The capital of Guangdong province is about to welcome its largest Christian church to date, which will be the first constructed in the city since 1949.
Scheduled to open this summer, Tianhe Church will include a chapel, bell tower, administrative buildings and an underground parking lot covering nearly 2,500 square meters. The entire project, which features a sleek, Tianhe-esque design with subtle elements of traditional Chinese architecture, took around 10 years to complete.
Yang Yongchun, pastor of Tianhe Church, told China Christian Daily the establishment has “great religious and social significance” and will hopefully promote positive social development in the surrounding region.
Though most of Guangzhou’s churches remain relatively nondescript (save for the grand Sacred Heart Cathedral built by the French in the 1800s), the city was once bustling with missionaries from the West, who set up schools, hospitals and religious centers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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The Shamian Chapel and Dongshan Church were both established in the 1800s with support from missionaries. In 1924, Guangxiao Church was erected in Yuexiu District and became one of the first to be funded solely by Chinese Christians rather than Western evangelists.
Today, there are between 26 and 100 million Christians living in China, with some estimating that number could rise to 250 million by 2030.
[Images via China Christian Daily and ThousandWonders]
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