Church in China

Sunday morning we went as a group to one of the five registered Christian churches in Beijing - a very small number for the huge city of Beijing. Consequently, there are many services and they are packed. While we were handed translation devices, none of our group could get them to work, instead getting local radio stations instead. There was a choir complete with choir robes (in this very cramped and really hot room) and they sang 4-part familiar choral repertoire. As far as congregational singing I could join in on a few songs, all hymns. I was glad for a faint remembrance of the words to "The Church's One Foundation" when we sang that at the end. And apparently, there must not be a Chinese word for "Hallelujah," as we sang a somewhat familiar song with the word, "Hallelujah" repeated several times, so I joined in when I could. Also, my musician friends would be interested in the fact that the song books had no musical notes, but all the melody was notated with numbers. The singing was strong - no doubt some of that due to the acoustics of the room and the number of people crowded in there, but there was a fervency there as well. That's probably all I need to say about the service for now...