by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - China’s ruling Communist Party is continuing its harassment of Christians by raiding house churches and detaining congregants: last month several believers from Shanghai and Sichuan were taken to police stations for questioning, and one woman was charged and detained, International Christian Concern (ICC reports).
On November 28, the Zhongyue Church in Lancun was raided by Shanghai police at around 11 am, ICC said. Church leader Zhang Peihong and another believer Zheng Xiangdong were taken for questioning. They were released the same day.
Then, on November 29, Yi Yinxiang from Early Rain Covenant Church in Sichuan’s Chengdu was summoned for questioning by Dongzhikou police about his participation in a “cult,” ICC said. Yinxiang was detained for several hours.
The Qingcaodi Reformed Church in Sichuan’s Deyang has suffered much harassment, with several of its members detained for “fraud” on November 17, ICC reports. One sister from the church, Liu Wuyi, was charged in connection with her faith, and has been detained. Two other members of the church, Xiang Jundi and Lin Yan, were summoned for questioning and, on November 30, had still not returned home.
“Recent cases show that house church Christians in China are subject to arrests and harassment as long as they refuse to join the state-sanctioned Three-Self church,” ICC explained in its report. “Please continue to keep them in prayers,” ICC requested.