Over 1,500 people from the churches in Zhejiang and Anhui Province attended the Dedication Thanksgiving Worship of Jixi Christian Church, the first church in the county, in Xuancheng City, Anhui Province on March 8, 2017.
Jixi County is located in the southern region of Anhui Province and is one of the six counties of Huizhou. Jixi belongs to a mountainous area with a population of 180,000, but there is no church in the region. The local church decided in 2013 to tear down the previous house that served as a meeting place for followers because it was unsafe and decided to build a new church.
According to the church, fellow workers in Wenzhou Church helped the church to buy an old silk factory and modified it as the first sacred place for worship. The number of believers continued to increase despite a leaky roof that couldn't be repaired in the shabby house, which was why the area became unsafe.
Since the church is located in a suburban area, the building combined both modern and local architectural elements for its design. The main church building has three parts: the chapel, a comprehensive building, and a skywalk. The building layout made full use of the site's terrain, using height and connections though ramps, stairs, and skywalk which created a pilgrimage route with a strong sense of ritual inside the buildings.
Pastor Dai from Anhui, who attended the ceremony, thought that the church's clear characteristic of faith would be given new historical meaning under the background for the Construction of Beautiful Village in China. As the window to the outside world, it would also help nationalized Christianity have a good example of church architectural styles.
Translated by: Grace Hubl
