Suzhou St. John Christian Church 中国苏州圣约翰基督教堂

St. John Christian Church is located east of Suzhou's old city, No.18 Shizi Street, next to Suzhou University.

In 1881, American Methodist built the “head church”, which is the original basis of St. John church. In 1915, American Methodist demolished the “head church” and built the current church - St. John Church. Its surface measure is 1855㎡ and it can accommodate about 800 people at each service. Pastor Zhongtan Lee, grandfather of Nobel prize winner, Dr. Tsung-dao Lee, was the first Chinese pastor of the church.

From 1959 to 1995, St. John church was used by the Suzhou No. 1 People Hospital. In October 1996, it was renovated to be used as the official location of Suzhou Christian “Two Committees” and the Christian Training Centre of South Jiangsu province. In April 2003, the church was reopened to the public. Currently there are about 2000 believers, 2 full-time pastors and 2 preachers. The senior pastor is Jiemiao He.

The first Sunday service of every month is Holy Communion service. Large-scale religious services are held on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Easter!

圣约翰堂位于苏州古城东部，十梓街18号，与苏州大学（原东吴大学）毗邻。

1881年，美国监理会建造 “首堂”，这就是圣约翰堂的前身。1915年，监理会拆除首堂，建成现在的圣约翰堂。建筑面积1855平方米，可容纳800多人同时礼拜。诺贝尔物理学奖得主李政道博士的祖父李仲覃牧师（1870—1936）为该堂首任华人主任牧师（教区长）。1959年，圣约翰堂由苏州市第一人民医院租用，1995年教会收回，1996年10月按原貌动工修复。之后，作为市基督教两会办公用房及江苏省基督教苏南义工培训中心。2003年，4月，经政府有关部门登记，恢复教会礼拜。

目前圣约翰堂有信徒2000多人，专职牧师2人，传道2人，主任牧师何介苗。

开展的宗教活动有：礼拜天8：00—8：45成人主日学，9：00—11：00主日崇拜，礼拜三8：00—9：10祷告见证会，礼拜四18:30—20：30中年聚会，礼拜五晚上18：30—20：30为青年聚会，礼拜六晚上18：30—20：30是英文查经。

每个月的第一个礼拜日为圣餐礼拜。大型宗教活动平安夜、圣诞节和复活节更是热闹非凡，活动期间来往信徒和群众从未间断！

Sunday 礼拜天	8:00-8:45	Adult Sunday School 成人主日学
	9:00-11:00	Chinese service with English translation 主日崇拜
	After service	Welcome Newcomers, Prayer
	12:30-14:00	Chinese Bible Study 中文查经
	12:30-15:00	Choir Rehearsal 唱诗班排练
Wednesday 礼拜三	8:00-9:00	Prayer and Witnessing 祷告见证会
Thursday 礼拜四	18:30-20:30	Autumn Life Fellowship (Adults) 中年聚会
Friday 礼拜五	18:30-20:30	Youth Fellowship 青年聚会
Saturday 礼拜六	18:30-20:30	English Bible Study 英文查经
The first Sunday service of every month is Holy Communion service. 每个月的第一个礼拜日为圣餐礼拜

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to welcome you for attending St. John Church in Suzhou ! It is exciting to see how the Lord has opened the door of Gospel to the people in Suzhou.

St. John Church has many years of history and we can see God’s hands are acting in the building and through its members. St. John was established in 1881 by Dr. Pan of Methodist and named this church “ Head Church”. The church has grown in size many fold over the years. In 1915 St. John Church was re-built to accommodate the fast growing church. At the time, it was one of the largest buildings in Suzhou. St. John Church was designed by Dr. John M Moore and financially supported by the St. John Church in St. Louis of Missouri, USA . This church was renamed St. John in honor of John Wesley of Methodist. Pastor Lee, the first Chinese Pastor of this church, was the grandfather of Nobel Physics Prize winner Dr. Lee. The Church building was used by First People Hospital from 1959 to 1995, at the end of that period, there were several families lived in the church building, they refused to move out when St. John church was approved to take back the church building. Until one day a heavy thunder storm hit the church building and made a big hole on the roof, those families thought that was a warning sign from God and they agreed to move out right away and the church building was returned to St. John Church and was remodeled to its current building. From this history, we can see how God preserved the Christian faith and changed the environment to allow the Faith to be continued to spread in this area.

Currently, there are about 800 Church members in St. John Church. As a foreigner in this country, I am very happy that God led me to attend this Church and participate in the services here. We sincerely hope you choose St. John Church as your own church and join us in serving our dear Lord. If you are interested, there are many ways that you can serve the church e.g. teaching Bible study, welcoming new members, language translation, etc. If you have special training or experience in leading English Bible study, please contact Dick Chen or Preacher Yuan. Dick will also send you activities and schedule of St. John Church. May the Lord bless you abundantly!

Brother In Christ, Dick Chen

Suzhou Christian “Two Committees”
Suzhou has seven sections and five counties with a regional area of 8488.42 k㎡. It has the population of 5.73 million. There are 60 churches and 60,000 Christians in the whole Suzhou city. While there are about 25,000 Christians in the downtown area, there are only three churches -- Saint John Church, Apostles Church and Gongxiang Church. In July 2007, Shishan Church in the New District was completed and open to the public. In the last two years, Suzhou church has grown prosperously.
Suzhou Christian“Two Committees” is the simple name of Suzhou National Three-self Patriotic Movement Committee and Suzhou Christian Council. It serves to promote Suzhou church advancement, to provide better church facilities, and theological trends, etc. It also promotes the teaching of patriotism, cultivation of talents, and participation in the Suzhou communities. It reaches out to neighboring churches in other cities, provinces and churches overseas. Moreover, the primary goals of the “Two Committees” are: to improve the quality of Christians, to fellowship with other churches, to share ideas and experience on preaching, shepherding, and ways to better church standards.

Suzhou Christian “Two Committees” has 16 fulltime staffs. 10 are pastors, 3 are preachers, 3 are from general universities. They are relatively young. The eldest one is no more than 50 years old. Except 3 staffs from general universities, the rest are all graduates from Nanjing Union Theological Seminary. Suzhou Christian “Two Committees” carries out a strict screening process to select graduates to become pastors for ordaination.

Suzhou Christian “Two Committees” is located in Saint John Church. It is in charge of four churches: Saint John Church, Apostles Church, Gongxiang Church and Shishan Church.

Suzhou Christian “Two Committees”:
Saint John Church, No. 18 Shizi Street, Suzhou 215006, China Tel: 0512-65116760
email: suzhoulianghui@yahoo.com
Saint John Church, No. 18 Shizi Street, Suzhou 215006, China Tel: 0512-65223346
Apostles Church, No. 130 Yangyu Lane, Suzhou 215002, China Tel: 0512-65220327
Gongxiang Church, No. 20 Gong Lane, Suzhou 215005, China Tel: 0512-65224152
Shishan Church, No. 170 Yushan Road, New District, Suzhou 215011, China Tel: 0512-68787298

Suzhou Christian “Two Committees” strives to maintain unity in leadership, to practice proactive planning, resulting in a satisfied church system. Using innovative ideas and experience from the past, it is our top priority to serve, prosper and develop the churches of Suzhou. Beside that, we request that brothers and sisters to pray and help us in the process. In the spirit of cooperative efforts, we believe that Suzhou churches will have a bright future.

苏州市辖七区五县，区域面积8488.42平方公里，人口573万；市区面积为1730平方公里，人口205.9万。整个苏州市共有堂点60座，信徒约有6万，其中苏州古城区三座教堂——圣约翰堂、使徒堂、宫巷堂，另外还有苏州新区07年7月竣工献堂的狮山堂。市区约有信徒2.5万人。近两年来，教会事业蓬勃发展。

苏州市基督教两会是基督教三自爱国会和基督教协会的统称。两会致力于推进苏州市教会的制度、宗教场所、神学思想等方面建设；注重爱国主义教育、人才培养、社会公益事业等方面工作；开展与各市、各省兄弟教会及海外教会的友好往来；此外，提高信徒素质、促进我市各地教会事工的交流，介绍各地教会在传道、牧养及建立和完善规章制度方面的经验也是两会十分关注的问题。

苏州市基督教两会专职教职人员16人，其中牧师10人，传道3人，普通高校毕业生3人。相对而言，苏州教会的同工是年轻的，专职传道人中年龄最大的不过40多岁。除了3个教职人员从普通高校毕业，其余全都是从金陵协和神学院本科毕业，由苏州市基督教两会认真筛选后到教会事奉。本科毕业未按立牧师的就是一般的传道人，按立以后成为牧师。

苏州市两会办公场所设立在圣约翰堂，下属4个教堂，分别为圣约翰堂、使徒堂、宫巷堂和狮山堂。联系方式如下：

苏州市基督教两会地址：苏州市十梓街18号
邮编：215006 电话：0512－65116760
邮箱：suzhoulianghui@yahoo.com

圣约翰堂地址：苏州市十梓街18号
邮编：215006 电话：0512－65223346

使徒堂地址：苏州市养育巷130号
邮编：215002 电话：0512－65220327

宫巷堂地址：苏州市宫巷20号
邮编：215005 电话：0512－65224152

狮山堂地址：苏州市新区玉山路170号邮编：215011 电话：0512－68787298

苏州市基督教两会在原先的基础上将继续保持统一领导、合理规划、完善体制、重视创新的精神，肩负推动教会繁荣与发展的重任，力求把自身工作做得更加完善。此外，我们的工作少不了每一位弟兄姊妹祷告和社会同仁的支持和帮助，相信在我们的共同努力下，苏州教会的发展道路会走得更加顺畅。