The First Church in Poor Mountain Area in Hubei

County Luotian is a state-level poverty-stricken place with more than 400 non-Christian temples, situated in the Dabie Mountains, Huanggang, Hubei. The church in Luotian said that there had never been a church in the area in the past until 2013 when the local government allocated a land of about 1.65 acres to build a church named "Yishui Church".

The church is under construction and situated in front of a garden, which has subordinate gatherings in other villages and towns.

Christianity in Luotian can be traced back from the late Qing Dynasty, when the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden entered into Huanggang and its surrounding cities while the Gospel couldn't reach Luotian due to its traffic inconvenience.

Before 1949, a missionary came here to preach the Gospel while living in a rented house. However, the county rejected anything new or foreign and the good news was hindered. The missionary gave up the house and left the county. 

In the late 1980s, a local who received the Gospel during a visit with his relatives in Auhui began to preach here and Christians appeared since then. 

In the 1990s, the local authority banned heresies and some believers were lost owing to the lack of systematic cultivation in theology. 

On March 3, 2005, a pastor from Zhejiang came to Luotian and established the current church -- Yishui Church. Under his guidance, the church did charitable activities besides the religious services, gradually winning the recognition from the locals and the authorities. 

It went through relocation ten times over seven years because of different reasons, including moving from a house to a basement then to a garage.