High rise buildings spring up in Xin'an Village, Haicang District, Xiamen, Fujian. While they make the place seem like an urban city, the 127-year-old church among them doesn't quite fit in.
A believer in Xin'an Village donated the building for the church's use in 1890. The space dropped from the original 3,060㎡ to less than 1,000㎡. Xin'an church has two chapels. The first has been serving since 1890 with about 200㎡ and the other one was built in 1980 with 100㎡.
However, both of the chapels are considered unsafe.
Preacher Zhuang Biyu of the church has been working toward the rebuilding of the church for nine years, including whether it is to be rebuilt on the original site or another place. Unfortunately, a change of leadership at the local administration for religious affairs forced her to redo the paperwork several times. The final solution has still not been determined. The temporary measure is to renovate the chapel built in 1980 as a stopgap.
The local government offered a 120㎡ temporary worship venue for free and agreed to cover some of the expansion and renovation fees, but the church is still waiting on the funds from the local government and the construction has not started. It is estimated to take three months.
The expansion should combine the two chapels together into a single venue of 300㎡. However, it is only temporary. The church believes that the final solution is to rebuild, either somewhere else or on the original site. The problem of building at the current place is that the church has been having disputes with one household which it hasn't been able to solve even after many negotiations.
Translated by Grace Hubl
