On Nov 26, Yuqiuwan Church in Tujie Town, Weining Yi Hui Miao Autonomous County, Guizhou hosted a dedication service. Local pastoral staff and believers attended the service.
YuQiuwan Church is located in the north of Weining County. It used to belong to Gebu Church, which was established 107 years ago. There are currently 1,300 believers. In 1909, James. R. Adam came to Haozhang Gebu Church and Yuqiuwan Church to organize the construction of the buildings. During that time, Gebu Church delegated Chen Ziming to assist the construction and serve as the preacher. After working there for a year and a half, Chen Ziming reported the construction situation to the church, so they sent Ezekiel Wang to Yuqiuwan Church for preaching, in 1911. Also in 1911, Pollard came to the home of Nie Wenhuan in Shachang Church from Shimenkan to learn of the construction situation of Shachang Church and visited the brothers and sisters there. In 1924, after Yuqiuwan Church was completed, Zerubbabel Zhang was sent by Pastor John Yorkston of Gebu Church to serve as the preacher in Yuqiuwan Church. In 1925, Zerubbabel Zhang was killed by brigands on the road while visiting families from Yuqiuwan Church between Fuchu and Heshan.
During the Cultural Revolution, Yuqiuwan Church and Shachang Church were occupied and demolished. In 1982, after the churches reopened, Yuqiuwan Church, which used to belong to China Inland Mission, and Shachang Church, which originally belonged to the Methodist Church, combined together to become the current Yuqiuwan Church. There were many congregants after the combination. After a church discussion, they decided to borrow a house of a villager in Miao Village in Mucheng for services.
In 1985, Yuqiuwan Church bought a public house of the village for services. As the number of congregants increased, in addition to insufficient space, the house had also become unsafe. In order to have a safe venue for the believers, the church decided to build a new building. This decision was fully supported by the governmental departments, and they chose the site of the old Shachang Church for building Yuqiuwan Church. The building of the church was planned in 1993 and over a month in 1994, the brothers and sisters finally built the second church in Yuqiuwan.
In 2015, the church planned to build the third church building. After the discussion by the church affairs team, they decided to tear down the old one and build a new one. Thereupon, the brothers and sisters of the church contributed according to what they had, money or food. It was learned that it cost 342,345 yuan and took six months for the church to be completed.
Translated by: Grace Hubl
