Fuzhou Church Thrives inside its Doors

UNCLAS GUANGZHOU 000449

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STATE FOR EAP/CM AND DRL
USDA FOR FAS/ITP AND FAS/FAA
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN
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SENSITIVE
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIRF PGOV SOCI PHUM CH
SUBJECT: Fuzhou Church Thrives inside its Doors


(U) This document is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly.


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Senior members of the Christian Association in
Fuzhou are positive about local church development and expansion of
community outreach despite limits on promoting religious activities
outside of the church. END SUMMARY


2. (U) On March 28, the Consul General and Consulate staff visited
Fuzhou's Zhongzhou Protestant Church and met with representatives
from the City's Christian Association. The Zhongzhou Christian
Church sits on Zhongzhou Island in Fuzhou. The Church, originally
constructed in 1947 but torn down and the site turned into a park,
was rebuilt by a wealthy Christian businessman in 2003. The church
is a growing religious center that serves 1,600 worshippers each
week. It fills all three floors of its sanctuary on Sunday and
offers other meetings during the week.


3. (U) Zhongzhou church does not have a minister, though not all
registered churches have full-time ministers. Volunteers support
the Zhongzhou Christian Church's operations, which include daily
morning services, bible study in the evening, a Sunday school for
attendees to learn about Christianity and small group meetings. The
church has built eight senior citizen centers that accommodate over
1,000 elderly people in Fuzhou City. It is also looking into
building another new and bigger center that can serve about 800
people. Church officials said the community encourages small group
bible and prayer group meetings at a dozen other sites, probably in
homes, though we were not told specifically where. The church
finances its activities through collections during services and from
member donations.


4. (U) Zhongzhou Christian Church also arranges specific activities
for young people. Chen Zengping, one young member of the
congregation present during the tour, remarked how she came from a
religious family, but had not been religious herself for much of her
life; however, one of the church-sponsored activities had attracted
her to the congregation and ultimately converted her to
Christianity. In Chen Zengping's case, before she was accepted for
baptism, she needed to engage the local Christianity Association
officials to prove that she had a correct understanding of
Christianity and could "bear witness to an authentic need to follow
the Lord." According to the church's director, most of the
believers who are involved in the Zhongzhou church are teachers and
business people, though during the visit, most of the volunteers we
met with were elderly or retired.


5. (U) While the church appears to be an island of religious freedom
- free to worship and hold various religious activities - it does
face local government constraints. All religious activities must be
held on property owned by the church, thereby limiting the church's
influence and outreach. Purchasing property and registering it with
the Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) is a lengthy and costly process.
In addition, the RAB meets with the church staff regularly to
instruct on religious policy and support the RAB expects from the
church, as well as to warn the church of any impropriety. Church
leaders said that they have close relations with many of the
Protestant churches in Fuzhou but do have cooperative activities.
Overall, they were very positive throughout the visit, perhaps, in
part, due to the presence of a local foreign affairs official. They
concluded the visit by proudly showing off a new electronic marquee
on a busy thoroughfare which featured several religious messages
that would not be approved by the RAB in Guangzhou.

GOLDBERG