Churches in Dalian City, northeast China’s Liaoning Province, resumed their face-to-face Sunday services after the end of the recent COVID-19 outbreak.
Following the resumptions of in-person services beginning May 29, these city churches will restart all kinds of onsite activities, such as Bible studies, prayer meetings, worship and praise services, choir rehearsals, and youth group events.
Churches in county-level cities or districts, such as Wafangdianshi Church and Pulandian District Church which were still in lockdown, have already submitted applications to the relevant departments to resume onsite gatherings.
After receiving the approval from the government, churches called believers in advance to clean up the main buildings, set up tables and chairs, and disinfect both indoors and outdoors areas, as some were used as COVID-19 testing sites. The work also included preparing masks and hand sanitizers, restarting the preaching ministry, and "broadcasting the news" to believers.
To facilitate the regular epidemic response, churchgoers are required to wear masks to sit at intervals as per the social distancing requirements, given that they are not suffering from the suspected symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, cough, and diarrhea. With the number of worshippers limited to no more than 300, believers are requested to bring admission passes (or ID cards), scan codes, and avoid peak times to worship. The church said believers who or whose families come back from other places to Dalian should complete a 14-day quarantine period before attending church services.
(The article is originally published by the Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
