The 100-year commemoration ceremony, "Follow the Tracks of the Flock" was hosted by Xiaoshan Church, Nov 16th to 18th. The themes for the three days of meetings were "Remember the History": from the China Inland Mission to local churches; "Each Part Working According to Its Post": from the concept of scaffolding to the expansion of the church; and "Make Disciples of all Nations" from the vision of Brighton to the renewing of the disciples.
The first two days of the meeting were held in Shierdai Church of Xiaoshan, and the sacred music thanksgiving service on the 18th was held in Wan'anqiao Church.
Shierdai Church was founded by Ren Zhiqing, a pastor serving China Inland Mission, accompanied by the elder son of James Hudson Taylor in 1917. And Wan'anqiao Church was a local church built from the first scaffolding of China Inland Mission in Nansha, Qiantang, 1935.
Based on historical records, ten years after James Hudson Taylor preached the Gospel to Nansha, Xiaoshan, they started the first gathering in Xianyi Scale Shop of Feng Jiulu in Anchang. The Gospel spread from the Xianyi gathering to Nansha. Fifty years later, in a place called Taiping Bridge, a new great transition happened in China Inland Mission.
With the heavy hardship after the Boxer Massacre in 1900, Christians of China Inland Mission suffered great losses. Shortly after, the Qing Dynasty ended and the Republic of China started, and with the political turmoil and chaos of war, the missionaries in China were drawn into the raging wave of the revolution. The church (Sunday service only) built by China Inland Mission in Nansha, Qiantang was struggling in difficulties like other churches of inland Mission nationwide.
In 1935, a believer in Xiaoshan went to Shanghai for a cloth business and was deeply touched by the sermons of Watchman Nee, so some brothers from Nanshan went to Shanghai to talk to Nee and his fellow workers. A worker from Shanghai went preaching in Xiaoshan and seven brothers from Dongsha were touched. They left the CIM of Taiping Bridge and started churches in the name of the Lord. Hence the Local Church of Nansha was born.
150 years after CIM was established in Xiaoshan, Hangzhou, the Holy Spirit revived again: enlarge the site of the tent of God; raise everyone to become disciples; divide the church and set up branches for expansion; return to group shepherding imitating Christ and the disciples in the Bible. It was learned that Yongtaifeng Church in the west of Xiaoshan was built in 1933. Twelve years later, the church had extended to 7 churches gradually in 1945. Churches divided from Yongtaifeng Church kept expanding and having more branches, including local and outreach Gospel services. Now it has grown to several thousand people. However, many churches were set up earlier than Yongtaifeng Church, but they never expanded and the service pattern never changed. Eventually, there were only hundreds of senior believers left, let alone preaching the Gospel to the outside.
Today, once again Xiaoshan Church divides service of hundreds of people in five to ten services; it is also called large groups or new branches. We look forward to the "multiplier effect of the Bible in Yongtaifeng Church" once more.
Translated by: Grace Hubl
