Making A Joyfull Noise At The Guangzhou Shifu Baptist Church
By D.D. Lumix With A Little Help From Her Owner Spaced Teacher.
As most of you know China is officially Godless. Chairman Mao was a fuckwit. That fact does not deter the Chinese believers however. It does not matter to them that The Committee Of 17 says that God does not exist. They answer to a higher authority. Considering though that The Committee Of 17 has been known to admit many of the more vocal Christians to a " hospital " in Liaoning Province where they will be involuntary organ donors it pays to keep a low profile which most do. There are two types of churches in China. The kind that The Committee of 17 approves of is the most common and the safest. As with everything else The Committee of 17 gets involved with all of the church's business and activities are controlled and approved by The Committee of 17 { Sub - Committee On Religious Affairs - Local Branch } The second type are called " house " churches. These types of churches tend to be very secretive for the very reason that they do not submit to The Committee of 17's authority . Their services will usually take place in somebody's home or an abandoned factory or the like. These types of churches make The Committee of 17 highly nervous because they do not control them so if you get caught worshipping in one even if you are a foreigner you are in deep shit. Chinese law says that ANY meeting of more than 21 people held anywhere even in your own home where religion is even mentioned is a house church and illegal. Remember that if you are a foreigner visiting China.
Now considering all of this imagine my surprise and delight when I went out walking yesterday in the Liwan District of Guangzhou and stumbled upon what is pictured below.What a great feeling to see that steeple standing up so tall and proud in Chairman Mao's sky. Talk about a Divine fuck you Chairman Mao. I had to investigate.
I walked down the street to the church and poke my head in. That particular day was Chinese New Year so there was a service going on. I did not wish to bother them.I did have a very nice conversation with a charming young woman member of their choir though. She told me that they were an approved church but were very luck to have a liberal Sub - Committee of 17 governing board that let them do pretty much as they pleased. They had many programs to help the Chinese poor and also many programs to spread The Good News. I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with them.
When God said " make a joyful noise " this congregation certainly was listening. God bless them. Check out the videos.
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