On the morning of February 12th, the Spring Festival of the Year of the Ox, a Shanxi church held a Spring Festival thanksgiving worship service virtually.
According to tradition, on the first day of the first lunar month, the thanksgiving services took place personally each year at the Yaodu District Church in Linfen. At the beginning of this year, due to the sporadic cases of COVID-19 in some areas of the country, the church continued to undergo the "two suspension and one postponement," which referred to "closing religious activity places, suspending collective religious activities and postponing the opening of religious colleges."
Presiding over the virtual worship service, Elder Xie Chunlan led the congregation to sing The Old Year Past, The New Year Comes, one hymn of the Chinese New Hymnal, after proclaiming the Apostles' Creed, and read Ephesians 1:3.
Pastor Huang Hailin gave a sermon entitled "Blessing," based on this scripture. The three perspectives of blessings were spiritual, heavenly, and in Christ. Combining with the previous year's extraordinary experience, he said that only God's children could inherit the spiritual gifts from heaven in Christ. Because of the death and bloodshed of the Lord Jesus, Christians can enjoy the rich blessings of God.
Later, Elder Chen Li delivered a New Year speech on behalf of the district CC&TSPM (Christian Council & Three-Self Patriotic Movement) to greet everyone.
After singing the hymn, Trusting in the Lord, Elder Chen gave the benediction prayer.
(The original article is published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
