“Our church just let out,” Deborah (not her real name) said over the phone when I called her this evening. “We do not meet on Sundays any more. In fact, we do not know when we meet anymore,” she continued.

Deborah’s church in Shanghai is one of the largest Christian fellowships in the city. Because of the increase in persecution against Christians in Shanghai, the church has had to split up and conduct their meetings without published schedules.  They can no longer meet on Sundays because of the danger.

“Now we just get messages that tell us that a church meeting will take place in an hour or two,” she said. “This is a way for us to know when a church meeting will start, but does not offer a lot of time to plan – for us or for the authorities.”

Deborah doesn’t care though. If there is a church service taking place these days, she will drop everything to attend. She is not alone. Tonight, Deborah said that the service was packed with several hundred believers fitting into a small space in a high-rise apartment building.

Deborah’s church has shop owners and venders on the street watching for police. If they see anything unusual, they will send a message to the deacons of the church who will then take immediate action to disperse the congregation and get them and their families out to safety.

“Our church hasn’t had a Sunday meeting for over a year.” Sunday is the most dangerous time for a church to meet because that is when the police expect Christians to come together. Choosing a different day has seemed to help.

Churches throughout China have had to take extra precautions to avoid being arrested.

Please continue to pray for the underground church in China.

For more information, download our latest podcast where we share about the situation on the ground by clicking here: https://backtojerusalem.com/podcast/