As millions of followers of Jesus gather in their homes around the world to worship using online platforms during this coronavirus pandemic, Chinese authorities ban all online preaching and order home worship meetings be rooted out, according to human rights group ChinaAid.
Shandong province’s two state-run Christian organizations, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and China Christian Council [the TSPM and CCC, respectively] released a statement on February 23, 2020. In it, they claimed “supervision departments” ordered all online preaching be ceased and churches that gather in secret be rooted out. See notice below in Chinese and English.
With the outbreak of COVID-19 in China, internet-based services have increased significantly among both registered churches and the non-registered churches after being shut down by authorities.
Along with the restriction on online preaching, the notice also calls on the churches to assist in the rooting out of any non-approved churches in their communities. They’re being told to “positively guide” those Christians in ways their spiritual needs can be met, provided there would be no in-person meetings and no online worship or preaching.
Church members praying at Early Rain Church in Chengdu, China.
“Please pray!”
Please share this need and pray for the people of China and their church planters, pastors, missionaries and churches seeking to serve and love them well during this crisis.
US State Department Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom speaks at the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong.
Editor’s Note: Ambassador Samuel D. Brownback is the US Ambassador
at Large for International Religious Freedom in the U.S. Department of
State. On March 8, 2019 he spoke at the Foreign
Correspondents Club in Hong Kong. Below is an excerpt of his remarks regarding
the Chinese government’s persecution of Christians in China. The entire
transcript of his remarks are available at the U.S. Consulate/Hong Kong website:
https://hk.usconsulate.gov/n-2019030801/
In Chengdu, government authorities forcefully detained over 200 members of the Early Rain Covenant Church, Sichuan Province’s; it was the largest house church, in May 2018, for commemorating the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.
Seven months later, in December 2018, government authorities
once again arrested more than 100 Early Rain members, confiscated the church’s
Bibles and other religious materials, and permanently closed the church.
At least a dozen remain detained and their whereabouts and
health conditions remain unknown, while the Chinese authorities prevent them
from seeing their family members, or even talking with their lawyers.
Meanwhile, the government continues to monitor, harass, and,
in some cases, physically assault family members of the detainees and prevents
them from worshipping in even small groups. In one case, a security official
kicked the elderly mother of the Early Rain lead pastor Wang Yi until she
collapsed on the ground while violently ripping her hair.
Chinese authorities have charged Pastor Wang Yi and his wife Jiang Rong with “inciting subversion of state power.” China is using baseless political charges to attack individuals for simply practicing their faith.
The authorities have detained both parents of several
infants and toddlers, meaning these young children are residing with relatives,
but without any knowledge of whether or not they will ever see their fathers or
mothers again, or even knowing if those parents are still alive.
Chinese authorities have charged Pastor Wang Yi and his wife
Jiang Rong with “inciting subversion of state power.” China is using baseless
political charges to attack individuals for simply practicing their faith.
Pastor Wang instructed his followers to release his
“Declaration of Faithful Disobedience” – which I urge people to read; it is an
amazing letter- if authorities detained him for more than 48 hours. Chinese
authorities have detained Pastor Wang a number of times already for his courage
and outspokenness, including most recently for initiating a nationwide petition
reiterating house churches’ refusal to register with the government-backed
Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
His words and call to action for how Christians should carry
out what he calls “faithful disobedience” – distinct from political or civil
disobedience – inspires me and many others. We believe that Chinese authorities
wanted to send a message to others who dare follow in his footsteps and defy
the Communist Party.
But as a man of faith myself, I think the Chinese Communist
Party may have done the opposite. When faith is under attack, it grows
stronger. In Scriptures, and throughout church history, we see persecution
sparking resolve and perseverance in the faith.
I stand here today in support of Pastor Wang, his wife, and other members of their church and call on the Chinese authorities to release them immediately.
The resolve of the Early Rain Covenant Church community and
countless others facing severe persecution is unshaken because they know that
fighting for their right to freely exercise their beliefs is not wrong, no
matter how heavy-handed the punishment and severe the mistreatment.
I stand here today in support of Pastor Wang, his wife, and other members of their church and call on the Chinese authorities to release them immediately.
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Left: Steve Childers and Wang Yi meet in Chengdu, China on Friday, December 7, 2018. Right: After police conduct raids on homes of Early Rain Church members and leaders on December 8, Wang Yi begins his 10-years in custody on December 9, 2018.
Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Hebrews 13:3
After spending more than a year in prison, Chinese authorities release a photo of persecuted Chinese pastor Wang Yi in handcuffs, while church leaders around the world call for Christians to continue praying for him and the church in China still facing persecution.
On December 9th, 2018, Chinese authorities arrested more than 100 members and church leaders of Early Rain Covenant Church (秋雨圣约教会) including prominent Pastor Wang Yi and his wife Jiang Rong.
One year later, after a secret trial on December 26th, 2019, Pastor Wang Yi was sentenced to 9 years in prison for “inciting to subvert state power” and “illegal business operations” where he remains in custody. Wang Yi denies all charges. Wang’s sentencing was condemned by Amnesty International China as making a “mockery of China’s supposed religious freedoms.”
China’s officially atheist ruling party has been seeking to rein in religious expression, including removing crosses from unofficial and official churches. More widely, the party has incarcerated more than a million members of Islamic ethnic minorities (Uighurs) in what are called “re-education centers.”
Christianity Today 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.
On Easter Sunday Chinese police conducted raids on the homes of several Early Rain Church members and leaders for worshiping online. At least eight people were detained, according to Radio Free Asia.
Shandong province’s two state-run Christian organizations, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and China Christian Council [the TSPM and CCC, respectively] released a statement on February 23, 2020. In it, they claimed “supervision departments” ordered all online preaching be ceased and churches that gather in secret be rooted out.
With the outbreak of COVID-19 in China, internet-based services have increased significantly among both registered churches and the non-registered churches after being shut down by authorities.
“Please pray!”
Church members praying at Early Rain Church in Chengdu, China.
Please share this need and pray for the people of China and their church planters, pastors, missionaries and churches seeking to serve and love them well during this crisis.
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