Beijing Shouwang Church is the first so-called underground church we visited. As we said before, it is difficult to know where to find these underground churches. A search online led us to Shouwang Church because it has been the focus of several news reports lately.
Claimed as the largest underground church in Beijing, Shouwang Church was established at the Beijing home of a newly-wed intellectual couple in 1993. As the gathering grew larger, a place of worship became a primary challenge for the church. It rented several spaces including an underground basement over the years to hold its weekly services. But in 2009, government intervention (or rather, embarrassment) led to the early cancellation of Shouwang’s rental contract with an office building. Thus, the congregation became homeless. In November 2009, the congregation had to hold Sunday services outside a park in Western Beijing, twice.
See video below:
News reports of these services put the Chinese government in an embarrassing position. It backed down and offered space in a government building to Shouwang. We are not sure if the place we saw is this government-sponsored venue, but it is a government building without a question.
The entrance is hard to find, but look for the “story club” sign.
Once you go inside, it is confusing as well as there is no signs directing you to the “church.” We walked back and forth several times and finally gathered enough courage to pass this daunting statue to enter the building to the left.
The hall of the CCTV building.
The place is on the first floor, next to the restaurant/bar below.
The restaurant/bar has a history theme with old pictures like this one:
This one:
Or of a more recent and recognizable sort:
The services is conducted in the inner section of this restaurant. There are about 300 people and it seems all seats are taken. The format and organization of the service are similar to the other official churches we visited before. It felt just like any other church if you ignore the restaurant setting of the place. Then of course, we weren’t there when the congregation prayed in the snow or were forced to leave their rented home.
As no cameras are allowed, we didn’t take any pictures. But we managed to film a couple of clips of the services.
Beijing Shouwang Church is in the process of being recognized and sanctioned by the government. If that happens, it will provide a solution and future to China’s massive underground church population. But it will be a very difficult task as the gap between the underground churches and the government is enormous.
i was looking on website and saw the news about your open air service and your detention.i am a born again christian and i live in northern ireland. in our church we pray for our brothers and sisters in other lands who have not this wonderful freedom to gather together both indoors and outdoors to praise GOD. i totally believe that GOD will bless you and keep you as you serve him and proclaim the gospel of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. you are in my prayers. your brother in the LORD john
A group of christians in Sydney Australia will be praying for you. From Colossians 1 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
May God be your rescue.
Dear Lord Jesus: we know you love us. you love everyone who come to you throne.Thank you so much to put Your Peace and Love in our hearts.Thank you John and Ian. I am in shouwang church. a sister was detained for 48 hours since Sunday. we have many brothers and sisters came to the police station to pray for her, stay outside all day and all night to show we are always together, together with God.she was released today.Thanks God, she is very peaceful.please continue remember us in your prayer. we do not have any intention to to fight with government or the party. we just want to worship the God. Who shall separater us from the love of Christ?
I know the church has gone public, but you can do serious damage to a church member with this footage. Please take this off of the internet. Even side views of faces can still be dangerous.
Dear visitor,
Thanks for your comment and your concern. We believe these videos will not do “damage” to any of Shouwang’s church members. The Chinese government has much better surveillance on them. Please refer to the next post about the latest on Shouwang church.
-ChristiansInChina.com
As soon as I heard about the persecution , I felt sad about it and began to pray. GOD IS THE ALL MIGHTY.
May God Bless the Shouwang church and ALL others who seek the Lord and His teaching through Christianity. You are in our prayers after reading about the continued restrictions placed upon peaceful worshipers.
Dear fellow Christians,
I teach at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, USA. Please know that the students and I are keeping you in our prayers.
May God be with you, sustain you and bless you,
Beth
We just created a Chinese Christian blog to reach the country with Bible based sermons and prayers http://www.christonline.info/ch