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China: Major house church “liquidated” by authorities

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A historical house church in China’s Shaanxi Province was officially “liquidated” by government authorities earlier this month, as the ruling Chinese Communist continues its nationwide “Sinicization” program and crackdown on Christianity, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Established 30 years ago, the Church of Abundance in Shaanxi Province was targeted by officials for refusing to register as a state-approved Three-Self Church: evangelical congregations typically refuse to become Three-Self churches as they would be controlled by the CCP and required to teach heretical communist party maxims.

According to the religious rights organization Bitter Winter, the Church of Abundance was finally shut down on August 19, as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s campaign against “non-Sinicized” and “illegal” religious groups, Bitter Winter reported.

“Xi Jinping’s plan of compelling all Protestant Christians to join the government-controlled Three-Self Church or face arrest and ‘liquidation’ of their churches as xie jiao or “illegal” religious groups is being ruthlessly implemented,” Bitter Winter said.

The leaders and members of the Church of Abundance were ordered to stop all their activity upon pain of arrest and imprisonment. The closure was extended to the China Gospel Association, part of the same house church network, Morning Star News reports.

China ranks 17th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2022 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.