Di Youtang, chairman of the CCC&TSPM of Fugong County recently said, "The Nu people make up 99% of the population of Pihe Township, with around eight or nine churches in each village. However, the development of the churches has fallen behind that of the other ethnic groups, so we are planning to put representatives in the villages to review the churches and monitor their condition."
The purposes of the review are to determine current ideological trends in the villages, the main condition of the grassroots pastoral workers and believers, examine the implementation of church rules, and understand both the issues facing the churches and their causes. The visits are intended to guide the development of the local churches better, and all members of the visitation teams will be from the local CCC&TSPM.
In addition, the review will end on May 28, 2017, and the visiting staff will submit written reports with summaries regarding the churches they visited.
Ugong County is located in a high altitude, cold, and poor mountainous frontier region in China. The county, as a whole, has mostly Lisu people living in its villages, with some others coming from the Nu, Bai, Han, and Naxi groups. The material development in the area is far behind others, though Pastor Li Guihua, president of the county's CCC&TSPM, said that about 70% of the roughly 100,000 people are believers, with percentages as high as 90% in rural areas where almost every household has at least one believer.
Translated by: Grace Hubl
