Gospel Church ( zh, t=福音堂, s=福音堂, w=Fu2-yin1 tʽang2, p=Fúyīn táng), today known as Kangding Christian Church ( zh, t=康定基督教堂, s=康定基督教堂, w=Kʽang1-ting4 Chi1-tu1 chiao4-tʽang2, p=Kāngdìng Jīdū jiàotáng, links=no), is a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

church situated on Guangming Road,

Kangding Kangding (), also called Tachienlu and Dartsedo (; ), is a county-level city and the seat of Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province of Southwest China. Kangding is on the bank of the Dadu River and has been considered the histor ...

, a

county-level city A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a Administrative divisions of China#County level (3rd), county-level administrative divi ...

in Garzê Tibetan Prefecture,

Sichuan Province Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

. First built in 1905, on Yanhe West Road, by

China Inland Mission OMF International (formerly Overseas Missionary Fellowship and before 1964 the China Inland Mission) is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It was founded i ...

missionaries; the church was relocated to its present location in 1958.

History

In 1897, five missionaries of the

(CIM), including

Cecil Polhill Cecil Henry Polhill, formerly Cecil Henry Polhill-Turner (23 February 1860 in Bedfordshire – 9 March 1938 in Hampstead, London) was a British Pentecostal leader and missionary. Early life Cecil Henry Polhill was born on 23 February 1860. H ...

, began work in Kangding (then known as Tatsienlu, Tachienlu, or Dartsedo in

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

), making it a base for work in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. In 1905, James Huston Edgar (Chinese name: ; 1872–1936), an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n-born

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

CIM missionary, arrived in Kangding and established the traditional Sichuanese-style Gospel Church. Apart from a inscribed with its name ''Gospel Church'' (; 'Gospel Lecture Hall' or 'Lecture Hall for Evangelisation'), the building is hardly distinguished from any

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Taoist temple A Taoist temple (, also called ''dàoguàn'' and , is a place where the Tao is observed and cultivated it is a place of worship in Taoism. Structure and function can vary according to the Taoist school the temple belongs to. For example, ''guàn ...

at the time. Two years later (1907), Robert Cunningham (Chinese name: ; 1883–1942), a Scottish ex-gymnast turned missionary, was sent to Kangding by CIM as Edgar's assistant, who was going to serve as the pastor of the church until his death in 1942. 'Even the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

can not dwell in contemplation and prayer day and night', Cunningham introduced some Western games to the

Tibetans The Tibetan people (; ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans live ...

tiddlywinks Tiddlywinks is a game played on a flat felt mat with sets of small discs called "winks", a pot, which is the target, and a collection of squidgers, which are also discs. Players use a "squidger" (nowadays made of plastic) to shoot a wink int ...

ludo Ludo (; ) is a strategy board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four from start to finish according to the rolls of a single die. Like other cross and circle games, Ludo is derived from the Indian game Pachisi. The ...

halma Halma (from the Greek word ἅλμα meaning "jump") is a strategy board game invented in 1883 or 1884 by George Howard Monks, an American thoracic surgeon at Harvard Medical School. His inspiration was the English game ''Hoppity'' which was ...

and

snap Snap or SNAP may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Snap'', the original release title for the 2013 film ''Enter the Dangerous Mind'' *''Snap'' (TV series), a CITV programme * ''The Stanly News and Press'', a newspaper in Albemarle, North Carol ...

, the remit is to 'evangelise in an entertaining way'. He also published numerous articles on the study of Khams Tibet in ''

The West China Missionary News ''The West China Missionary News'' (''WCMN'') was a monthly news magazine published in Chengdu (Chengtu) from 1899 to 1943 by the West China Missions Advisory Board, and printed by Canadian Methodist Mission Press. It was aimed at Protestant mi ...

'' and ''Journal of the West China Border Research Society''. After the communist takeover of China in 1949, Christian Churches in China were forced to sever their ties with respective overseas Churches, which has thus led to the merging of Gospel Church into the communist-established Three-Self Patriotic Church. In 1958, the church was relocated to its present location. The old church building was demolished shortly after, in order to support a city construction project. In 1995, Gospel Church was rebuilt with white bricks in a pseudo-Gothic style, and renamed Kangding Christian Church. It is quite a humble building surrounded by residential blocks. Apart from its gable topped by a cross, the church could be easily overlooked.

References

External links

Rebuilt Kangding Christian Church (photograph by Hou Xiaoyong, 2015)
{{coord missing, Sichuan 20th-century churches in China Churches completed in the 1900s Churches completed in the 1990s Rebuilt churches

Traditional Chinese architecture Buildings and structures in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Protestantism in Tibet Three-Self Patriotic Movement Kangding

History

See also

References

External links