The church located in Mulitu Town, Horqin District, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, held a cornerstone-laying ceremony for the town's first-ever new church construction on May 13, 2017.
The church gathered in a rented house since the introduction of the Gospel into the town and later, it bought a small residential house for gatherings, according to Rev. Wang Zhanguo, senior pastor of the Horqin Church. The number of the local believers in the town has exceeded 200. However, the house, with an area of tens of square meters, couldn't hold the congregation. Plus, many people who went there with cars on Sundays caused inconvenience for the community.
Afterwards, it purchased a land granted by the government at the expense of around 600,000 yuan. Covering more than 10,000 square meter or 2.47 acres, the new church will hold 500 people with a construction area of less than 3000 square meter or 0.74 acre. However, a budget of over 2 million yuan means a large fund for such a rural church. As a result, the construction didn't immediately start.
Owing to the worship needs, the church started the construction by faith. Thanks to the construction company, which is owned by a Christian, the cost can be paid later.
What's more, Rev. Wang tells CCD that there is an urgent need to build churches in many parts of the city. The downtown Horqin Church spares no effort to help local churches establish church buildings and calls for prayer and donations.
Inner Mongolia, spanning an area of 1.18 million square kilometers, taking up one-eighth of China's total land area, is ranked the third largest among all Chinese Provinces, Autonomous Regions, Municipalities and Special Administrative Regions. According to official statistics as at 2004, Inner Mongolia has
* 147,000 Christians
* 11 Pastors
* 23 Deputy Pastors
* 97 Elders
* 403 Preachers
* 306 Registered Churches and meeting points.
Translated by Karen Luo
