I had the opportunity to join these prayerful folks. Those who wanted to pray aloud would take turn to pray loudly and very fluently either in Mandarin or in foochow.
The moments I spent here were really intense and I felt that God's presence was amongst the people who were sincere and earnest in their prayers.
After the prayer meeting Meng Lei and I had a chance to speak with a few ladies outside the church.
The government has funds to improve the old church and indeed has plans for a huge new church in this plot of land but the congregation is not positive about demolishing the ancient buildings. Perhaps another piece of land could be given by the government for the purpose of a new church building. More 10 000 believers worship here every Sunday.
I was very touched by the caring attitude of these praying Foochows who come every morning to pray together and to petition to the Almighty for forgiveness and blessings. Many would kneel in the front after the session is over to say more prayers quietly.
I have walked on hallowed grounds with the ancient ones. Indeed a holy moment.
6 comments:
holy and gracious.
The history of Flower Lane Church(Hua Xiang Dong)was built at 1863 by Methodist Episcopal Mission in Fuzhou.In 1915, Rev. John Gowdy (the then-superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Mission) and Rev. Yu Xingli (余兴礼, a Chinese Methodist pastor) purchased on East Street what used to be the mansion and rebuilt it into a city institutional church named Central Institutional Church or Siong Iu Dong (尚友堂, "church for social intercourse").
In the Republic of China Era, Siong Iu Dong was an influential religious organization, working chiefly for the official and literary class.It established Jinde School (进德学校, later changed to Jinde Girls' Middle School / 进德女中) which was engaged in the teaching of modern culture and served as the preparatory school for Foochow Anglo-Chinese College (鹤龄英华中学), and also founded Siong Iu Dong Kindergarten. But all school activities were put to an end during the Japanese Occupation in the 1940s.
In the 1950s Siong Iu Dong was affiliated to the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), subordinate to the communist control. During the Cultural Revolution (1966 - 1976), however, even the TSPM was strictly banned, and all church services ceased.
On October 28, 1979, Siong Iu Dong became the first church in Fuzhou to restore religious activities, with its name changed to Flower Lane Church, after the street name of its location. Rev. Liu Yangfen was assigned as pastor in charge.Rev. Liu Yangfen (刘扬芬) paid a visit to Sibu at 1990's.
more details:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_Lane_Church
Wenn
\Thanks for your nice comments. We are indeed beginning to see a small portion of modern China. Nice.
Dear Meng L
thanks for filling in information which I did not know of.
Miraculous! amazing!
waa...yeah,i can just imagine how wonderful the experience is to you.
Dear Ah Ngao
Thanks...it was a special event in my life...thinking of my grand father and my great grandfather...and how they became Christians during the time of famine and poverty. It must have been very hard for them.
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