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China: Authorities Arrest Church Leaders, Try to Block Online Prayer

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The long-persecuted Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) in China’s Sichuan Province has been subjected to further intense persecution from Chinese authorities who arrested and detained church leaders and sought to block an important online prayer meeting on 9 December 2023, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports.

The ERCC prayer meeting was set to mark the fifth anniversary of a CCP raid against the church in which 100 congregants were arrested, CSW reports. ERCC leaders Pastor Wang and Elder Qin Defu were then detained on trumped-up charges and subsequently sentenced to nine and four years imprisonment respectively. Pastor Wang is still in jail.

In the days leading up to this year’s prayer meeting, ERCC members reported having to endure power cuts, telephone warnings, door-to-door threats, stalking, the stationing of police outside family homes, and being forcibly taken to police stations, CSW reports. These incidents were interpreted as government efforts to prevent congregants from joining the prayer meeting.

Then, on 10 December, authorities arrested church subdeacon Jia Xuewei and preacher Dai Zhichao, CSW reports. Jia was placed in administrative detention for 15 days while Dai has been criminally detained on suspicion of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble,’ CSW reports.

In a website statement, CSW Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: “These mass police operations against house churches show the Chinese authorities’ utter contempt for universal and inalienable human rights, and they are particularly jarring as the world celebrates the establishment of the fundamental rights enshrined within the UDHR. We call for the immediate release of Dai Zhichao, Jia Xuewei, Pastor Wang Yi and all others who have been detained or imprisoned on account of their religion or belief.”

Ruled by the authoritarian, paranoid and oppressive Chinese Communist Party (CCP), China ranks 16th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.