CHINA: Christians Suffer for Supporting Shouwang Church

We have alerted you to the suffering that is happening in China on numerous occasions.  Today I wanted to share with you the latest from our good friends at China Aid.

Christians from various house churches are suffering for their support of Shouwang Church, the large Beijing house church that has been forced to meet outdoors since government pressure led to its eviction.

On Sunday 28 August five members of a house church in Fangshan, Hebei province, travelled for two hours to worship with members of Shouwang Church at a plaza in Beijing. On their arrival, waiting police sent them back to their local police station, where they were urged to sign documents repenting of their decision to support Shouwang. All five refused, but were eventually released. During their detention, a member of a registered "Three-Self Patriotic Movement" church (the official, government-sanctioned Protestant church in China) came to persuade them against supporting Shouwang. The Fangshan Christians reported that one of them started to read Bible to him, and he left in shame.

Besides the Fangshan members, police detained at least 15 Shouwang members on 28 August, holding them for up to 48 hours. They put other members under house arrest from Saturday night until after the time of the Sunday service. The following Sunday (4 September), at least twelve Christians were arrested at the plaza, taken to various police stations and held until midnight or Monday morning. As usual, many members were detained at home from Saturday. Senior church leaders remain under constant house arrest.

Please click here to read the remainder of this important report.