Today, being Sunday, I was collected by my hosts and taken for worship at St Paul’s Church in Nanjing. As we were early for the service, I spent some time talking with the pastor. He told me a little about the history of the church which was founded in 1909 by American Anglican Missionaries. St Paul’s Church has over 5000 members and adds around 200 new members per year. To set this apparently large number of people in context, there are around 200 churches in Nanjing at which a total of around 120,000 Christians worship. There are, however, 80 Million people in Nanjing area! There are seven services in the church every Sunday, including the one in English which we attended. There are three pastors for the members of the church. The pastor told that one of the challenges for his church is how to effectively care for 5000 people with only three pastors. Members of the church do not feel that they know their pastor and can feel isolated in the midst of such a huge congregation. We spoke a little of the Methodist tradition of the Class System, and the more contemporary expression of Cell Groups, as a possible means of responding to the need for a the pastoral care system for the church.
Adrian Burdon
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