Two new churches to meet demand
By Li Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-03 00:30

Two new Protestant churches will be added to the existing eight in Beijing to meet the rising needs of more than 40,000 local believers.

One of the new churches will be built in Chaoyang District of eastern Beijing, and the other in Caoqiao Park of Fengtai District in the south.

Costing 40 million yuan (US$4.8 million), each will cover roughly 2,000 square metres and can accommodate 1,500 worshipers, Reverend Yu Xinli, president of the Beijing Christian Council, said Tuesday in Beijing.

The two churches will be larger than any existing ones in the city, according to Yu.

"We are very pleased to see their establishment," said the reverend at the Chaoyang site. "If everything goes smoothly, the construction will be finished by the end of this year."

Yu said the two new churches will belong to the Beijing Christian Council although the building funds come from the municipal government.

He explained that the property on which the churches are being built was granted by the government as a form of compensation for the property of some existing churches which are occupied by residents and work units in downtown Beijing.

"There is an increasing number of believers in Beijing and existing churches cannot meet their demand," said Yu, "The largest church can only hold 1,000 believers at a ritual and the others can hold 200 to 500 each.

"Sometimes a church has to hold five rituals a day to satisfy the huge number of believers," he added.

There are 2,000 Christians in Chaoyang District and 3,500 in Fengtai District, according to statistics.

Local Protestants will find it convenient to participate in rituals and activities upon completion of the two churches, instead of commuting a long distance to other districts, said Yu.

He also revealed that the Beijing Christian Council is considering building more churches in the city, such as in Daxing and Haidian districts.

A Protestant church that can accommodate 500 believers is already coming up in Qinghe region of northwestern Beijing; and construction will be completed in June, said the reverend.

According to Su Weixing, an official with the Beijing Religious Bureau, many church properties in the city have had a facelift or been rebuilt over the past few years.

Many of the buildings protected as cultural relics receive financial assistance from the cultural relics administration.

For instance, the Catholic churches of Nantang, Dongtang, Beitang and Dongjiaominxiang have been renovated; and the Protestant churches of Chongwenmen, Kuanjie and Zhushikou have got facelifts, said Su.

The Protestant faith was introduced to Beijing in 1861, according to Yu. From 1900 to 1949, their number grew slowly -- records show there were only 4,000 Protestants at the beginning of 1950, including missionary school students.

But in the past 20 years, more than 1,500 people were baptized each year.

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