Gospel Church, Mianyang

Gospel Church is a Protestant church building situated on Jiefang Street (lit. 'Liberation Street') in Fucheng District, Mianyang. It was first built in 1895, or 1885 according to Annals of Religion in Mianyang, by Alfred Arthur Phillips and Gertrude Emma Wells, missionaries of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) under the jurisdiction of the Church of England. The church has been subjected to the control of the communist-established 'Three-Self Patriotic Church' since 1954. It was rebuilt in 1995.

History

According to Annals of Religion in Mianyang (formerly known as Mien Yong or Mienchow), the presence of Anglicanism in Mianyang can be traced back to 1885, when a mission house church was built by Alfred Arthur Phillips and Gertrude Emma Wells of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) on Tongsheng Street. In the late 1880s, two women representing the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society were working there. This was followed by the entry of a CMS mission team into that city in 1894, led by James Heywood Horsburgh, who expanded the church; and Mianyang subsequently became the headquarters of the CMS Mission. During the Republican Era (1912–1949), Tongsheng Street (通聖街, lit. 'All Saints' Street'; now known as 'Liberation Street' for political propaganda), as its name suggests, that brought together three religious buildings, namely, a Confucian temple, a Wenchang Taoist temple, which no longer exist, and the Anglican Gospel Church.

The original church is built in the traditional local courtyard house style, covering an area of 2800 square metres. The missionaries also established the Yoh Teh School in nearby Huangjiaxiang (Huang Family's Alley), Hua Ying Middle School in Nanshan subdistrict (present-day Nanshan High School, established by William Munn), as well as Yung Shêng Sweet Factory, a dairy factory, a nursery, et cetera.