| St John's Cathedral, Langzhong | |
| Other Name: | Gospel Church |
| Native Name: | 聖約翰座堂 |
| Native Name Lang: | zh-hant |
| Location: | 5 Yangtianjing Street, Langzhong, Sichuan |
| Country: | China |
| Denomination: | Three-Self Church (Protestant) |
| Churchmanship: | Low church evangelical |
| Founded Date: | 1908 |
| Founder: | William Cassels (China Inland Mission) |
| Dedication: | John the Evangelist |
| Status: | Church |
| Functional Status: | Active |
| Architect: | George A. Rogers |
| Style: | Gothic Revival with traditional Sichuanese elements |
| Groundbreaking: | 1913 |
| Completed Date: | 1914 |
St John's Cathedral, today known as Gospel Church, is a Protestant church situated on Yangtianjing Street in the county-level city of Langzhong, Nanchong, Sichuan Province. Founded in 1908, the church had been the Anglican cathedral, originally designated as a pro-cathedral,[1] of the Szechwan Diocese (and later of East Szechwan) of the Church in China,[2] and the largest Anglican church in Southwest China.[3] It has been subjected to the control of the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Church since 1954.
The first Anglican church in Langzhong (then known as Langchung, Paoning or Paoning Foo [Baoning / Baoning Fu]), the Trinity Church, built in 1893, had become too small as the number of converts had increased.[4]
After a series of problems, St John's was eventually built on Yangtianjing Street, under the supervision of William Cassels, one of the Cambridge Seven, and the then missionary bishop in the Diocese of Western China. Construction began in 1913 and finished in 1914.[5]
The cathedral was designed by the Australian architect George A. Rogers, and built in the fusion of neo-Gothic and traditional Sichuanese architectural styles.[6] It occupies an area of nearly 4000 square metres, with a cemetery, a library, a well, a flower garden and a vegetable garden. Cassels died in 1925 and buried in the garden of St John's. Montagu Proctor-Beauchamp, also one of the Cambridge Seven, was buried in the cemetery of the cathedral in 1939.[7] [8]
After the communist takeover of China in 1949, Christian Churches in China were forced to sever their ties with respective overseas Churches, which has thus led to the merging of St John's into the communist-established Three-Self Patriotic Church.