Holy Cross Church ( zh, t=聖十字堂, s=圣十字堂, first=t, w=Shêng4-shih2-tzu4 tʽang2, p=Shèngshízì táng) 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 Tianlong Road in

Wanzhou District Wanzhou District () is Chongqing's second most populated urban core area on the upper reaches of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River in China. It is currently governed as a district of Chongqing Municipality, bordering Sichuan to the northwest ...

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

. It was founded in 1923 by the American

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

missionary Rev George Oliver Lillegard (Chinese name: ; 1888–1965).

History

In 1923, when George Oliver Lillegard—an

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

-born pastor sent by the Missouri Evangelical Lutheran Mission—arrived in Wanzhou (then known as Wanhsien

an County Anzhou District () formerly An County is a district of the city of Mianyang, in northeastern Sichuan province, China. It has an area of and a population of 440,000. Administrative divisions Anzhou has 15 towns and three townships A township i ...

was part of

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 ...

) to set up a small mission station in Robert Dollar Building,

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

has already been introduced to the region by

Anglican missionaries Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

in the late 19th century. The Anglican Gospel Church was built in 1901. In 1925, part of Lillegard's residence at Gaosuntang Residential District, was converted into a chapel named Holy Cross Church. The church became one of the county's main venues for Protestant worship the next year, after its relocation to Banbian Street. Lillegard served in the church until 1927, when the Wanhsien incident forced all Americans out of Sichuan and

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

. Kwang Wan-yi, a local missionary, had laboured for the congregation since then. The congregation had over 100 members by 1939, the number had decreased drastically after the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

(1937–1945). By the time of the communists' takeover of Sichuan in late 1949, there were only more than 10 Lutherans in the entire county. 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 Holy Cross Church into the communist-established Three-Self Patriotic Church. In 2005, in order to support

Three Gorges Project The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectricity, hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges Dam has ...

, the church was moved to its present location and rebuilt in

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style.

References

External links

Front view of Holy Cross Church

Side view of Holy Cross Church

Interior of Holy Cross Church
{{coord missing, China

Wanzhou Wanzhou District () is Chongqing's second most populated urban core area on the upper reaches of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River in China. It is currently governed as a district of Chongqing Municipality, bordering Sichuan to the northwest ...

20th-century Lutheran churches 20th-century churches in China Churches completed in the 1920s Churches completed in 2005 Lutheran churches in Asia Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod churches Rebuilt churches Gothic Revival church buildings in China Lutheranism in China Protestantism in Sichuan

History

See also

References

External links