In the afternoon of January 2, Yanbu Christians dedicated the "Violin Church" in Foshan, Guangdong Province. Around 1000 including the representative of Guangdong,local members of CC&TSPM, and overseas churches attended the dedication ceremony.
Yanbu Church, located in the East Huanzhen Road of Foshan, is called "Violin Church" because of its appearance. There is a cross at the top of the "Violin" which means highly lifting the cross and "letting praise arise". Violin is a musical instrument so the design of the church contains the meaning of praise.
The chairman of Foshan CC&TSPM, Rev. Yu Qing, shared three points about the appearance of the "violin" Church: Firstly violin is a difficult solo instrument through which we can see that playing skills are quite important. It's like the construction of a church in which we need to learn constantly and practice repeatedly to acquire it. A Christian should also think whether s/he can be a solo instrument which can play the beautiful melody of faith when he or she commits himself or herself in a church. Secondly, a violin is an important pillar in modern symphony. What pillar will it be in Yanbu, Foshan, and even Guangdong? Have you considered how to play yourself meanwhile you merge into society? Thirdly there are 70 sections in a violin. For Christians, the number Seven is connected with the word COMPLETE. The cross is placed on the head of the violin, which tells that although the main structure of the building is a violin, it is the church of Foshan that should lift the spirit of Christ's love, glorify God, and edify people.
Since Christianity came into Yanbu in 1898, the Church of Christ in China, the Baptist Missionary Society and the Seventh-day Adventists founded churches and chapels here and famous preachers like Paul Chen, Huo Songxuan, and Chen Fengchan preached the gospel. Yanbu once was the gospel center of Nanhai District. Until the 1960s the churches had been shut down and they restarted services in 1996. In 2011, to promote the management of local Christianity, the government of Nanhai District allocated a land with an area of 3,916 square meters to Yanbu Church.
Preacher Mr. Wang, said to his surprise, the land allocated was covered with waste and rubbish with sewage running everywhere, and electric wires in the sky, which stumped the church staff. But after prayer, Mr. Wang had a vision---to build a violin church on the ruins and to make it a place of praises, which ever puzzled the staff. As insisted by Wang, the new church building was founded on Nov. 2, 2013, and finally checked and accepted on Dec. 22, 2015. Now believers in the church shout cloudy "Praise God" and non-Christians who don't know churches or Christians often take photos of it and show amazement.
