During the early 1980's, a few Springfield Chinese Christians began a group Bible study called "Chinese Bible Study" (CBS) inside their homes. With no church building at that time, CBS used the facilities of West Side Christian Church starting in November 1987. 15 adults and 8 children attended our first official "Friday Night Bible Study" on November 20, 1987. Through the upcoming year, the CBS fellowship group would hold weekly Bible studies and also their First Evangelic meeting attended by 66 adults and 24 children on April 29-30, 1988. Seeing the need for an expanded ministry, on September 3, 1989, the Chinese Bible Church of Springfield, Illinois conducted its first Sunday worship service. It continued its monthly worship service until September 1992 when the church added a second service. The church was incorporated April 12, 1991 under the Charitable Trust Act of the State of Illinois and recorded in Sangamon County. On October 6, 1991 a building fund was established for the future hopes of building our own church facility. While continuing the weekly Friday Night Bible Studies and bi-weekly Sunday Services, we relocated and instead used the facilities of Hope Evangelical Free Church due to building and construction of the former facility we used. From then on, we realized the need of having our own church facility. Through the Lord's mercy and grace, ground- breaking ceremony was held on Thanksgiving Day in 1994 for building a church with our own hands - literally.
From 1995-1997, about six family men from the church dedicated and sacrificed their time away from their jobs and families every Tuesday & Thursday evening, along with the entire day Saturday in order to construct the facility. Architectural designs, engineering planning, general contracting, and interior designs were completed by them. These men (the main builders) were also helped by the church family which included women, children, relatives, and grandparents. Other Christian sisters and brothers around central-Illinois and other mission teams also contributed their time and effort to build our current facility. Our church dedication for CBCS was held on April 5, 1997. To God be the Glory! |