By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BEIJING (Worthy News) - A Christian advocacy group has urged prayers for Christians facing persecution in China after a church elder of one of China’s largest underground churches was detained for questioning.
Voice Of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC) told Worthy News that Deyang city police took Elder Li Yingqiang of the Early Rain Covenant Church for interrogation on December 15.
“They questioned him about a pre-recorded message played on December 9 as part of an online event commemorating the fifth anniversary of the government's crackdown on the church,” VOMC explained.
“After being summoned again on December 19, the church elder was detained for another eight hours for further questioning. In addition to warning him against participating in any future online church activities, the authorities confiscated his computer,” the well-informed group added.
In a letter shared with Worthy News, Li expressed concern “over the various challenges being experienced by members of the Early Rain Covenant Church” and requested that “followers of Jesus please continue to pray” for them.
Over the past five years, Li was questioned and detained since the ruling Chinese Communist Party began targeting the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, the capital of Southwestern China’s Sichuan province, Christians said.
WANG DETAINED
In December 2019, Wang Yi, the founder and pastor of the church, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment on what his supporters few as trumped-up charges of “subversion of state power and illegal business operations.”
Wang had been detained in late 2018 with more than 100 members of his congregation as part of a crackdown on churches, mosques, and temples not registered with the state.
While most of Wang’s parishioners, including his wife, Jiang Rong, were eventually released, Wang never re-emerged from detention.
The church began meeting as several small groups in 2006 and became an independent church in 2008 with 63 members. In July 2011, the church elected and installed Yi as its pastor.
The church now consists of an estimated 500 members and regular attendees from a wide range of people, including blue and white-collar workers, children, college students, young professionals, and young families.
Attendees and members range from infants to 80-year-old seniors, Worthy News learned. Since its founding, Early Rain says it planted many other churches in Chengdu and the surrounding region.
PROTESTANT CHRISTIANS
Compared to the country’s 20 million Muslims, most of whom are ethnic minorities, the Protestant Christian faith is practiced by 60 million ethnic Chinese, who are often white-collar professionals living in the country’s heartland, according to experts.
However, meetings have become increasingly tricky for devoted Christians under China’s Communist President Xi Jinping, Worthy News established.
Under President Xi, independent churches were raided and closed while others must express their faith in line with Chinese Communist Party principles under a new Patriotic Education Law, effective since January 1.
Last month, the 11th National Chinese Christian Congress (NCCC), comprised of state-sanctioned church leaders and officials, adopted a five-year plan to “continue to promote the Chinanization of Christianity and run Chinese churches well in accordance with the socialist society.”
Christians said that throughout December, authorities again tried hard to curb Christmas celebrations inside and outside churches.
They prohibited students and others from participating in Christmas activities and detained some house church leaders to prevent them from organizing gatherings.
PRAYERS URGED
VOMC told Worthy News it asked supporters that as “you 'pray without ceasing,' please remember your Christian brothers and sisters in China who are undergoing relentless opposition.”
They mentioned “Elder Li and the church's pastor, Wang Li, who is presently serving a nine-year prison term” as examples. “As they navigate the different challenges, may the Lord provide for their every physical, emotional, and spiritual need.”
Yet many churches, both the officially sanctioned churches and unregistered house churches, managed to hold Christmas Eve and Christmas Day worship services.
There were online evangelistic events by the Beijing Zion Church and other house churches while church leaders baptized several new believers “despite the current “bitter winter for churches in China, Christians said.
“Also continue to uphold Christians throughout China who are reaching out to others with the message of the Gospel,” VOMC stressed.
The group added it was crucial to “pray that the church in this Communist nation will continue to grow exponentially despite intensifying persecution.”