Shifu Hall

Shifu Hall

Shifu Church in Guangzhou is the oldest existing Christian Church in Guangzhou. It was founded by bish priest in 1862. For more than 150 years, Shifu church experienced the ups and downs of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and gained new development in the "three self movement" of new China. After its resumption on December 24, 1983, great changes have been made in both the construction of Theology and the construction of Christianity in China in terms of software and hardware. After its resumption, Shifu church successively served as pastor Mai Huixin and pastor Chen Chan. Since 2005, pastor Chan Chan has been the head of the church.

Sunday worship is held in the morning and evening. The evening hall Mandarin gathering was added in 2013. About 750 people attend the party every week. There is a moodoo class on Sunday.

Since 2015, the Music Department of the church has regularly carried out music theory training and wind music training to provide professional skills training for the choir members and continuously improve the level of music ministry. There are six choir, one worship team and one string group in the Ministry.

In order to meet the requirements of the development of the times, shifutang opened a wechat website and an official wechat public platform in 2014 to share information such as gathering news, Church video, fellowship ministry and belief cultivation.

1. The early history of Jiantang

(1) tracing the source

After the end of the Opium War in 1842, Christianity gained the privilege of missionary work in mainland China. Protestantism began to spread in Guangdong, which is adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, with Guangzhou as the center. During the recovery and development period (1842-1880), the Protestant missionaries, such as the Methodist Church, the Church of London, the congregation, the Anglican Church, the Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Church, the American Israeli church, the Council of supervisors, the Quaker church, and the seventh day Adventist Church, also came to China to preach and founded churches in various parts of China. Especially after the Boxer Indemnity in 1901, missionaries in China attached great importance to the Sinicization of Christianity, and the Chinese people began to have a correct understanding of Christianity. The monasteries of various countries entered Guangdong one after another, and the development of Christianity reached the golden stage. The Methodist Church was one of the first foreign sects to come to Guangzhou to preach.

In January 1851 (the first year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty), under the influence of Morrison and other missionaries, bish, a compulsory priest of the British Methodist Association, came to Hong Kong at his own expense without the support of the church. In December of the same year, he went north to Guangzhou. At that time, the Treaty of Nanjing had been signed for about ten years, and Westerners still had some difficulties in entering China. Although he could not enter the city, he sent leaflets at the gate of the city. Later, with the help of Liang Fa, a famous Chinese missionary teacher, he began his missionary activities and conducted covert missionary activities as an employee of the thirteen branches of Commerce. He wrote letters to the British Methodist association to report the situation and progress of the Ministry. In 1852, the overseas Missionary Association of the British Methodist Church decided to send W. R. beach and Josiah Cox to China as missionaries. In 1853 (the third year of Xianfeng), bish finally got the support of the church. He became a pastor and recognized that he was the first missionary of the Methodist Church in China. At the end of 1853, bish joined birch and Guo xiuxin in Guangzhou to form a missionary group. In that year, bish set up an evangelical church in zengsha, established its first church in China, established a diocese in Guangzhou and carried out pioneering missionary activities It was the beginning of the Methodist Church in Lingnan. After the outbreak of the second Opium War, the missionaries of the Methodist Church took refuge in Macao. With the signing of the Treaty of Tianjin, bish and other missionaries who took refuge in Macao entered Guangdong again, set up a church to preach, and set up a holy college in zengsha, Guangzhou to train Chinese priests.

(2) Foundation

Founded by the Methodist Church in 1862, the Shifu church was named "Shifu Church of the Methodist Church" because it was located at the Shifu Church in Guangzhou at that time. It is the predecessor of Shifu church.

At that time, the missionaries of the Methodist Church, like the missionaries of other churches, focused on direct preaching to spread the gospel, such as establishing churches, making speeches on the street, traveling to preach, and distributing biblical books. George Pierce (1829-1913), who was familiar with urban missionary work, was the founder of the Methodist Association and Shifu Church in Guangzhou at that time. He was known as the father of the Chinese Methodist Association and established the "South China parish of the Chinese Methodist Association", which was an important founder of the development of the Methodist Association in China. He came to China at the age of 21. During the 31 years of preaching (1851-1882), he not only established a church, but also set up a school, medical work, and translated western spiritual books, such as the pilgrim's journey. He also adapted the stories of the Old Testament in the form of traditional Chinese Chapter novels to enhance the Chinese believers' interest and understanding of the Bible. After returning to China in 1882, he continued to preach to sailors in London wharf area until his death.

In 1902, by missionary William The report of Guangzhou United District, written by Bridie, narrates the story of a group of Manchu and Qing officials taking part in the Bible class. It says that they successfully set up a Bible class for a group of 12 gentlemen every Sunday in the home of an official surnamed Hui who used to be an aisle, and made them often go to church for worship, thus "entering the most distinguished family for the first time in the history of missionary work in Guangzhou". He believes that this shows that "an unprecedented opportunity has come to spread the gospel to a class that is outside the ordinary missionary work.". In this situation, the Methodist Association in South China has made progress. As far as the whole Diocese of Guangzhou is concerned, in 1905, "there were more than 2000 friends, which increased five times in 20 years.".

In 1910 (the second year of Xuantong), the Diocese of Guangzhou changed its name to South China diocese. It has jurisdiction over seven joint districts, including Guangzhou, Foshan, Beijiang, taikai, Xinzhong, Wuzhou and Hong Kong. Although the political situation in South China has been unstable since the period of the Republic of China, and the relationship between the southern regime with Guangzhou as the center and Britain has been tense for a long time, and the British background of the Methodist association has caused many obstacles to its cause, on the whole, the cause of the Methodist Association in South China has gradually moved forward. In 1919 (8 years of the Republic of China), the society had 30 preaching districts in Guangdong, 29 official churches, 106 church staff, 2013 diners, 35 primary schools, 2 middle schools and 2 hospitals. In the 29th year of the Republic of China, the number of believers reached 4000. In 1925, under the background of the national church indigenization movement, Guangzhou parish of the Methodist Church was renamed "Guangzhou parish of the Chinese Christian Methodist Association". In 1931, after the establishment of the national "Chinese Methodist Association", the official name of the diocese was "Guangdong and Guangdong Diocese of the Chinese Methodist Association", which included Guangzhou, Foshan, Kaixin, Taishan, Shaozhou, Wuzhou and Hong Kong. During the Anti Japanese War, the South China parish of the Methodist Church suffered great losses. By the end of the Republic of China, the number of believers decreased to 1300.

(3) building churches

In 1861, the Methodist Church bought a large house in zengsha street, Nanguan, Guangzhou, and built it. In 1862, it bought a two-story house of brick and wood structure with more than 1000 liang of silver in the prosperous Xiguan Shifu, which was transformed into the Evangelical Church, named "Shifu Church of Methodist Church", which is the predecessor of Shifu church. Later, a new Evangelical Church was set up in Gaodi street, Guangzhou. The family members of missionaries live inside, and formal chapels are set up outside. Preach during the day and consult the Bible at night. In this way, in Guangzhou, the Methodist association had three preaching organs in an effective way. Bish and others began to develop the educational administration in Guangzhou, and gradually formed the influence centered on the three churches of zengsha, Shifu and Gaodi street.

The old Shifu church, located at No. 93 Shifu Road, Guangzhou, has been rebuilt and decorated many times since it was built by the government of the Republic of China in 1929. Until 1934, the blue brick arcade church was overhauled again. The front of the church was a red brick external wall, with a rose round window and a white cross on the top. The total cost was more than 10000 yuan, which was donated by Chinese believers at that time.

(4) independent practice

After the revolution of 1911, the government of the Republic of China indicated that all religions were treated equally. Under the influence of various factors, Christianity developed rapidly. There were about 43 missionaries in Guangdong Province from 1903 to 1919, and there were more than 20 missionaries in Guangzhou, including the British Methodist Association. However, from the perspective of each church, there are obvious differences in the scale and speed of its development. At that time, the vast majority of churches in Guangdong were directly run by foreign missionaries, and missionary work was basically in the hands of foreign missionaries. Although the churches directly managed by the Chinese have developed, their strength is still quite weak. Due to the unbalanced political and economic development of the sending countries, the development of the churches has also been affected to some extent. According to the total table of Guangdong Christian Church in 1913 and the statistical data of the program of advance in 1920, the overall development of the Methodist Church in this period was in decline

Preaching areas: 59 in 1913 and 30 in 1919;

The number of diners: 2310 in 1913 and 2013 in 1919;

Hospitals: 3 in 1913 and 2 in 1919;

Schools: 20 in 1913, 36 in 1919.

The Methodist Association of shifutang at that time has been an independent British church since it came to China

Chinese PinYin : Shi Fu Tang