Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County lies at the foot of Wuzhi Mountain, the highest mountain in Hainan. It is listed as a national-level poverty-stricken county where transportation, economic stability and culture lag behind the average.
The church in Qiongzhong has a history that dates back a century ago. In 1891, a French missionary built a church in a town where the ethnic minority - the Li people - stay, according to the article "Visit to Church of Qiongzhong" written by Sina blogger "Pilgrims". Later, the American Presbyterian Mission preached the Gospel to the Miao. Once upon time during these missions, the believers reached 4000 in the county with a population of more than 10,000.
Since the church resumed its service in the 1980s, the local churches grew in large numbers, covering all the eighteen villages and towns of the county.
The article then talks about the general situation of the church in Qiongzhong, particularly the plights of the local rural churches: "Fewer and fewer preachers can really endure loneliness and devote themselves to serve in the rural churches under poor conditions."
It adds that the church, who is accustomed to neglect in its life even in the past, often talks about offering or sacrifice rather than providing actual support. Consequently, many preachers earn money which is not enough to support their families.
They can feed themselves and families in good harvests, while they have to put down their ministries and migrate to cities for jobs in a year of disaster or economic depression.
It also suggests that the urban and rural churches shall encourage and support each other with their enlarging difference: "The evangelism model of urban churches is to establish their own system and plant campuses. In relation to the local (rural) churches, it's hard for them to regard others as their members and even a sense of superiority arises between them. In terms of specific assistance items, they hardly understand the local churches, impose their own values and views on the assisted churches, leading to the deaths of many ministries and even hurt both sides."
It claims that God's principle promotes that one who gathers much doesn't have too much, and another who gathers little doesn't have too little. "Preachers who would sacrifice themselves for the Great Commission with real missions and visions are needed to revive both urban and rural churches. They both need the servants who only follow the will of God rather than of their own will, and the leaders with a view and mind of the kingdom."
