Church Raids Continue to Increase in China

The government has increased raids on churches in China. Earlier this year in May, four BTJ Bible schools were raided and four underground Bible school leaders arrested. A couple of weeks later, China conducted raids on a house church network in Suizhou City where 31 Christians were sent to jail, including a 77-year-old pastor.

In June, Chinese prosecutors indicted three leaders of Maizhong Reformed Church in Fuyang for holding routine religious activities such as weddings and Sunday School teaching for children.

In July, President Trump tried to ease the pressure on the church when he promised to talk to President Xi about imprisoned Christians, including Pastor Ezra Jin who had been imprisoned since October of last year. Due to the international attention, Pastor Jin was eventually released in the middle of the night, with none of his belongings and put on a place to the US. However, China responded with a clear message. Within hours of President Trump leaving China, the Communist party razed a Yanzhong church building to the ground with demolition crews and large excavators.

In Beijing, Pastor Sun Cong has been held at the Beihai Detention Center in Guangxi for almost one year. Pastor Cong was criminally detained for sharing the Gospel message on the Internet. He is now being charged by the Chinese government for “illegal use of information networks.”

It is clear that the CCP is in full pursuit of Christians, with churches still being raided almost every week. The reason for the increase in persecution is not completely clear, but one of the reasons is because of the rapid growth of the church. The increased number of believers in China is a concern for the Communist Party. The Party members do not understand how the number of Christians has continued to grow every year, even though it has been illegal to evangelize. The CCP was certain that they could stop the growth of the church if they made it illegal to gather without government permission, outlaw proselytization, restrict access to Bibles, and criminalize teaching children about about Jesus—but none of it has worked.

The church in China continues to grow despite opposition. Continue to pray for the church in China as they go through these difficult times.