This raid highlights the impunity of the Chinese government in its efforts to transform Christianity into a tool of the state and is yet another instance in a very long series of the persecution of Christians in China by governing officials.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in China, see here.
“CCP raids Chinese Presbyterian Church during Sunday service,” China Aid, November 2, 2021:
(Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province—November 2, 2021) On October 31, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials raided Daoen Presbyterian Church during Sunday service. They took Pastor Fang Xiaojun and four Christians and recorded personal information of the congregants in attendance.
Daoen Presbyterian Church, a reformed Presbyterian church, was established in 1992. The local government shut down the church because believers refused to join the government-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Church or register with the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs. Daoen Presbyterian continued to gather secretly, but police raided them after discovering their religious activities….
Since August 12, 2018, agents from the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs regularly disrupt Sunday gatherings, labeling their crimes as “organizing illegitimate religious events.” The cycle of being shut down, continuing to gather, being raided regularly, and being arrested becomes normal to house churches in mainland China.
