The 1978 Reform and Opening Up policy of The People's Republic of China opened the door of Christianity to us again. We had nearly 50 Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs) in 1986. [In the 1980s SDAs were required to attend joint and non-denominational religious services conducted by non-SDA preachers.  SDA Church programs and activities were very constrained during that period.]  In order to maintain the purity of the SDA beliefs, the Church members decided to discontinue the use of the non-denominational church building for worship services.  We started the home church worship model. By 1989, the number of followers had increased to nearly 200 and there were 120 baptisms in the same year.

On June 8, 1991, the SDA believers, united as one, had gathered for a session of prayer.  We thanked God for His loving care and blessings while we sought and received guidance to meet in multiple home-church groups for our number had grown to 600 believers by then.  At the same time, our request to return to the non-denominational church building for church services to be conducted by SDA ministers was granted by the relevant religious affairs department.  We witnessed a blessed period of church advancement with a large number of people accepting the Lord through baptism.  By 1996, the number of SDAs had soared to more than 5,000 followers. 

The soaring membership was a mixed blessings to us; along with the increase in the number of followers, we had physically outgrown even the relatively large non-denominational church building that we were worshipping in. This was especially so during the rite of humility service when every corridor, lobby, and the courtyard was fully occupied. Obviously this crowded condition had created challenges and inconveniences to us during Sabbath services.

However, just as the Chinese idiom says, "while the tree wishes to be still, the wind continues to blow", we were seemingly calm and rejuvenated during this period but the devil was making every effort to destroy the Lord's work.  In 2000, we were denied by force the use of the non-denominational church and became the homeless prodigal son once again.  We began renting places for worship and to live the religious life of wandering.  In order to save funds to build our church, members would meet in non-heated simple buildings where winter temperatures dropped to 30oC below freezing.  Every Sabbath, over a thousand SDA followers would spend the whole day for services and Bible study.  We continued in this way -- meeting in simple places and spreading the gospel -- for three years. We thank God for making all things work together for good to those who love Him, the devil's tricks actually achieved the will of God because the SDA brothers and sisters were deeply moved by the Spirit of God with common goal, strong conviction and great determination to build our own Seventh-day Adventist Church.  To all of us, building our own church had become a top priority.   Time and again, God's mighty power was demonstrated in resolving the many difficulties related to the purchase of land and the construction of the church. 

From the laying of the church foundation in July 15, 2001 to the completion of the church in October 25, 2003 the brothers and sisters deeply felt and experienced like Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt in ancient times, when the Lord's miracles were accompanying them daily.  During this period and in countless instances it could be silently recorded that many brothers and sisters had spent many days and nights praying and witnessing in tears for the Lord's work in the form of private quiet dedication and self sacrifices.  As examples, it is worth mentioning that the majority of SDA believers in Shenyang at the time were civilians, mostly women with junior high education, limited income and a significant number of us were either unemployed or retired.  Despite this, we saved what we could in food and clothing so we could donate to the church building fund.  Some of us would donate the proceeds from the sale of our house, our children's school fees, and others would take out personal loans (some are still making loan payment today) to donate. Some of the elderly believers would walk to church so they could save their taxi and bus fares and donate the money to the church building fund. There are many more touching stories of dedication and sacrifices which we shall not be able to list them all here ... As a result of these sacrifices and generous acts allowed completion of this over 10 Million Yuan (~US$1,250,000 at the then exchange rate) church building.  In the construction process, there were times of extreme difficulty but the Lord resolved them in the end.  When we felt discouraged the Lord comforted us.  Our church building experience reminded us of the challenges that Nehemiah faced during the temple building era when the prophet had to have his weapons ready at all times while building the Temple.  As we review the long and arduous path of building the Beiguan church, from the time of the laying of the foundation, through the construction process, to the completion of the physical building, the challenges, difficulties and obstacles that we faced, we realized that neither pen nor thousands or ten thousands of words can explain the miraculous accomplishment, for it is beyond description, but we can only attribute the birth of the Beiguan Church to God's great love and His mighty and wondrous power.

Today we are worshipping God in our main sanctuary that can accommodate 3,500 people (with the three ancillary halls and the meeting rooms the church can accommodate a total of more than 6,000 people).  The Shenyang Church has 80 affiliated "assembly points (聚会点)" in the vicinity of the Church today, therefore, it yields a combined membership of over 7,000 believers in the City.  Since 1994, in Shenyang and its neighboring cities and counties, we had bought and built a total of 44 church buildings; in addition, between June to September of 2005, we had added four more church buildings.  The total cost of these church buildings is over 4 million Yuan (RMB).

We want to thank our God again for His amazing power to move the gospel work forward, and Jesus, whose Hands calmed the wind and the sea, for the many Church miracles that we witnessed, from scratch to realization, from weak to strong.  As a group of fellow believers we shared our common experience of God's constant presence with the greatest evidence.  May the Beiguan Church live up to its expectations as the brightest beacon illuminating the world, glorifying God and benefiting mankind. May she be led by the Holly Spirit of God into ever magnificent spiritual glory!

The seal of Shenyang Beiguan Church is hereby affixed on this day dated the 30th of October in the year 2005.

Translated by Swee Gin Leong

An Introduction of the Shenyang Christian Church in Beiguan

The Beiguan Shenyang Seventh-day Adventist Church is located at the eastern side of Shenyang City, by the bank of the North Canal, and on the east side of Shenyang's largest square -- Dadong Square.  It is within the Dadong District and near the Shenyang North Station, a transportation hub with convenient and easily accessibility as a number of bus lines passing through the church.  The Beiguan Church is situated on open terrain and surrounded by beautiful scenery, God has prepared a piece of beautiful site for this church indeed.

The Church measures 68 meters in length and 43 meters wide.  The main sanctuary is a four-story structure at a height of 17.8 meters, the clock tower is eight-storey high at 37.4 meters, total constructed and covered area is ​​6,200 square meters.  The total seating capacity, including the main sanctuary and ancillary meeting rooms is about 7,000.  The total project cost is 15.89 million RMB (Yuan).

The Church complex faces east and is constructed in an east-west orientation according to Biblical structure guideline, the essence of the church design uses the frequent structural variation techniques to elicit and create an uplifting mental and sacred feelings. The church's internal structure adheres to the form of the Latin cross of Basilica; it is subdivided into four major groups at the center of which is the large four-storey sanctuary; the sanctuary background decoration is symbolic in presentation technique, it is divided into two parts, the lower half is of khaki-color background whereas the upper half is clear sky with clouds.  At the mid section of the lower half is a 3 meters high by 5 meters wide color mural of Jesus and the sheep, symbolizing Jesus shepherding people on yellow earthly ground; the blue sky with white clouds decorate the upper half of the pulpit background, at the middle of it is hung the painting of three angels flying in the sky with their warning messages to all mankind.  

Surrounding the sanctuary on four sides are: offices and working area on the south, choir rooms and other auxiliary buildings on the west,  the entrances, hallways, nooks, and meeting rooms lined the east side. The hallway floor tile pattern symbolizes the new Holy City of Jerusalem; from the second floor to the fourth the columns of the iron railing are heart-shaped in design symbolizes believers linking hands and hearts with the hands and heart of Jesus Christ. The Church is surrounded by a total of seven entries, including the main East entrance which opens into a two-storey high Entrance Hall -- "crowd-flow transition point" -- that serves to quickly and efficiently channel and scatter worshipers to various meeting halls in the church building. Recognizing the needs of staff members for short stay consultation and communication in the Entrance Hall, two large and aesthetic stairs, one on each side, are constructed to relieve hallway congestion and serve as quick access to the second- and third- floor's extended sanctuary seating areas and lecture halls. On the upstairs and around the outer edge of the extended sanctuary seating areas and lecture halls is a circuitous passageway that runs the length of the sanctuary with a large lounge at each of the North and South ends.  To meet fire safety requirements, the North Lounge has three large exit doors that can be open to large crowds of people and inside the sanctuary there are four stairs linking the upper and lower floors.  The four-storey main sanctuary building, a modified version of the Latin Basilica, is the soul of the whole building complex, over it is the cross-shaped glass skylights and arched concrete doom structure.

The church's external shape, appearance and building design follows the pre-fabricated construction methodology where the amount of construction is generally broken down into smaller body mass -- mainly wall and column based -- the replication of which gives a sense of rhythm.  The vertical blue-green glass curtain wall, the red brick wall tile, white European-style window cover, white tile separator, and the Hawaiian blue roof color plate, integrated as a whole served to illustrating the architectural crystallization of a contemporary modern Sino-western church.

The clock tower is the climax of the entire church complex design, it plays a commanding role in the total structure, the tower and the sanctuary building taken as a whole helps in creating a sense of overall shape. The introduction of the clock tower also breaks the monotonous facade of the church building complex in that variation of height and structural dominance is clearly distinguishable and discernable.  The clock tower's four-sided time display constantly reminding people of the importance of time, the shortness of life, and the value of eternity.  The eye-catching tall cross with its light radiating from the church and shining brightly through the night wakes up the inner soul of people and gives them the opportunity to know God, so they will want to have eternal life through Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died on the cross.

The seal of Shenyang Beiguan Church is hereby affixed.

Translated by Swee Gin Leong