Beijing International Christian Fellowship

In a post back in January My Glimpse at What Heaven Must Be Like I described how moving it was to see so many nationalities worship at the Beijing International Christian Fellowship. On my last visit back in March, they said that 70 nationalities now worship there. The man who sat down next to me told me he was from Uganda and that he worked for the United Nations. On two different visits in March 2007 I had the good fortune to hear Christian singing groups from both Indonesia and Hong Kong in the English language service. The Beijing International Christian Fellowship meets in a large auditorium it is allowed rent from the 21st Century Hotel. The building is shown below.


Only foreign passport holders are allowed to attend BICF, but Chinese Christians do have places of worship and are even being allowed to build new ones. See Beijing Haidian Christian Church.

Copyright © 2007 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

Beijing Haidian Christian Church

This picture exposes how poor the zoom lens is on my camera but I think you'll get the idea. On a recent trip to China I snapped this picture on Palm Sunday 2007 of the brand new Beijing Haidian Christian Church which appears to almost be completed. The Haidian neighborhood is in nortwestern Beijing, not too far from the Summer Palace. How wonderful that my Christian brothers and sisters in China can obtain property, get all the necessary government approvals, hire building contractors, and build such a bold and beautiful place of worship.

Copyright © 2007 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

My Glimpse at What Heaven Must Be Like

I had an absolutely wonderful Sunday morning. A friend-of-a-friend had recommended a church in town so I got up at a normal time for a Sunday morning and took a 100 Yuan taxis ride down to the Beijing Christian International Fellowship to attend church. This is a church which serves Beijing’s international community and it meets in the auditorium at the 21st Century Hotel. Church services are only open to foreign passport holders, however.

I struck up a conversation with the lady next to me. She made a comment that “this is what heaven will be like.” I immediately found myself in total agreement with her. Here were many people with many skin colors, many foreign accents, many native tougnes (though this was an English language service), and they all forgot their differences to come and worship.

Then the beautiful singing started. I looked around the auditorium again and as I listened I was reminded of Don Piper’s description of the music in heaven in his moving book 90 Minutes in Heaven . There were no clashing sounds. Each sound blended together in joyous praise despite all the differences in the singers. Students. kids, teenagers, Moms, construction workers, factory owners, secretaries, bankers, and goverment officials were all united in praise.

I felt like I’d been given a precious gift. A glimpse into what heaven must be like.

Copyright © 2007 by Philip Hartman - All Rights Reserved

35 Pre-School Children Spared

In my tornado post 16 days ago, I said that 35 Pre-School children survived the Goodlettsville, Tennessee tornado without a scratch in the children's building of Metro Baptist Church... despite this damage to the adjacent sanctuary building. This picture was taken today, 16 days after the tornado.

Lord, I'm Thankful

God, I know that I have many reasons to be thankful tonight.

• You blessed my with “travel graces” as I drove over 600 miles in the last two days, 3/4 of the time in rain, without having an accident.


• You blessed me in my career for I made a pretty decent presentation to a prospective client today.


• You blessed my family with safety from the tornado warnings, lightning, torrential downpours, high winds, crime, and accidents