The Shuizhai Christian Church

More than 2,000 people attended the March 21, 1992, thanksgiving service of the newly-built Shuizhai Christian Church in Wuhua, China, a hilly county about eight hours by bus from Guangzhou city, Asia Lutheran Press Service reported. A 21-member delegation from Hong Kong’s Tsung Tsin Mission attended the service. The group assisted some 30 Chinese churches in the Wuhua area, and contributed most of the funds for the building of Shuizhai Christian Church. The church is recognized by the local religious affairs bureau and follows the “three-self” principle (self-propagating, self-governing and self-supporting) that registered Christian churches must follow inside China. Many evangelical churches in China remain unregistered to avoid government regulation, but they also face the risk of closure by government officials. (Encyclopedia of Illustrations #453).