Persecution of Christians in China: The arrest of Chen Wensheng for preaching the Gospel is part of the Chinese government’s ongoing attempt to replace the Christian faith with faith in the Chinese Communist Party. Faith in Jesus Christ might interfere with one’s devotion to socialism with Chinese characteristics, and so Chinese officials are bent on eradicating that faith.
This is a matter of grave concern also for the tiny community of Orthodox Christians in China. The Chinese government has not granted Orthodox Christianity any official status; Orthodox churches in China could be closed at any time at the whim of local officials, and Orthodox Christians taken into custody.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in China, see here.
“Chinese Street Evangelist Detained on New Year’s Day,” International Christian Concern, January 2, 2021:
01/02/2021 China (International Christian Concern) – On December 31, a Christian street evangelist in China’s Hunan province was again sentenced by the authorities to ten days in administrative detention for “disturbing public order.”
Last August, Chen Wensheng, who is a member of the Xiaoqun Church in Hengyang, underwent the same punishment for “illegal evangelism.” Despite his repeated detention, he continues to share the Gospel with strangers on the streets.
According to a notice from the Zhengxiang Branch, Hengyang City Public Security Office and shared by China Aid, around 11 o’clock on December 31, Chen Wenshing and Zhou Long were passing out Gospel tracts while broadcasting with a speaker in a market near the Pedestrian Commercial Street area in Hengyang city.
Next, they moved to a hospital of traditional Chinese medicine and continued their activities to promote Christianity, which “created adverse influence and disturbed public order.” For this, the public security bureau arrested them and sent Chen to Hengyang City Detention Center for a ten-day administrative detention….
