As Yang explains, the city of Chongqing itself has a population of 16 million people, which includes an estimated 100,000 Christians. These believers meet at some 39 meeting points pastored by 38 ordained ministers and evangelists, all of whom are seminary graduates. However, the new Chongqing Municipality now extends to include the neighbouring city of Wanxian as well as the districts of Fuling and Qianjiang. This adds another 14 million people to the new Municipality, including another 100,000 Christians scattered over the vast and mountainous areas of these regions. Although the number of believers in these additional areas is roughly the same as in the city of Chongqing itself, there are only 11 pastoral workers and 17 approved meeting points to meet the needs of believers in these areas.
Many places lack pastoral care and meeting points altogether.
Therefore, one of the major challenges facing the church in the new municipality is to provide for the long term religious and spiritual needs of all believers in the region and not just in the city itself. In order to begin meeting these needs, Yang mentions how the church in Chongqing is already looking forward to welcoming back an additional ten church workers who will soon graduate from seminary, nine from Sichuan Theological Seminary and one from Jinling Union Theological Seminary in Nanjing. Part of the process of preparing to meet the needs of the religious believers in the new municipality involves the establishing of new church organizations which represent believers from all of the new Municipality's 30 areas. Yang reports that a working group headed by Rev. Cai Yuesheng was appointed in August to arrange the first official meeting of representatives from the entire municipality, held in November this year. At this meeting the process for the setting up of the new Chongqing Municipality Three-Self Patriotic Committee and the Chongqing Municipal Christian Council was set in motion.