In 1922, Xia Moshi( The names of the passage are all transliteration), a Swiss pastor went from Hunan Province to Xinyu county to preach the gospel. In February, Jesus Hall of China Inland Mission was established. More than 30 people attended.
In 1936, Pastor Shi from Germany came to work in Xinyu Church. She returned to Germany in 1942. In 1940, Ba Meizhu, a Swiss pastor came to work in the church and returned home in early 1950. Ba Meizhu passed away in the arm of God in 1991.
In 1942, Japanese planes bombed Xinyu County during Anti-Japanese War. The church was bombed and Pastor Xia Moshi was killed. In 1945, a new church was built in West Street of Xinyu County, which was also known as "Jesus Hall". It was a two-story building with more than six acres. The hall had an area of about 2,700 square meters.
Pastors live in upper floor. The lower floor was for gatherings. Pastor Zhang Guojun's family and Pastor Hu Gaozhi's family lived there. There was also an old lady Bing who cooked for pastors.
Besides the church in Xinyu County, there were also 16 branch churches in the countryside. There were 448 believers in the county, including 139 men and 309 women. Thirty-four ministers serve in the church. Every Christmas and Spring Festival, rural believers gathered in the church of the county.In January 1950, Pastor Ba Meizhu was deported to her own country. The church was closed and the party stopped. The house of the church was taken over by the government and sold to a steel company in 1958. It was used as kindergartens and nursery schools. In 1993, the church was torn down.
As the policy of free religious belief was gradually implemented, Qin Xiuyun, a nurse of Xinyu Hospital and her husband, Luo Liguang, a person in charge of department store began to gather in their own home. After 1975, a few new old believers of Xinyu Church also joined them.
At the same time, the church also made contact with Brother Chang Linxiang, who preached gospel in Ouli County. By 1985, there were more than 700 believers and 27 activity venues in Ouli County. The government returned the church of Ouli County to Christinas in 1985. In December 1985, the first conference of Christian Council was held in Yushui District. The Third Self-patriotic Committee was established then.
In 1990, people began to gather in another couple's home. In 1992, the government of Yushui District issued a registration certificate and the person in charge was Qin Xiuyun. 185 people were baptized and communion was also held.
Li Yungen graduated from East China Theological Seminary in 1993 and worked in the church since then. A teaching group and a financial group were also established. In 1995, a house with two floors was rented. It had an area of 500 square meters. Qin Xiuyun was in charge of the jury of the church.
The government of Xinyu city and Yushui district implemented the policy of religious housing, so the original church was torn down. In October 1997, the church purchased a bankrupt food factory. The premises of the factory were 6,741 square meters with a price of 980000 yuan.
After cleaning and repairing, the new church was opened on November 2, 1997. In 2001, the city government expropriated the three houses in the front of the church to expand the public road. However, the church was compensated for it.In 2003, the original church was approved to tear down. Another new church was established in October 2004 and everyone moved into the new hall. The new hall covers an area of 2,500 square meters and can hold 3, 000 people. Another training building was built with an area of 1785 square meters. An old building was used for dormitories with an area of 324 square meters.
In December 2005, the first session of Xinyu Christian Representative Meeting was held. Xinyu Christianism Patriotic Movement Committee and Christian association were also established. Luo Liguang was the top leader. In 2010, Yushui Church was honored as the first batch of advanced churches by National Religious Bureau. In 1995, it was calculated that there were 172 churches in the district with 17,864 believers and 267 pastors.
It is estimated that in 2007 that there were 193 halls in the whole district with 20,940 believers and 342 pastors. In 2012, the number of believers was 19,303 while that of pastors was 581.
Translated by Emma Ma
