In Beijing today, the Chinese government is reasonably tolerant of church attendance, though this is not so in all parts of China. However, all Chinese land is owned by the government, and restrictions are placed on how many churches can be built. There are only seven churches in all of Beijing, and it has a population of 17.4 million.
People stand in line to get into church, and the one we attended, like all Beijing churches, was packed. This was Communion Sunday, and the service was extremely moving, with familiar hymns such as "What a friend we have in Jesus" sung in Chinese. Worship services are very predictable, so I understood most of the service even without the translation headset an usher brought to our pew.
Photographs: Church in Beijing
No comments:
Post a Comment