Suzhou, Jiangsu Province

DuShu Lake Church

In January, 2013, during a weekend in which I was visiting friends in Suzhou, a city not far from Shanghai, I set out by taxi to attend a new church; I was to meet Chinese friends there, and after worship we would have lunch together. The driver let me out at a park; I could see a steeple above the trees and set out on the sidewalks toward the steeple. (On a later visit, I discovered the park authorities had included the symbol of a church on directional signs to other parts of the park.) When I got near enough to see the entire scope of the facility, I was amazed. The beauty, size, and majesty of the complex was stunning. When I got up to the church, I looked around to take in the setting: the worship center was the main focus, of course, and a second building, I learned later, held offices, meeting rooms, and a chapel. In the center of the courtyard was a striking statue of Jesus Christ with his arms outstretched. At the railing overlooking the lake, I could see a large white cross at the edge of the lake.

The sanctuary
I then went inside where I was shown to a seat in an auditorium basically full, with a few spots here and there where a latecomer could squeeze in. There would also have been people in overflow rooms. At first, I was just overcome with the beauty of this church building. Along the pillars running the length of the auditorium were monitors attached so you could see the speaker no matter how far away you were. Also, the words to the hymns also appeared on these monitors. At the end of the service as the crowd thinned out, my friends found me. As we exited, I discovered that a young man I had known in Nanjing when he was attending seminary had been the moderator of the service (I wasn’t sure it was he I saw on the monitor, but sure enough, there he was, a pastor in this church). 

The situation

It is called Du Shu Lake Church. Du Shu Lake is a large inner city lake, and the church is directly on the lakefront, with a large city park surrounding the church on the other side. It first opened on Easter, 2010. At the time I visited there, it had about 1000 in attendance each Sunday. They had a traditional worship service on Sunday morning and planned a contemporary service in the afternoon; likely that has transpired in the time since I was there. The new downtown contains lots of tech companies and other foreign-invested companies that hire young well-educated Chinese, and that is the target audience for this church. 

The programs

After the worship service there were various meetings going on, including a seekers’ class, or a class preparing for baptism, one or both, I wasn’t sure. They have an English Bible study on Saturday morning with about 50 in attendance. On Saturday afternoon, they hold an English Corner, which is a common method in China for Chinese to practice English. This is a service to the community, and certainly their large plaza is a convenient location; obviously they hope to attract people to attend worship.

Stained glass windows
In the sanctuary, the stained glass windows, rather traditional in content and style, were beautiful, each one depicting a scene from the life of Christ.
When I toured the lower floor, I was delighted to find the windows lining the hallway were done in designs by He Qi (pronounced ‘huh chee,’), an award-winning Chinese Christian contemporary artist. His style incorporates traditional Chinese art forms, contemporary design, and biblical themes. These were the first stained glass windows from his work that I had seen, though I have seen a variety of other art forms and publications of his work.
No doubt the church has grown and developed considerably since I was last there.

St. John’s Church

I was not able to attend a worship service at St. John’s Church in Suzhou, but I did go there to see it on the same January visit in which I attended the Du Shu Lake Church. This is a historic church, having been founded by missionaries in 1881. The worship center façade includes the date of 1915 for the construction of that building. 
It has had a long and distinguished history in China, and in modern times has played a role in the reconstruction of church life in Suzhou following the Cultural Revolution, by attracting college students from the nearby Suzhou University, a major university. 
The church was deserted when I arrived, but I was able to go inside the sanctuary and look around.