China continues to go after the pastors of Zion Christian church by going after their families and finances.
Last month, China conducted a full blown raid on Zion Christian church in cities all over China and arresting about 30 of their pastors and leaders. Many of them are still in ‘black prisons’ or locations where they cannot be contacted.
China is not just focusing their persecution on Zion’s pastors and church leaders, but also their families. Several families have not been able to return to their homes and have been cut off from their bank accounts.
In the last several weeks, BTJ has raised money to support the family members of Zion Church only to meet one bank restriction after another. Even bank accounts outside mainland China, in Hong Kong for instance, have been locked down.
China is using banking regulations that were implemented to focus on terrorism to stop Christian leaders from accessing their accounts. They are using all the means at their disposal to obtain information on connections, including new technologies to collect and transfer funds, and shutting them down.
Much of the information that China is obtaining is likely coming from the secret interrogations that are currently taking place in the ‘black prisons.’
BTJ is currently providing funding for the families to relocate and have support while they are in limbo. BTJ is also providing funding for legal support, but since the pastors currently do not have regular access to legal council or family members, it is difficult to know exactly how legal support will be able to help.
