Information on International Pilgrimages with Youth

China Pilgrimage

Friday, March 14, 2003

By Mary Ellen Hoffman and Caroline Martinson

            Today, the pilgrims were up bright and early to meet the bus at 6:15am for a short ride to the airport, and our one-hour flight from Beijing to Dalian.  As we walked through the Beijing airport we noticed fresh flowers at each of the check-in counters.  The Chinese people seem to love flowers.  When we arrived at Dalian, we saw people presenting bouquets of roses and lilies to loved ones who were being met there.

Dalian is a coastal city on the Chinese Yellow Sea.  There are five million inhabitants with two million people in the downtown area.  There are 50 churches and meeting places (churches without pastors) throughout the city, and 9 pastors serving 150 thousand Christians.  This is a huge responsibility.  In addition there are 30 trained church workers and 400 lay leaders in the church. One Dalian church is a small Korean church.  One was built by Danish missionaries, and yet another by British missionaries.

Once we checked-in to our hotel in Dalian, the Sunjoy Hotel, we boarded the bus to our lunchtime restaurant where we were again treated to a feast.  Some of the new dishes were lobster, eel, bamboo stuffed with sticky rice, and dates that the locals call “soft heart.”

We were privileged to have lunch with Rev. Kou, chairperson of the provincial Three Self committee and President of the Dalian Chinese Christian Council, Rev. Zhao, Rev. Zhang, and Mr. Wong, director of Three Self.  Rev. Kou told us that in Dalian, pastors share responsibilities among the area churches.  Each pastor is charged with performing weddings and baptisms at a particular church, but will rotate among the area churches in leading worship.  This management style is unique to Dalian.

Rev. Kou spoke of the work of two sisters who have taken charge of the religious education of teenagers and children.  They teach stories and English, and have devoted themselves to this ministry as volunteers.  Other provinces do not give churches the freedom to offer programs for youth under age 18, but in this province, Liaoning Province, churches are free to do so.  This religious education program is held on Fridays, since there is no room to hold Sunday school during worship on Sunday.

After lunch we visited a new church nearing completion, the Harvest Church, which seats 4000 people.  This new church will be dedicated on April 25.  In addition to its magnificent sanctuary, the church has a lunch room and housing for 60 students who may use their training center.  Next week visiting professors have been invited to the training center for classes in sacred music.  The church was designed by a Chinese- American pastor from Los Angeles and employs materials of granite, marble and wood.

We toured the city by bus.  We passed a Wal-Mart (all underground), many complexes of modern high-rise apartment buildings, several sports arenas (Dalian is famous for soccer- it has one of the best teams in China.), a museum of modern art, a gondola going up the mountainside adjoining the coast, a zoo, and even a replica medieval castle.  We noticed some single-family homes, not a usual sight in the cities in China.  When we reached the harbor, children and adults were enjoying the brisk, overcast day.  We saw the Oriana, twin ship to the Titanic, permanently docked here.  It was a gift from Britain to the city of Dalian.  At the waterfront park there was also a memorial to the 100^th anniversary of the city in 1999 which included 1000 footprints of persons both young and old, even several footprints of centenarian women whose lotus feet had been bound in their youth.  We delighted in a young Chinese girl feeding pigeons.

The highlight of the day for many of us was an opportunity to worship at the Yuguang Street Church, a church built by British missionaries.  Multiple events are held there every day.  You might find an “old sisters” meeting, prayer meeting, choir rehearsal, worship for the worship leaders, Bible study, etc. if you happen to drop in.  On Fridays from 5pm to 6pm, young adults crowd into the church to sing contemporary hymns. We received a warm welcome to the 6pm worship service.  The radiance of God’s love shone in the faces of the young Christians who led the service.  Scripture passages were read in unison, giving each worshipper the opportunity to speak words from the Bible.  Many worshipers took notes on what they read and what they heard in the sermon.  These Christians are serious about their faith.  The service concluded with singing the “Da-Alleluia”, (translated from Chinese that’s the “big” Alleluia) which turned out to be Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.  It was an awe-inspiring time as voices in Chinese and English blended harmoniously in singing the magnificence of God’s love.  Surely God is in this place.  At 7pm we were invited to a Bible study in English.  We moved to a smaller room.  The energy of many interested, educated Chinese Christians uplifted all as we spoke in small groups about faith, misperceptions we may have of China, or misperceptions these persons may have about America. 

I, Mary Ellen, was honored and privileged to sit with two young people, whose English names were Grace and Mark.  Grace had been a Christian for a year, and Mark had just received Christ as his Savior that night.  It was an incredible experience for me to share the love of Christ with these two new Christians, and by the Holy Spirit’s guidance to shepherd them in their faith.  We looked at a Chinese/English Bible, and together studied the gospel of John and the book of Romans to examine essential truths of God’s word.  It was an evening I will never forget.  I will pray for these and other new Chinese Christians, that God will help them grow and mature in their faith.

Caroline had the chance to talk with a group whose professions were policeman, accountant, business man and three university students.  They wanted help with translations of American slang like “pick of the litter” and “smoking gun”.  They read news from America, but often have trouble understanding what it really means.  They were curious if America had any religious cults, if American parents taught children morality (or is it left to the schools), if the Bible was read or taught in schools, if Americans know anything about current Chinese news, and if we would ever return to China.  What an interesting assortment of topics to discuss honestly and openly!

That one-hour conversation turned into a lot longer, so we stopped at a fast-food Chinese diner, a wonderful complement to the usual 14-course feasts our hosts have been providing.  With glowing faces we talked to each other about our experiences at the Bible study and our thankfulness to be able to share our Christian experience with our Chinese brothers and sisters.

Now it’s off to bed as we prepare for another early day tomorrow!   

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