The Chinese Christian Council (CCC) Assistant Director of Operations Chen Mei Lin, Assistant General Director Bao Jia Yuan and other members arrived in New York last week in preparations for the China Church Bible Ministry Exhibition that will be held next year. During this trip, they will be holding conferences with the American Bible Society and The Council of Churches of the City of New York to confirm the details and arrangements of next year¡¯s event in New York.
The American Bible Society will be the main sponsor of the next exhibition. The coordinator of the event said that this exhibition would help unite the mainline and evangelical churches and encourage believers to participate in similar type of events such as this one. In addition, the America¡¯s favorite evangelist Dr. Billy Graham and former president Jimmy Carter will be this event¡¯s honorary chair. Leaders from major denominations and churches in America will serve as advisory to the board.
The exhibition will take place at the renowned New York St. John Cathedral and the Los Angeles Crystal Cathedral. The tentative dates for the event is April 25th in Los Angeles, May 19th in Atlanta, and June 6th in New York. CCC President Cao Shengjie, China¡¯s State Administration for Religious Affairs Director Ye Xiaowen, and other religious and government leaders will be attending the event. Former president Carter announced that he would be at the opening of Atlanta¡¯s exhibition.
Currently, the sponsoring organizations of the event are publicizing the exhibitions among churches and congregants. Last year, when the exhibition first opened August in Hong Kong, over 30,000 people showed up in the 5-day span. The exhibition featured the developments of Christian Bible ministries in China, its current situation, Bible artworks, and Chinese minority cultural dances based on Christian themes. CCC has announced that it will hold a similar exhibition in the United States as well, and will send their president Cao Shengjie to lead a team to visit America in February.