Located 15 kilometers from the heart of Yingkou City, a modern church in Baicao Village has a simple yet elegant design. The building features white walls, a red roof, and a red cross on its third floor, visible from afar. Inside, the church furnishes brand-new wooden benches, with three LED screens at the front and back, and a piano beside the pulpit. Reflecting its rural setting, the church grows cucumbers in front of the gate, with a lush green rice field lying nearby. This is a Baicao gathering site that has seen both revival and decline and is now experiencing renewed vitality.
The Baicao gathering site once experienced a time of revival, with attendance peaking at around 300 to 400 people. In recent years, due to various reasons, the membership has significantly declined, leaving only 30 to 40 people attending services. In response to this situation, the Yingkou Christian Council & Three-Self Patriotic Movement (CC&TSPM) extended a helping hand, providing support in both hardware and software aspects. The crucial responsibility of reviving the Baicao gathering site was placed on its key co-worker, Tang Suping.
Reviving rural churches is a difficult task. At first, Pastor Tang resisted, wondering if there was a Christian man who could take on the responsibility. Later, she felt that God might commit this task to her, so she obediently accepted it.
The first task she undertook was to renovate the gathering site. At the initial stage, Pastor Tang devoted a significant amount of time and effort, during which there were many touching testimonies. The total cost of the renovation was over 800,000 yuan, supported by Yingkou CC&TSPM and Christians. One believer alone contributed 310,000 yuan.
Rebuilding the external gathering site was not easy, but helping believers grow spiritually was even more challenging. Pastor Tang visited the believers who had drifted away from the church one by one. During her visits, she was always careful, never directly mentioning their departure from the church. Instead, she simply informed them that Yingkou CC&TSPM was coming to help pastor this church and welcomed them to attend services. As a result, some of the lapsed believers returned to the church.
To revive the spiritual lives of the returning believers, Pastor Tang employed the method of teaching the word of God. She first led church members in reading the Bible, setting aside a few hours each day for believers to study the Bible. She also ensured that the Sunday sermons were well preached. For believers in rural churches, having city pastors preach every week was a great blessing. Once these regular activities were on track, Pastor Tang initiated the establishment of a couples' fellowship, through which some men joined the church. After more than a year of effort, the number of people attending Sunday services grew to over 100.
It takes 30 minutes to drive from the downtown of Yingkou to the Baicao gathering site, and Pastor Tang can drive back and forth. This is related to the initiative Chong’en Church in the city takes to motivate church workers to learn to drive, which was spearheaded by Rev. Hou Yujie, president of Liaoning CC, chairman and president of Yingkou CC&TSPM. Hou shared that she often had to drive staff workers to grassroots churches to preach sermons. Previously, she would drive them there, engage in preaching, and then drive them back afterward. Given that staff workers also frequently go to grassroots churches, Hou began encouraging them to learn to drive. Church workers who could drive received a 200 yuan increase in their monthly salary, and those without a license could take leave to learn. If they didn’t obtain their license within the specified time, they could no longer serve as full-time workers. As a result of this initiative, all full-time workers in the Yingkou city churches obtained their driver’s licenses, and most purchased their own cars (some second-hand). The church also has a vehicle, and Tang, who took me to the gathering site, said she was initially nervous about driving, but she became more confident with practice.
During my recent visit to the Yingkou churches, I happened to join an outdoor team-building activity scheduled for Saturday. About 40 to 50 people participated, all traveling by church or personal vehicles driven by the church workers, which made transportation very convenient. Since the following day was Sunday, staff workers in the car discussed the arrangements for Sunday, who would drive to the church to serve, and who could bring others. After the Sunday service, a church worker in the city received a request for help from a grassroots church worker, saying that several believers needed transportation. Vehicles were quickly arranged. When visiting workers came from other places, transportation was also easy to arrange.
Yingkou CC&TSPM also helped two other rural meeting points similar to the Baicao gathering site. In addition to these long-term efforts by dedicated workers to support rural churches, city churches in Yingkou regularly provided material and spiritual assistance to help struggling rural churches regain vitality.
Similar support initiatives for rural churches also exist in other regions. A city church in the Pulandian district of Dalian frequently visits surrounding rural churches, sending pastors on Sundays to give sermons and driving elderly believers who have difficulty traveling to the church. They also provide material support, such as donating air conditioners or offering direct financial assistance. A city church in Linfen, Shanxi, donated funds to help renovate a rural church and sent pastors on Sundays to preach, reviving the church that was on the verge of closing. Putian CC&TSPM in Fujian provided pastors serving rural churches with the same treatment as those serving in city churches, even offering additional subsidies for transportation costs and other expenses.
In recent years, rural populations have been migrating to cities, leaving mostly elderly people in the countryside. With some elderly going to the city to help care for grandchildren and others passing away, the rural population has decreased further. The churches in these areas face the same challenges. The days of church revival are long gone, and many are now facing decline and even closure (some have already closed). In these difficult circumstances, rural churches desperately need external help, and assistance from the municipal CC&TSPM and city churches is one of their few solutions.
- Edited by Karen Luo, translated by Abigail Wu
