Guizhou Theological Training Center
China
China Christian Council
Founded in 1980, the China Christian Council (CCC) aims to be the umbrella organization for Protestant Christian churches in China and seeks to unite Chinese Christians around their belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The CCC works to provide settings of theological education and for the publication of the Bible, hymn books, and other religious literature. It encourages the exchange of information among local churches in evangelism, pastoral work, and administration. It has formulated a church order for local churches and seeks to continue to develop friendly relations with churches overseas.
Christianity is growing rapidly in China. There are currently 30 million Christians in China. Every day six new church buildings are opened. One new church was built to hold 3000 members and when it opened its doors for the first service, 10,000 were waiting to worship. In China, Christians gather in more than 14,000 churches and 30,000 home meetings for worship, prayer, and Bible study. Since the seminaries were shut down during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 70s, and only began operating again in the 1980s in 18 seminaries throughout the country, there is still a serious shortage of trained pastors, which is a critical problem for the church in China.
Guizhou Theological Training Center is a growing Bible school that the China Christian Council has been supporting since it was founded in 1993. The school serves more than 500 churches in the Guizhou Province. The need for pastors, plus the economic realities in impoverished Guizhou Province make scholarship aid for theological students a necessity.
Guizhou Theological Training Center wants to increasingly assist their 96 current students in their three-year program, and enhance their theological studies by providing meals for the students. The Center also provides extra support in the form of books and tuition assistance for 86 students from poor families.
The CCC estimates that the nearly 300,000 Christians in Guizhou Province will benefit from having pastors who are better educated.
To read about how congregations and groups are raising money for Guizhou Theological Training Center, click here: Guizhou Theological Training Center Donor Story
To read the 2010 report from Guizhou Theological Training Center, click here: http://globalministries.org/news/eap/guizhou-report.html