On Dec 15, 2016, Gospel Christian Church in Duchang County, Jiujiang, Jiangxi, hosted a thanksgiving dedication ceremony. Pastoral workers from inside and outside the province and believers, totaling almost 1,000 people, went to celebrate.
The ceremony began at 9 am and was presided over by Pastor Li Chengcheng. Teacher Zhang Xiangxin from Cixi City, Zhejiang Province lead the prayer; Yu Shunjing, vice chairman of the TSPM of Duchang County gave the welcome speech; and Pastor Li Baole, honorary chairman of Jiangxi Provincial TSPM preached a sermon with the title "Thirty Thousand and the Church of Glory."
Gospel Church is located opposite of the Shuiyue Temple in the county. The building area is 4,000 square meters with a chapel and comprehensive training building, and it can hold up to 1,800 people. On Mar 13, 2015, its foundation was laid, and now the main building construction of the church has already finished; however, it still needs internal decoration. The input was 5.8 million, and it is estimated that it still needs 2 million.
Elder Gong Xingyou, chairman of the CCC&TSPM of Jiujiang, chairman of Duchang Council and the person in charge for building the church, gave the church building report. He shared on three aspects: the history of Duchang churches, the course of building the church, and the feeling during the course.
Elder Gong told CCD that looking from Jiujiang, the pastoral burden of Duchang churches is very heavy. Duchang is the county with the most believers and there are many fellowships which expand in a large area. It took Gospel Church 10 years and there were many obstacles from location selection, getting approval, and actually building it.
Since Elder Gong took over the mission for building the church in June this year, every morning he led the brothers and sisters from the church building group to the construction site, and knelt down to pray. God made the way step by step, so the construction is finally completed with the help and support from the churches both inside and outside the province and the local government.
On Dec 16, the next day after the dedication ceremony, the believers of Duchang gathered together from all gatherings. They sang hymns and danced to offer thanks for the completion of the church.
Gospel Church is also the largest church in Duchang by far.
Translated by: Grace Hubl
