Gospel Church, Guanghan

{{Infobox church

| name = Gospel Church, Guanghan

| other name = Grace Church

| native_name = 福音堂

| native_name_lang = zh-hant

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

| location = Guanghan, Deyang, Sichuan

| country = China

| coordinates =

| denomination = Three-Self Church (Protestant)

| previous denomination = Anglican

| churchmanship = Low church evangelical

| founded date = 1902

| founder = Church Missionary Society

| past bishop = William Cassels

| pastor = Guangyu Yu{{cite web |url=https://gospeltimes.cn/portal/article/index/id/38482 |title=四川德阳广汉市天恩堂多人穿以弗得受洗 |trans-title=Ephods Worn by Numerous Candidates at the Baptism in Grace Church of Guanghan |last=Dai |first=Yuetan |date=9 December 2016 |website=gospeltimes.cn |language=zh-hans |access-date=18 May 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518183056/https://gospeltimes.cn/portal/article/index/id/38482 |archive-date=18 May 2021}}

| status = Church

| functional status = Active

| style = Local architecture {{small|(old church building)}}
Modernist architecture {{small|(new church building)}}

| diocese = Szechwan {{small|(formerly)}}
West Szechwan {{small|(formerly; since 1936)}}

| province = China {{small|(formerly)}}

}}

Gospel Church{{efn|{{lang-zh|t=福音堂|s=福音堂|w=Fu2-yin1 tʽang2|p=Fúyīn táng}}; Sichuanese romanization: Fu{{sup|5}} In{{sup|1}} Tʽang{{sup|2}}.}} is a Protestant church situated on Dabei Upper Street, in the county-level city of Guanghan, Deyang, Sichuan Province. Founded in 1902, it was formerly an Anglican church in the West Szechwan Diocese of the Church in China. It has been subjected to the control of the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Church since 1954. In 2003, a new church was built on Shuyuan Street, and renamed Grace Church.{{efn|{{lang-zh|t=天恩堂|s=天恩堂|w=Tʽien1-ên1 tʽang2|p=Tiān'ēn táng|l=Heavenly Grace Church|links=no}}.}}{{cite web |url=https://gospeltimes.cn/portal/article/index/id/35625 |title=四川省广汉市基督教天恩堂简介 |trans-title=An Introduction to the Heavenly Grace Christian Church at Guanghan, Sichuan |last=Tang |first=Wanxin |date=19 August 2016 |website=gospeltimes.cn |language=zh-hans |access-date=18 May 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518183057/https://gospeltimes.cn/portal/article/index/id/35625 |archive-date=18 May 2021}}

History

File:Survey of Hanchow Anglican Mission, published in 1913.png's mission work in Hanchow, published in 1913.]]

Gospel Church was founded by a Church of England pastor in 1902, belonging to the Diocese of West Szechwan. It is built in local architectural style, with a pseudo-Gothic door topped by a cross.

In 1929, Vyvyan Donnithorne, a member of the Church Missionary Society, together with his wife, arrived in Guanghan (then known as Hanchow). He served as pastor of the Gospel Church until 1949, before being transferred to the Canary Islands, Spain.{{cite journal |last=Ao |first=Tianzhao |date=2000 |title=三星堆古文化、古城、古国遗址发现始末 |trans-title=The History of Discovery of the Ancient Sanxingdui Culture, and Ruins of Ancient Cities and Kingdoms of Shu |url=https://www.ixueshu.com/document/3bc3f55247d6eed6485b1e1a5b9b4cbd318947a18e7f9386.html |language=zh-hans |journal=巴蜀史志 [Historical Records of Bashu] |issue=4 |page=39 |issn=1671-265X |access-date=18 May 2021}} During his stay in Hanchow, he became a member of the West China Border Research Society, and one of the key figures in the discovery of the archaeological site now known as Sanxingdui.{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Xu |first=Jay |title=Lithic Artifacts from Yueliangwan: Research Notes on an Early Discovery at the Sanxingdui Site |url=https://www.academia.edu/44645690 |editor-last1=Silbergeld |editor-first1=Jerome |editor-link1=Jerome Silbergeld |editor-last2=Ching |editor-first2=Dora C. Y. |editor-last3=Smith |editor-first3=Judith G. |editor-last4=Merck |editor-first4=Alfreda |encyclopedia=Bridges to Heaven: Essays on East Asian Art in Honor of Professor Wen C. Fong, Volume I |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-691-15298-1}}

After the communist takeover of China in 1949, Christian Churches in China were forced to sever their ties with respective overseas Churches, which has thus led to the merging of Gospel Church into the communist-established Three-Self Patriotic Church.

Consecration of a new church took place in 2003. Unlike the original church, the new building was designed in an entirely Modernist style.