China

The epitome of the growth of the church in China, Ziaosijia Church in Zejiang Province. The right church building was built in the 1930s, the middle in 1990, and the largest built four years later in 1994.In the Anhui Province of China, the number of Christians is growing at a rapid rate. Anhui Province is located in central eastern China and is a largely rural area, with small towns, villages, and large tracts of agricultural production. There are three million Christians grouped in small and large congregations throughout Anhui Province. Even "small" congregations have at least 1,000 members.

The churches in Anhui face two enormous needs: 1) new church buildings to offer a home to these growing congregations; and 2) ministerial and lay leadership, as currently there are only 50 ordained ministers to work with the three million Christians in Anhui Province.

Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ is working closely with the China Christian Council in areas of church development. They also are working together on broadening the theological seminary in Anhui Province in order to serve more students. Yet another emphasis is to work with local congregations needing to enlarge or build adequate worship and meeting facilities for their churches.

Global Ministries seeks special gifts to assist church building projects such as that of the Dingyuan Christian Church, located in the township of Dingyuan, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China. The total budget for the building project is $100,000. The local congregation has raised $50,000 and a grant from Global Ministries in the range of $20,000-$30,000 will assure the new church building for Dingyuan Christian Church will become a reality.

There are dozens of churches like Dingyuan Christian Church seeking support for new church homes. The formalizing of church presence in this way is very important, as it establishes congregations as given facts in the Chinese countryside. The China Christian Council faces the challenge of spreading the Gospel in China, as some people and groups in China, with very questionable and destructive theology and practices, also purport to be evangelizing in the countryside. Therefore, the needs of church building and theological education are reinforced as the two top priorities of churches in China today.