Persecution of Christians in China: the Chinese government has recently been acting with markedly greater impunity against Christians. The raid on this house church, as detailed in this article, is just the latest manifestation of its ongoing efforts to destroy Christianity and create a new pseudo-Christianity that advances the goals of the Communist Party. This threatens all the Christians of the country, including the tiny community of Orthodox Christians in China.
China offers yet another instance of the persecution of Christians by governing officials that is unfortunately on the increase not only in China, but in all too many other nations around the world.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in China, see here.
“Police, Officials Raid Bible Study Group in China’s Guiyang,” Radio Free Asia, March 18, 2021:
Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Guizhou have raided a Protestant house church, detaining at least 10 people for questioning, RFA has learned.
The raid came amid a Bible study group meeting held by the Ren’ai Reformed Church in Guizhou’s provincial capital, Guiyang, on Tuesday morning.
“The Ren’ai Reformed Church was raided by officials including the civil affairs bureau and the police on the morning of March 16,” a local Christian who gave only a surname, Huang, told RFA on Wednesday.
“More than a dozen of our brothers and sisters were taken away [by police].”
Huang said a church elder, Zhang Chulei, was also detained after going to the police station at around 5.00 p.m. on Tuesday to inquire after the others.
“I heard that they called him in for questioning,” Huang said. “Many of them have yet to be released, including Zhang Chunlei.”
Another Christian who lives in Guiyang, who gave only a surname, Li, said it had been rare for members of Protestant “house churches” to meet in person since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Lately it has been mostly online meetings, with no offline gatherings,” Li said. “Offline gatherings are restricted.”
“Sometimes we will gather in small groups of around a dozen people, or just a few people,” he said. “Large-scale gatherings are definitely banned.”
Zhang, who leads the church, was one of the first Protestant pastors to sign a Declaration of the Christian Faith started by jailed pastor Wang Yi.
Prior to the raid, he had already been subjected to repeated surveillance and harassment by the state security police and barred from participating in any religious activities, and from communicating with other church members….
