Shangzhuang Christian Church in Jiangxi province Jinxi county Liuli village is located at the juncture of Jinxi, Linchuan and dongxiang counties. There are over 100 believers in the church. Because the old church building has become unsafe a new church is under construction.
The person in charge of the church, Brother Li, is 54 and has been serving in the church for 20 years. According to Li, there are over 100 believers, but just like most rural churches, the congregants are mostly women and seniors. Normally there are only 50 to 60 congregants due to the migrant worker situation. "During Spring Festival people will come back and we will have around 100 congregants." Li said.
The church is on the edge of the village. The new church is near the old one with 70% of the construction work completed. Considering the safety of the congregants, the fellow workers applied for a new church since the old church was deemed unsafe. The floor area is 300 square meters and the floor space of the church is 650 square meters. There are three stories in the front and two stories in the worship hall. The budget is 700,000 CNY ($107,692) and the construction began this year on Feb 23. The construction was on hold for two months due to insufficient funds. With the help of the county CCC&TSPM and the brother church the construction restarted. However, the balance and the late stage decoration still need over 200,000CNY. ($30,769)
The congregants still worship in the old church with some simple repairs. Everyone hopes the new church will be completed soon so they can have a safe venue to worship God.
