“Please pray for us!” This was the request made by a pastor of a grass-roots church in the coronavirus-hit Gaocheng, Shijiazhuang, on January 13.
While a fellow worker of the Gospel Times was interviewing her, the pastor said that the church in her town has suspended its meetings since New Year’s Day. She preaches to the faithful through WeChat groups. Due to the closure of the church, there is no live network preaching (there is no network installed in the pastor’s home). The town has no confirmed cases of COVID-19 for now, but because it is located near a high-risk area, the people in the town have had three nucleic acid tests.
When it came to specific prayer topics, the pastor said we should pray for the prevention and control of the pandemic, for health workers, and for the spiritual life of believers.
The worker of the Gospel Times also contacted a pastor in downtown Shijiazhuang, who said that the city is far from the high risk area of the epidemic, and the worshippers are fine, with no confirmed patients.
As of 4 pm on January 13, 401 cases of COVID-19 patients in Shijiazhuang had been confirmed, 29 of them cured, and 372 cases confirmed. In order to prevent the export of the epidemic, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Langfang of Hebei Province are under closed management, and people and vehicles are not allowed to go out unless necessary.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
