We had the privilege to return to China this year to continue work on the building that started last year. It was a unique privilege to see the progress of the building and take part in the next stop in seeing this new facility come into being. The new church will seat 2,500 and includes space for ministry to various groups in the church and creating a training center for new pastors in the region once the five story building opens.
Returning to this church felt like a homecoming. Seeing all of the familiar faces and being welcomed back with open arms was a great experience. It felt like we had only been gone a few weeks instead of almost 10 months.
We learned that construction on the church stopped four months before our arrival because of the complaints by some of the neighbors and other official decisions. The neighbors wanted to be paid to allow the building to go up, even though they have no rights to the property. Apparently, this is a common thing in some parts of China when a local business wants to build a new facility near occupied apartments. As you can imagine, the church is not able to pay-off thousands of people who live within a four to six block area of the church.
Because of our coming to the church, people's hearts were changed and work on the building was allowed to resume. Our team laid a combination of bricks and blocks on the ground floor of the church to create the outer walls. Most of the walls we built were only about four feet tall as the church plans to install large windows on two sides of the building. At the same time, a group of construction workers were busy at the top of the church, pouring concrete and creating the top floor. Prayerfully, the work on the church will continue until it is finished in the near future.
We took advantage of many other opportunities provided to the team and have been invited back for more work in the area. We are so thankful for the progress made at the church and the new opportunities we have in China next year. Your continued prayers and support are needed as we take on new projects in China.
(Note: Limited information is provided because of the nature of some of our work on this project.)
We learned that construction on the church stopped four months before our arrival because of the complaints by some of the neighbors and other official decisions. The neighbors wanted to be paid to allow the building to go up, even though they have no rights to the property. Apparently, this is a common thing in some parts of China when a local business wants to build a new facility near occupied apartments. As you can imagine, the church is not able to pay-off thousands of people who live within a four to six block area of the church.
Because of our coming to the church, people's hearts were changed and work on the building was allowed to resume. Our team laid a combination of bricks and blocks on the ground floor of the church to create the outer walls. Most of the walls we built were only about four feet tall as the church plans to install large windows on two sides of the building. At the same time, a group of construction workers were busy at the top of the church, pouring concrete and creating the top floor. Prayerfully, the work on the church will continue until it is finished in the near future.
