin, the President of Shanghai Branch of National Committee of Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China.
It is reported by the Department of Ethnic & Religious Affairs of Shanghai that Rev. Shen Xuebin first introduced the visitors to Shanghai's development in the field of economy, society, culture, science & technology and shared as well the challenges and opportunities brought about by the development. During their conversations, Rev. Shen also introduced Mr. Hutchinson to the development of foreign churches in Shanghai and two joint conferences held by Shanghai local churches and foreign churches in Shanghai.
The Shanghai Foreign Worship Joint Conference was established by the Shanghai Ethnic & Religious Affairs and CCC & TSPM of Shanghai in 2013. With adopting the mechanism of regular meeting, it has built an effective communication platform among government departments, religious groups and organizers of foreign worships, in order to promote the dynamic integration of management according to law, church affair management and self-management, becoming the pioneer of foreign religious affair management in China. The second joint conference was held in Nanjing on Oct. 16th.
