Recent reports and firsthand testimony from pastors in China indicate that there is a renewed effort to crackdown on Christian missionaries and their support of the underground churches.
“Persecution is increasing,” reported the pastor of a network of 4 million believers during a face-to-face visit last week. “We have to be careful with setting up meetings or having any association with foreign missionaries.”
BTJ is planning a special meeting with Chinese underground pastors, but caution was given because of the increased persecution.
The increased persecution coincides with the implementation of new regulations which came into force in April by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), reinforcing its ban on independent foreign missionary activity.
One of the things the new regulations does is attack worship music. Many Chinese fellowships that have had exposure to foreign missionaries often integrate international worship music. To combat this, the Chinese has announced the “2025 Church Music Ministry Blueprint,” establishing strict guidelines for worship in government-approved churches with a focus of doing two things. First, to stop foreign Chinese from adopting foreign worship music. Second, to allow the Communist Party to implement their own worship music that integrates state propaganda messages and alter existing worship music to align with government approved themes.
According to Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, Christians worshipping in government-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) churches must now sing songs in praise of communist heroes and the CCP itself before singing songs of praise to Jesus.
This additional attack continues as China’s economy continues to spiral downward.
