A Chapel In Time For Christmas

Being a missionary in China around the turn of the last century, one had to be quite resourceful. When missionaries settled in a village, they first had to find a house that could serve as a mission station and then they would look for buildings where they could hold services, start schools or opium asylums. As congregationss grew, they would also often find themselves having to expand the buildings or even build completely new ones.

In 1902, Robert found himself in that position. The missionary household was quite large and the congregation was growing. He had to do something so that they could hold proper services even during winter time. As long as the weather was fine, the congregation could gather in courtyard at the mission station, but as soon as those chilly winter winds started to blow, they could even begin to loose members due to the weather.

Not long after Robert and his family returned from a long vacation in Sweden (1900-1902) he decided it was time to build a chapel in Hancheng. He was very tired at the time, as the trip back to China had been quite a disaster. Robert had been stabbed several times in an ambush, and his 2-year old daughter Dagny-Edla almost lost her life. Now, a few months had passed and he was determined to make his sacrifices worth while. Building a chapel would not only enable him to keep and grow his congregation, but it would also provide the Chinese community with some well needed work, as many men were needed to construct the chapel.

The construction of the chapel started in October 1902 and the inauguration was set to Christmas Day the same year.

In order to find out more about the construction of the chapel, I have browsed through the mission paper Sinims Land. There were several letters from both Robert and Dagny referring to this big event, and in Dagny’s own book (she wrote one after her time as a missionary), there is a photo that shows the final result. In Robert’s and Dagny’s photo albums, I could therefore find more photos of the chapel exterior and interior. The windows are quite special and I think it is safe to say that the picture of the interior that I found, is indeed of the same chapel. (The photo at the top of the post is the exterior, from Dagny’s book.)

Chapel interior, lightly colorized. From private photo album.

The first entry I found mentioning the chapel is by Dagny. She writes in the mission paper on the 29th of September 1902:

“Yesterday afternoon, after the usual meeting ended, I suggested that we should have meetings every Wednesday in the homes of the believing and interested women in the village. You should have seen how eager they were; they rose from their seats and came up to me. They all wanted to have meetings in their homes, and the recently baptized Dangta-sao exclaimed, ‘Come first to my home,’ and I promised that we would start with her, the Lord willing. All the believing women who can will participate in these meetings and also try to bring their neighbors along. We pray and believe that the Lord will use these meetings for the salvation of souls. Three women have loosened the bonds from their bound feet since we returned here, and several more want to follow their example without direct urging from us. It is so good when the Lord himself prompts this step in them. A woman named Ki, a widow, with the best testimony of all here in the village, has given her heart to the Lord Jesus and comes daily to learn to read her Gospel of Mark. Praise God for each and everyone.

Robert Bergling is currently in Uin-ch’eng, and we expect him home, hoping that the construction of the chapel can begin swiftly. Some are now tearing down a couple of old houses where the chapel will stand. Little Dagny-Edla and Morris are helping to carry stones; they also want to serve the Lord Jesus and assist in building. Morris has already learned quite a bit of Chinese, and I sometimes hear him asking the Chinese if they love the Lord Jesus and walk on the path to heaven.

Sister Bengtson sends warm regards. She is well and has now started to participate in women’s meetings and make house visits. May the Lord bless you! Warm greetings from us united in the Lord’s service. Dagny Bergling.”

Robert and Dagny. Dagny-Edla beside Robert, Vilhelm beside Dagny and Morris in the middle.

In October 1902, Robert writes:

“In my last letter, I promised to write again soon, and I take advantage of the first opportunity to do so. I would like to continue from where I left off, but I must confess that the impending mission meeting with its affairs, the journey to and from Uin-ch’eng with visits to stations and outstations, purchasing a lot for chapel construction and a house to erect upon it, acquiring workers who have since commenced work— all of this has occupied my mind so much during this short period of time that I can only partially recall what I wrote then. However, I remember that I promised to bring good news and thus seek to fulfill that promise. First, something about our arrival here, the visit to the officials, and the atmosphere among the people, etc. It hardly needs to be said that our small congregation (consisting only of 6 members, as we transferred our outstation Peichuang with its 14 baptized members to Ishi due to geographical circumstances) was delighted to see us again. Two of them, along with some ‘seekers,’ traveled 3 Swedish miles to meet us. We did not receive any ceremonial reception from the authorities. As there have been no attacks on foreigners causing harm here, the authorities had no such obligation. The Dowager Empress had, a few months before our arrival in China, instructed her officials to ‘refrain from ceremoniously receiving foreigners where it was not necessary.’ Such a directive carries more weight from a Chinese perspective than the literal wording suggests. Evidently, it is traced that her Boxer mind has not yet been dealt a death blow. When I heard this from Mr. Hoste, the following words of Jesus came to me: ‘Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves.’

However, quite a few officials show themselves friendly towards foreigners, and one can be certain that even if the Dowager Empress were to issue as insane proclamations as she did two years ago, they would only be obeyed by a disappearingly small number of officials. Shortly after my arrival here, I paid a visit to the city’s principal mandarin in as unassuming a manner for me but as honoring for him as possible. He was evidently pleased with it, invited me to the finest guest room, and conversed with me for a long time. The following day, he returned the visit with great pomp and ceremony, during which I entertained him to the best of my ability. To his particular satisfaction, I showed him around the entire station. He offered in every possible way to assist me and expressed his desire always to be informed when I would travel out, so that he could send along a couple of soldiers.

I also visited the other city officials, and each of them politely returned the visit. I sent my calling card to other influential people in the city, and most of them personally came and welcomed us. Even our foe Ch’en Musa, the leader of the 28 divisions comprising this district, who drove me out of the city 8 years ago, now appears friendly.

From this and much else, it is evident that the atmosphere now is far different from what it was when we ‘entered’ the city. However, we are not content only with the respect of the people; we want their hearts wholly for Christ. Regarding the mission here, it appears that, even in our absence, praise God, it has progressed. Besides the fact that the believers remained steadfast even during the persecution they faced here, about 10 to 15 individuals have now confessed their faith in Christ. How deeply rooted this faith is, we have not yet ascertained, but we can say that almost thirty of these ‘seekers’ regularly attend Sunday worship services. Among them are several promising individuals for the future. Out of 12 or 13 individuals who sought baptism at the mission meeting, I baptized only 3, who had confessed their faith in the Lord several years ago. I would like to write about all three of them to Sinims Land, but I do not know when the present heavy workload will afford me the opportunity. Apart from the faces we expect to see on Sundays, new attendees are constantly arriving. Our audience fluctuates between 50 and 100 people. Therefore, our temporary chapel and guest room have been too small since our return. When the weather has been good, we have held the service in the courtyard, and when it has rained, we have had to separate men and women and hold meetings with them separately.

Establishing a small chapel before winter was absolutely necessary unless we wanted to drive the interested individuals away, a responsibility I do not wish to assume. I searched in vain for houses in the city, or perhaps I should say that all sorts of house owners sought me out; but no house suited our purpose. If we had had the means to buy one or a couple of contiguous yards, we could have had a suitable chapel, but our funds did not allow for this. After much deliberation, I succeeded in purchasing a small plot adjoining our backyard and a suitable house from another landlord at a good price, which we diligently demolished and transported here.

Now we hope to inaugurate our splendid chapel in two months. Oh, brothers, pray with us that the Spirit of the Lord may rest upon this house and that children may be born to our Father in heaven! Oh, how abundant the harvest is, and how it ripens for the reaping! Therefore, pray— the most heartfelt greetings! In the Lord, your bound fellow brother, Robert Bergling.”

People gathering around the chapel.

In a private letter, Robert is very positive concerning the construction:

At 6 o’clock today, I received a workforce of 38 people. We are now in full swing building our chapel, which has been under construction for a month. It was impossible for me to find a suitable one in the city, and I must have a meeting place by the time the cold no longer allows us to gather in our courtyard.

Robert is sure it will a very suitable and pleasant chapel. It will accommodate about 110 people. At the time, he has 46 Chinese eating at the mission station daily, including 8 opium patients. The household itself consists of 32 people. Robert is worried about the amount of food they consume: “I have just calculated that we consume about 90 catties of wheat flour per day, not to mention other things. To make the household as economical as possible, I have bought both a donkey and a mill and fetch my grain 50 kilometers to the south or halfway to Tong-cheo, where we can get it considerably cheaper than here. So, I grind the grain alternately with the donkey and our cow. Without going into further detail, now you understand that the work keeps me busy.”

Robert seems to try very hard not to waste a penny if he doesn’t have to. Of course he wants all the money he can spare to go to building the chapel. One can only imagine how often he has to go fetch the cheaper grain and how long it takes to travel back and forth and then grind it all as well.

In March of 1903, Robert finally writes home with good news:
“Once again, I have been thinking for a while that I should write to you, but I have been prevented by daily chores. Our new chapel was inaugurated on Christmas Day, which had been decided as the day for the inauguration long before. However, as until then the chapel was only finished enough for us to barely move in, we conducted a very simple inauguration.

Nevertheless, the joy among those gathered was still great. After the New Year, the interior work continued. It wasn’t until the beginning of the Chinese New Year (in February) that we could send the craftsmen home. Although everything went well during the construction, it was a relief not to have to watch over the workers and attend to their many different needs from early morning till late at night. However, the respite consisted essentially only in a change of activity. The Chinese New Year always brings many chores, and the number of visitors this year is larger than usual. Many visits must be reciprocated, especially those made by the city officials and officers. The principal mandarin also sent us a tray full of exquisite gifts. It became quite a puzzle for us to arrange a similar tray for him. He also displayed his goodwill by stamping the lease contract for the chapel plot without any charge.“

A photo of the chapel with a lot of people gathered in front. Perhaps it’s the congregation, happy to finally have a place where they can meet and worship.

A woman with bound feet, carried by her husband or servant in front of the chapel.

Thus, the chapel was inaugurated as planned and that year’s Christmas in China must have been a joyful one for Robert, Dagny and their congregation. Of course, Robert and Dagny soon came up with other ventures that would require a lot of work – such as setting up a carpet factory – but that is another story.

I wish you all Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year!