Members of unofficial Chinese church vow to defy crackdown and keep meeting
- Detainee says congregants were abused by police after being taken into custody
- Church elder urges leaders to confront the persecution and continue outreach work
Worshippers from a prominent Protestant unofficial church in southwest China have vowed to keep meeting for religious services despite a continuing crackdown and members’ claims of abuse in police custody.
More than 100 Protestant Christians from the Early Rain Covenant Church – one of China’s few openly operating unofficial house churches – were snatched from their homes and streets across Chengdu, Sichuan province, in a crackdown that began on Sunday night. Among those detained were church pastor Wang Yi, his wife Jiang Rong, church leaders, members and seminary students.
The round-up in Chengdu is part a broader crackdown on unofficial or underground churches that Beijing launched early this year, bolstered by amendments to the Religious Affairs Regulation that gave grass-roots officials more power to act against churches and impose tougher penalties for “unauthorised religious gatherings”.
A member of the Early Rain church said police went to his home at around 1am on Tuesday.
“Police told me three things. The first is that our church has been defined as an illegal organisation by relevant department from the central government,” he said.
“Second, our church has been banned so we are not allowed to return, and third, I could not post anything about what he said online.”
An official from Chengdu religious affairs authorities said he was not aware of the action against the Early Rain Covenant Church.
