Christmas Service At Beijing Chaoyang Church

We went to a service at Beijing Chaoyang Church on Christmas day. At the gate of the church, an old homeless (possibly legless also – hard to tell in the darkness of the night) man was begging for money.

The church was filled up with people standing in the back. Here are two videos:

In case you are curious about what the preacher is saying, here is a rough translation:

Even if this is your first time here, my dear friends, God loves those who desire Him

It’s a special moment today. The Lord is knocking on your door

The Lord of life, the light of life, He is knocking on your door.

He will lighten up the darkness in our hearts

Can we open up our hearts and accept the light to our hearts?

Let us follow the light, starting from today…

Again, a rough translation:

Oh Lord, you are the light of our life

You are the food of our life

It is only with the nourishment of You, our Lord, our soul can have peace

Lord, let your peace rest within our hearts

Dear Lord, please bless all our children here, and bless China

…Thank you, Lord…Children, We thank the Lord, in Jesus’ name…let’s sing this song…

This is the flier the church was giving out to people. Christmas is the peak time for non-believers to visit a church – many for the first time. I find the content of this flier very interesting. Here are some brief translations:

The four big characters on the front says “Jesus loves you.” Below is the verse from John 3:16. Right next to it is “People can pray to God.”

Inside, there are a number of chapters explaining “what is the Good News?” “why do we believe in Jesus Christ?” “What is sin?” “the truth of the good news,” “Jesus Christ is the savior of the whole of humanity” and “the wonderful redemption that Jesus Christ can provide.”

It cites scripture frequently, and deals with the most fundamental tenets of Christianity: original sin, redemption and Jesus Christ as the savior.

As I walked out of the church, I gave $1 to the old man. “Thank the Lord and Merry Christmas,” he said to me.

Next, we will try to go to an underground church service. It is harder to do as one needs to know the place and time to go from someone who knows about the gathering.