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Sï-Shen-Tsï Methodist Church
Sï-Shen-Tsï Methodist Church
Gospel Church; Gracious Light Church; Enguang Protestant Church
四聖祠禮拜堂
Location	17 Sishengci North Street, Jinjiang District, Chengdu, Sichuan
Country	China
Denomination	Three-Self Church (Protestant)
Previous denomination	Methodist
History
Status	Church
Founded	1894
Founder(s)	Virgil Chittenden Hart
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Walter Small
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1894

Sï-Shen-Tsï Methodist Church^[a]^[2] is a Protestant church situated on Sishengci North Street in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan Province (formerly romanized as Sz-Chuan or Szechwan, also referred to as "West China"). It is the first church in Chengdu built by the Canadian Methodist Mission.^[2] It has been subjected to the control of the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Church since 1954.

History

Sï-Shen-Tsï Church was erected in 1894 by the Rev. Virgil Chittenden Hart [zh], leader of the West China Mission of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Church in Canada (MCC),^[1] which at the time was practically a chapel.

The church was designed by Walter Small,^[3] a Victoria University graduate known as the "Mission's Builder".^[4] Its walls were made of solid brick. It was built in semi-native style with fine board floors, and seated three hundred persons.^[5] It was doubled in size in 1911.^[1] The building cost $1,000 in gold, a sum gifted by Jairus Hart, Esq., of Halifax, N.S.^[6]

At that time, the situation was not considered particularly good. The Jinjiang District, in where the church was erected, was comparatively poor, and had not the best reputation. But this had changed much by 1920. This change was due in part to the general growth of the city, in part to the opening of a new city gate in the near vicinity. According to Rev. Newton Ernest Bowles, Canadian missionaries believed this was in no small measure due to the general influence of the church itself.^[2]

The present church building covers an area of more than 3,000 square meters, with a usable area of more than 1,200 square meters. The height of the church is about 18 meters. The Sichuan Theological College is located next to the church.^[7]

Gallery

Sï-Shen-Tsï Methodist Church before 1928
Sï-Shen-Tsï Church when in the Republican Era (1912–1949)
Interior of Sï-Shen-Tsï Chapel, decorated for Christmas, before 1903

Notes

^ Traditional Chinese: 四聖祠禮拜堂; simplified Chinese: 四圣祠礼拜堂; pinyin: Sìshèngcí Lǐbàitáng; Wade–Giles: Ssu⁴-Shêng⁴-Tzʻu² Li³-pai⁴-tʻang²; Sichuanese romanization: Sï⁴ Shen⁴ Tsʽï² Li³ Pai⁴ Tʽang²; lit. 'Sï-Shen-Tsï Chapel'; also spelled Sz Shen Tsz;^[1] also known as The First [Methodist] Church of [Chengtu],^[2] Gospel Church (Chinese: 福音堂; pinyin: Fúyīn Táng; Wade–Giles: Fu²-yin¹ Tʻang²; Sichuanese romanization: Fu⁵ In¹ Tʽang²) or Enguang Protestant Church (Chinese: 恩光堂; pinyin: Ēnguāng Táng; Sichuanese romanization: Ngen¹ Kuang¹ Tʽang²; lit. 'Gracious Light Church').

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Bond 1911, p. 56.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Various authors 1920, p. 170.
^ Ma, Xiaobing (February 3, 2015). "百年德式教堂恩光堂：成都开放教堂中最古老" [Hundred-year-old German-style Enguang Church: The oldest church in Chengdu still in use]. Chengdu Evening News (in Simplified Chinese). Chengdu. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
^ "1900s Walter & Lottie Small and Family". library.vicu.utoronto.ca. 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
^ Wallace 1903, p. 61.
^ Bond 1911, pp. 56–57.
^ Zuo, Yanan (2018). "从恩光堂探析清末民国时期基督教加拿大差会在成都地区传教情况" [Enguang Church: An Analysis of the Missionary Methods of the Canadian Methodist Mission in Chengdu during the Late-Qing and Republican China] (PDF). Journal for Research of Christianity in China (in Simplified Chinese) (10): 95. Retrieved October 18, 2022.