Photo: Courtesy.
By Paul W. Dennis
Authorities in China arrested six Christians during a major clamp down on Churches that participate in online prayer services, an activity deemed illegal in the Asian country.
International Christian Concern (ICC), a persecution watchdog group based in USA reports that during an online worship session to celebrate Easter on April 12, several key members of one heavily persecuted Church known as Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) were taken away from their homes by the Public Security Bureau .
“The church was conducting an online worship session, when suddenly six leaders were taken by the Public Security Bureau from their homes,” ICC reported in a statement.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with ICC, a member of the Church whose identity was concealed, narrated events that led to the arrests.
“At that time I was also in the Zoom call, but there was a long period of time where I did not hear a thing. I thought it’s the network connection issue at first, but I soon heard a quarrel erupt. Our coworker Wang Jun was questioning some people, [saying], ‘Who are you to do this [to us]?’” she said.
She revealed that, in addition to Wang, other leaders such as Guo Haigang, Wu Wuqing, Jia Xuewei, Zhang Jianqing and Zhang Xudong were also taken away. One member’s home had its electricity cut off, while others received phone calls that “police [were] coming to visit them soon.”
The Christian Post says that the 5,000-member Sichuan house church, led by pastor Wang Yi, has not been able to gather in person since the incumbent communist government shut down the church in 2018 and arrested their pastor and other leaders. Since then, it has opted to gather online, the news source says.
A supporter of ERCC shared his narrative of the Easter arrest on Twitter, “Since 8:30 a.m., some security officials have entered these Christian families’ homes and pretended to be chatting with them casually. At 9:30 a.m., the worship began, and they were also invited to participate. Once they realized that the sermon was from ERCC’s imprisoned pastor Wang Yi, they immediately shut it down.”
Her account was echoed by Zhang Jiangqing, who was warned by the police at his house, saying, “Don’t participate in already banned [religious] activities anymore! Don’t listen to Pastor [Wang]’s sermons anymore! If you do this again, we will deal with it seriously and take you away!”
ICC says the six briefly detained Christians have since been released, and their electricity was restored later in the day.
It is not uncommon for the local authorities to take additional measures against ERCC during major Christian celebrations or anniversary events, ICC reports.
The organisation’s Regional Manager for Southeast Asia conde Gina Goh condemned the arrests saying, “It is such a shame that the Chinese government has not once stopped its persecution of ERCC.”
“Ever since the 1209 crackdown in 2018, local authorities have continued to monitor and harass ERCC members, with the hope that the church will disperse itself. In a time when the Chinese people are suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the heartless regime chose to inflict more trouble on its citizens. The UN should immediately suspend China’s appointment to the Human Rights Council for its lack of respect for human rights,” Gina Goh said.
China: Police arrest 6 Christians over online preaching
The church was conducting an online worship session, when suddenly six leaders were taken.
By Paul W. Dennis
Authorities in China arrested six Christians during a major clamp down on Churches that participate in online prayer services, an activity deemed illegal in the Asian country.
International Christian Concern (ICC), a persecution watchdog group based in USA reports that during an online worship session to celebrate Easter on April 12, several key members of one heavily persecuted Church known as Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) were taken away from their homes by the Public Security Bureau .
“The church was conducting an online worship session, when suddenly six leaders were taken by the Public Security Bureau from their homes,” ICC reported in a statement.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with ICC, a member of the Church whose identity was concealed, narrated events that led to the arrests.
“At that time I was also in the Zoom call, but there was a long period of time where I did not hear a thing. I thought it’s the network connection issue at first, but I soon heard a quarrel erupt. Our coworker Wang Jun was questioning some people, [saying], ‘Who are you to do this [to us]?’” she said.
She revealed that, in addition to Wang, other leaders such as Guo Haigang, Wu Wuqing, Jia Xuewei, Zhang Jianqing and Zhang Xudong were also taken away. One member’s home had its electricity cut off, while others received phone calls that “police [were] coming to visit them soon.”
The Christian Post says that the 5,000-member Sichuan house church, led by pastor Wang Yi, has not been able to gather in person since the incumbent communist government shut down the church in 2018 and arrested their pastor and other leaders. Since then, it has opted to gather online, the news source says.
A supporter of ERCC shared his narrative of the Easter arrest on Twitter, “Since 8:30 a.m., some security officials have entered these Christian families’ homes and pretended to be chatting with them casually. At 9:30 a.m., the worship began, and they were also invited to participate. Once they realized that the sermon was from ERCC’s imprisoned pastor Wang Yi, they immediately shut it down.”
Her account was echoed by Zhang Jiangqing, who was warned by the police at his house, saying, “Don’t participate in already banned [religious] activities anymore! Don’t listen to Pastor [Wang]’s sermons anymore! If you do this again, we will deal with it seriously and take you away!”
ICC says the six briefly detained Christians have since been released, and their electricity was restored later in the day.
It is not uncommon for the local authorities to take additional measures against ERCC during major Christian celebrations or anniversary events, ICC reports.
The organisation’s Regional Manager for Southeast Asia conde Gina Goh condemned the arrests saying, “It is such a shame that the Chinese government has not once stopped its persecution of ERCC.”
“Ever since the 1209 crackdown in 2018, local authorities have continued to monitor and harass ERCC members, with the hope that the church will disperse itself. In a time when the Chinese people are suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the heartless regime chose to inflict more trouble on its citizens. The UN should immediately suspend China’s appointment to the Human Rights Council for its lack of respect for human rights,” Gina Goh said.
Arrested for Listening to Foreign Pastors’ Audio Sermons
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In the name of suppressing “foreign religious infiltration,” the Chinese authorities close down churches suspected of ties with abroad, harass believers
by Zhou Hua
On June 19, over a dozen members of Fule Church, a place of worship that is not part of the state-run Three-Self Church in Jiamusi city in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, were listening to an audio sermon by a South Korean pastor, when officials from the local Religious Affairs Bureau and police officers suddenly broke in. They combed the venue and registered ID information of everyone present.
According to a believer who requested anonymity, the imposters confiscated 80,000 RMB (about $ 11,200) of donation money, some valuables, and more than 200 copies of religious literature, including the Bible. The church pastor and two co-workers were taken away.
One of the officials proclaimed that believers are not allowed to listen to sermons by foreign pastors and that they should make donations to the Chinese government instead of South Korean churches. He added that the believers’ refusal to join the Three-Self Church means disobeying and challenging the authorities, which is deemed illegal.
The meeting venue was sealed off subsequently, and the rest of the congregation taken to the local police station to sign statements promising not to attend worship services in the future. Each police station in the jurisdictions where the believers lived was informed to monitor them, take their photos at home, and discern if they participate in religious activities.
Officers questioned the pastor about how she got in touch with contacts in South Korea and how she transferred donation money to them, demanding to provide the name and bank account number of the person who receives the money. The pastor refused to answer, so she was kept in custody for ten days.
In August, the local Religious Affairs Bureau ordered to sell the meeting venue.
In April, a believer from a Sola Fide (Justification by Faith) house church in Manzhouli city in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was arrested for listening to sermons by Taiwanese pastors online. According to a source, the Public Security Bureau summoned her twice, questioning about her contacts with Taiwan and if she had accepted any financial support from Taiwanese churches. The police confiscated her computer and smartphone. They also investigated the woman’s bank accounts and forced her to sign a statement promising not to contact people of faith from abroad. Since then, her phone is being monitored, and the police tapped her house. More than ten members of her church were also summoned for questioning to the National Security Brigade for listening to sermons online.
A believer from Fuzhou, a prefecture-level city in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, told Bitter Winter that in December last year, local National Security Brigade and police officers raided a meeting venue of his church. The officers claimed that the congregation had been in contact with a South Korean church and received donations of 380,000 RMB (about $ 55,000) from it. They confiscated the money, threatening to imprison believers and suspend the church’s bank account if the congregation attempted to protest.
The meeting venue was taken over by the state and transferred to the Three-Self Church. The believers were left without a place to worship, and the church’s preacher had to leave the locality. He and one of his co-workers were blacklisted by the government, which resulted in severe restrictions on their freedoms. For example, they cannot buy air or train tickets.
The Work Plan of the Special Operation to Investigate and Deal with Overseas Christian Infiltration According to Law, jointly issued by the United Front Work Department and the Ministry of Public Security earlier this year, foresees thorough investigations of all foreign-related religious groups in China. The scale and scope of activities of such churches and congregation members are scrutinized, including their contacts abroad, online evangelism, and funds. Investigations are followed by organized crackdowns and seizures of venues, terminating their religious activities.
Outspoken Chinese Pastor Wang Yi Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison
The Early Rain leader decried the evil of the Communist regime and was arrested with dozens of fellow Christians last December.
Image: Courtesy of ChinaAid
China
on Monday sentenced a prominent pastor who operated outside the
Communist Party–recognized Protestant organization to nine years in
prison.
The People’s Intermediate Court in the southwestern city
of Chengdu said pastor Wang Yi was also convicted of illegal business
operations, was fined, and had his personal assets seized.
Wang had led the Early Rain Covenant Church and was
arrested a year ago along with dozens of church leaders as part of an
ongoing crackdown on all unauthorized religious groups in the country.
The government requires that Protestants worship only in churches
recognized and regulated by the party-led Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
Wang’s congregation, one of the most prominent unregistered churches in the country, was shut down during a series of government raids on church gatherings in December 2019. The church released a prepared statement from its pastor after his arrest.
“I firmly believe that Christ has called me to carry out
this faithful disobedience through a life of service, under this regime
that opposes the gospel and persecutes the church,” he wrote in a
widely shared Declaration of Faithful Disobedience. “This is the means by which I preach the gospel, and it is the mystery of the gospel which I preach.”
Wang stated that he denies whatever charges the
government has against him, but will serve his time. The 9-year sentence
for “inciting to subvert state power” and “illegal business operations”
is the longest prison term issued against a house a church pastor in a
decade, according to World magazine’s China reporter, June Cheng.
Si Weijiang, a lawyer hired by Wang’s mother, said the
charge of illegal business operations stemmed from the printing of books
about Christian culture.
“It is actually about the freedom of publication and
there has been no social harm," Si said in a phone interview. The charge
of incitement “involves preaching and is an issue of speech, which has
also inflicted no social harm,” he said.
Even within the narrow confines it has established,
China’s officially atheist ruling party has been seeking to rein in
religious expression, including removing crosses from official and
unofficial churches.
More widely, the party has demolished places of worship,
barred Tibetan children from Buddhist religious studies and
incarcerated more than a million members of Islamic ethnic minorities in
what are termed “re-education centers.”
Early Rain is believed to have had several hundred
members who met in different locations around Chengdu, the sprawling
capital of Sichuan province. Many of those were taken from their homes
overnight in lightning raids, including Wang’s wife, Jiang Rong, who was
later released on bail.
Wang had been critical of party head and state President
Xi Jinping and made a point of holding a prayer service on June 4 each
year to commemorate the 1989 bloody assault on pro-democracy protesters
in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
“This is a pure case of unjust religious persecution
against a peaceful preacher of a Chinese reformed church,” said Bob Fu,
president of the ministry China Aid.
“This grave sentence demonstrates Xi’s regime is determined to be the
enemy of universal values and religious freedom. We call upon the
international community to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party and
hold this evil regime accountable.”
CT reported earlier this year that both US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo and Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom Sam
Brownback had rebuked China’s “war on faith,” while the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) bashed the country’s growing religious freedom violations.
Beijing’s hard line on religion has underscored its
contrast with other culturally Chinese societies, such as Hong Kong and
Taiwan, where most follow Buddhism and traditional Chinese beliefs, but
where Christianity and other religions also thrive.
At least two members of Early Rain fled to Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China claims as its own territory.
Wang’s sentencing was condemned by Amnesty International
China researcher Patrick Poon as making a “mockery of China’s supposed
religious freedoms."
“Wang Yi was merely practicing his religion and
peacefully standing up for human rights in China," Poon said in an
emailed statement. “Wang Yi is a prisoner of conscience and must be
immediately and unconditionally released.”
