Our First Sunday Service, Guangzhou, China

Our First Sunday Service, Guangzhou, China

Wherever we travel, we always want to attend a Sunday Service at the local church on Sunday. A friend of mine gave me the name of a local church in Guangzhou. But for the life of me, I could not find it anywhere in our luggage.

The Sunday service was held in the Tianhe District

I went online to look for a church in Guangzhou but did not have much luck.

( Though we were having a great time on our trip in China, I was frustrated there as I could not access my gmail, my blog nor google anything. I wrote all these blogs but could not post them while we were in China. Only after we came back to Canada then I started posting them.)

The lobby of Hilton Hotel, Guangzhou

I searched a church closest to our hotel via Yahoo search and found the International  Fellowship, a church intended for expatriates.

Our first Sunday in Guangzhou, we took a taxi and went to the Sunday Service for English speakers. The International Fellowship Sunday Service was held at the Hilton Hotel in the Tianhe area, a popular place for tourists.

We attended a Sunday Service held at the Hilton Hotel 

The service started at 10a.m. with a reception desk set up outside of the meeting hall. Before we entered, we were asked where we came from as Chinese residents were not allowed to attend the expat's worship service. We brought our passports with us just in case we were asked to produce ID, but we didn't need to do so.

There was a lot of singing accompanied by guitars and drums

The Sunday worship was held in a huge meeting hall on the third floor of the Hilton Hotel. A gentleman was leading singing on the stage accompanied by a drummer and two people playing the guitar. 

Five or six huge screens were hung on the walls around the room so that people could see the words and images projected on them regardless of where they were sitting.

The hall started to fill up as the singing progressed

The hall started to fill up with Sunday worshipers as the singing progressed.

There were people from various parts of the world,  of all ages, families with small children, teenagers, but with the majority of them in their thirty’s and forty’s and a large proportion from the African countries.

The preacher gave a passionate sermon about sins and avoiding temptations from the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.

I and a few others took notes. It was an excellent and practical sermon. Really enjoyed it!

Soft drinks were served to the congregation after the Sunday Service

After the Sunday Service, there were refreshments set up in the lobby. 

People stayed around to socialize after the Sunday service

Many people stayed behind trying to socialize and talk to others.

We met and chatted with other churchgoers

We poured ourselves a cup of coffee and chatted with a fellow from Congo who was in China on business. He told us that he had been living in China for three years and his greatest gain was his spiritual life and knowing more about God.

I truly hope and pray that it would be the same for Jo in his adventure in China!

R.T.

Sunday Service

International Fellowship

Guangzhou, China

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