On Nov. 26, Thanksgiving Day, Qingliu Church, located in Chuzhou, Anhui, held its dedication ceremony. About 120 people came to join in the ceremony and 3000 witnessed the special and thanksgiving moment.
At 7:30 a.m., it began with praise worship. Rev. Wu Zhengyin, the senior pastor of Qingliu church held the dedication and Rev. Joseph Gu, Chairman of Zhengjiang CCC prayed for it. The Hallelujah choir gave the song. Rev. Ma Jianhua of Huangshan Church and Rev. Bai Yu'e of Shenyang Church led the congregation to read the Bible. Rev. Xue Lianxi, President of Anhui CCC blessed it.
Rev. Chen Yilu, Deputy Chairman of China CCC and Deputy President of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, gave the sermon "To Build a Church Glorifying God". He shared that it was appropriate to dedicate the new church to God on Thanksgiving Day when we should thank, count and memorize God's grace. Meanwhile, he said they should build a spiritual church with thanks, filled with begging and prayers, following the Philippians church. They should be partners to preach the gospel and be light and salt in the society, bearing more spiritual fruits.
Xu Shoutang, a co-worker of Qingliu Church, introduced its construction. The construction is divided into three "four years": the first "four years" was from 2002 to 2006 when Qingliu Church began land acquisition for the old church building couldn't hold the believers who were increasing; the second "four years" was from 2006 to 2010, when the building project was approved; the third "four years" was in construction from 2010 to 2014. The new comprehensive building was completed in Nov, 2014 with an investment of more than 22 million yuan, mostly from the donations by the believers.
Xu said the name "Qingliu Church" was from the mother river "Qingliu "where the new church sits near, to memorize an English Missionary, who came here in 1887 and was drown in Qingliu River and to hope it become a stream of water, taking in the living water from above and a blessing to Chuzhou.
After the dedication, Qingliu Church held a retreat, lasting 2.5 days.
