The demolition of a village in Xi'an leaves rubble at a mere distance of 300 meters away from a metro station. Beside the ruins stands a building that has been pulled down into an empty shell and a red cross is set on the top. Beneath the building is there a basement where a church of over 300 members gathers for about four years.
The status quo of Changlepo Church
A reporter of China Christian Daily paid a visit to Changlepo Church in this July. Sister Chen, one of the church workers, introduced that the church has a chapel, a duty room, a kitchen, a room for choir, an instrumental room, a reception room, and a backyard.
Gas tanks are used for cooking in the kitchen at ordinary times. When it comes to holding large services and gatherings, they cook food with two cauldrons driven by wood. Although there are a chimney and vents, the walls of the kitchen are blackened by smoke.
It is cool here in the summer for the church's underground location. Rain leaks into the church from the open ceiling when it is rainy. In the winter, it is a bit cold and two air conditioners provide heat supply. When it snows, two slopes leading into the church are slippery, causing security risks for many senior believers. "Despite its primitive conditions, the church has the warmth of a family." Said Chen.
Sister Bai Yun who became a Christian here five years ago stated that she never despised the shabby "home" and it was still her "home". She shared her testimony that she suffered from serious depression before knowing Jesus, up all night. She lost 22 pounds. After joining the church, she plays trumpet in the band, joyful. Seeing her change, her two daughters accepted her Christian faith. Now she, 50, serves in the church.
More than ten middle-aged and elderly sisters do the church's cleaning early on Saturday mornings to prepare for Sunday services. They clean very carefully: a sister who is responsible for cleaning the lectern wipes clean the mic cable and another sister even cleans the legs of the pews. Aunt Li who is 75 sings hymns with joy while cleaning.
The setting is also warm: a vase of artificial flowers is placed on a stereo hung on the wall; a vegetable garden is built in the backyard; color lights are put on the red cross, lighting over the ruins in the evening...
For the church is situated near a road, some facilities like computer, air conditioner, and printer were stolen. Since then, the believers take turns on duty.
Brother Li Hongchang who runs a real estate business has gathered in the church for roughly four years. He said jokingly that people who gathered here must be humble for there were no good external factors. He added that some workers grew up with the church, which touched him much.
In the recent three or four years, one or two hundred new members join the church, but the poor conditions restrain the church growth. Some believers never return after coming here once. Moreover, the chapel is crowded with the congregation of three to four hundred people.
The church hired three full-time preachers one after another, but they were fired due to some reasons. Several pastors from Xi'an lead the Sunday services in turns, including Rev. Wang Hong, president of Shaanxi Bible School, who presides the communion service on the first Sunday of each month.
The church's history
Jia Shuqin, 71, the church leader, shared its history spanning over fifty years. The earliest place the church gathered in and the current church are only separated by a wall. The church is back in its old place after three relocations during the past decades. The church started in the house of Jia's grandpa in 1965. Once the grandpa got hurt, her grandparents accepted the gospel from a massagist. Later his cave house became the gathering place.
It was amazing that the church kept holding services during the Cultural Revolution when all the churches in China were forced to shut down. Some pastors and believers from closed churches attended services here. When the highest church attendance exceeded 100, people flooded the church.
Jia's grandmother was the first church head who passed away in 1988. Three years later, her husband also died. In 1991, the church rented a land and built ten rooms on the land. The total length of the rooms was 30 meters. The number of the congregation peaked at over 1000.
When the 15-year lease contract expired, it was forced to move to a factory in December 2006. The new place had an area of more than 400 square meters or 0.0988 acre and the church still had seven or hundred believers. Seven years later, the factory was removed. Then the church looked for a new place everywhere, but no proper one was found. Finally, it asked the village chief for help and the chief recommended the basement. The church moved here on October 20, 2013.
A new church wanted
Last year some of the church staff proposed to purchase a shop with an area of 0.247 acres at the cost of 8 million yuan. Jia disagreed with the proposal, holding that it was not big enough and the cost was too high.
The local authority visited the basement, claiming it was not secure while failing to give a solution. Thanks to that the basement is no charge for use, the church has some savings that are very inadequate to construct a church or buy a place. Jia hopes that the village major can fulfill his promise that when a graveyard near the church is relocated, the church can use the land.
The surroundings of the church are ruins where no construction has been started for four years.Last week some people resumed the removal of the rest houses that were not completely demolished, as a result, dust fell into the church at times. Currently, the church is anxious about the move. If the property developer is going to build houses on the site, the congregation have to leave here even though they don't know where to go.
-Translated by Karen Luo
