The Shipu Church, originally called the "Zhenxue Tang", was first established in 1878 by British missionaries John Richard Wolfe and Rev. John Shaw Burdon. It was the headquarters of the Fujian parish of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, and it was also one of China's five biggest parishes.
The Shipu Church has six large buildings and one smaller building attached in a colonnade architectural style, located in today's No. 34, Shipu Road, Cangshan District, Fuzhou City with an area of 14 mu (9333 m2).
In 1898, the church's name changed to "Zhenxue College" as it became the school for training pastoral personnel for the Church of England. The third of the six buildings of the Zhenxue Shuyuan is the main building of the current Shipu Church. It is a two-storey building with an open-air corridor.
The Fujian parish of the Chinese Anglican Church was founded in 1906. It was said that Sun Yat-sen and his wife visited and gave speeches there in 1912. Zhenxue College, Shengxue College, and Gospel College combined into Foochow Union Theological School. In 1940, Zhenxue College and the Gospel Room of the Methodist Church combined to form Fujian Union Theological Seminary, which, later on, was combined with the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary in 1950.
The church was shut down during the Cultural Revolution in 1966 and reopened after changing the name to Shibu Christian Church in 1990. There were 600 believers in 1994; but, from 2000 to present, the number of believers has grown to over 1,000.
Currently, there are over 1,000 congregants with one senior pastor and four preachers in the church. The church also offers a Sunday school, Young people fellowship, and middle-aged and senior fellowship. There are also ministry departments in holy music, service, publication, logistics, real-estate, finance, and visitation for interested parishioners. The visitation department includes student aid and care for blind people.
Translated by: Grace Hubl
