My Father’s House (教堂)

My Father’s House explores the booming African community in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou through the turbulent story of an underground church founded by Nigerian missionary Daniel Michael Enyeribe.

The film begins with the voice of Pastor Daniel as he tells the story of his revelation in his native Nigeria. Daniel shares a vision in which he rides a bicycle in China, a confirmation of his calling to do missionary work there.

The film fast-forwards to the first of several police raids on Daniel’s growing church in Guangzhou. Uniformed police interrupt an ordination ceremony for the Nigerian church’s China-based divinity school and read relevant laws and regulations on religious activity in China.

Following police raids 2004 and 2005, the story unfolds in two strands, as Pastor Enyeribe is denied abode in China and is forced to take refuge in nearby Hong Kong. The Guangzhou church continues to grow in his absence but under his constant direction, thanks to new technologies like Skype, which he uses to deliver Sunday sermons to Guangzhou and other underground churches.

The film follows Pastor Enyeribe’s story as well as that of another local pastor, the acting head of the Guangzhou church, his Chinese wife, and their young child.

The life of the church offers a rich perspective on the booming African community in Guangzhou, as traders struggle with cultural, personal and financial challenges, rally to the side of “brothers” detained by Chinese authorities, establish their own competitive football league and seek Christian converts among the local Chinese population.

The film closes in the weeks ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games, as Guangzhou police raid the church once again and padlock its doors.

My Father’s House, currently in post-production, is set for release in 2009.