The World Wide Life Organization (WWF) states “We should do everything we can to save the giant panda because we are the ones that have driven it to the edge of extinction. And because we can.” It is my firm hope that, for the people of the world, non-government house churches in China are as precious and worth saving as the giant panda, because the Communist party has driven them to the edge of extinction, as well. Leading house churches are God’s temples; they grow fast and influence large number of Christians in China. These Christians stand firm for their faith, and believe in Jesus, not the Communist Party. Yet, because of their beliefs, house churches are fiercely persecuted. As human right defenders, we should do everything we can to save these churches.
Shouwang (Keeping Watch) Church in Beijing, the capital of China
In China, missionaries were arrested; large and influential house churches were shut down and demolished. Shouwang Church was founded in 1993 by Pastor Jin Tianming, a chemical engineering graduated from Tsinghua University. The church grew rapidly from 10 to 1,000 members as of June 2011 and became the largest Protestant congregation in Beijing. The church leaders and members strongly believe that Jesus is the only King of kings and The Bible is the only book the church should teach. They stood for their faith and refused to worship the Communist Party as required by the Chinese government.
Because of their faith, the church experienced terrible persecution. The government forced the church to change headquarters more than 20 times and banned the church from buying or renting a worship place. With no choice, the church held Sunday services outdoors in the park, and because of the outdoor public congregation, the church leaders were either arrested or placed under house arrest. The church members were detained every week and forced to sign a disavowal of their spiritual guide before being released. Beijing police used around 4,500 officers to prevent the church from congregating by surveilling the church congregation areas and homes of about 500 church members. Today, we rarely hear any news about the church; the church is at the edge of extinction in China.
Huoshi (Living Stone) Church in Guiyang, a large city in southwestern China
Huoshi Church, the largest house church in Guiyang, witnessed a rapid growth of Chinese Christians and experienced severe persecution. In 2009, Pastor Yang Hua (literal meaning “looking up to Jehovah”) co-founded the church with another pastor. The church started with only 20 Christians who met in an apartment to over 700 members from all walks of life, including students, business people, bankers, government officials, rights activists and lawyers. The church not only provided spiritual guidance for its members, but also actively engaged in welfare projects supporting orphans, people with disabilities and the elderly.
Like Shouwang Church, Huoshi leaders and members only worship Jesus and refused to join the government-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement. This angered the government. Just after the church purchased a large congregation space for the increasing number of members, the government accused Huoshi of holding “illegal gathering,” and shut down the church. The police arrested the church leaders and threatened Pastor Yang’s wife and two sons. Pastor Yang spent three years in jail and was released from prison recently. However, the church was destroyed and banned from practicing its faith permanently.
Qiuyu (Early Rain) Church in Chengdu, a large city in China’s most populous province
The church most recently persecuted is Qiuyu, which in English means the Early Rain Covenant Church. The founder of the church, Pastor Wang Yi, was arrested last week and criminally detained for inciting subversion of state power. This crime in China is punished with at least 10 to 15 years in prison. More than 100 church members were detained on Sunday; the church’s property was confiscated; a kindergarten and seminary of the church were shut down.
Like Shouwang and Huoshi, the Early Rain church grew fast and attracted hundreds of Christians. This caused the church to be severely persecuted. The government accused the church of engaging in illegal and foreign-influenced religious activities. The police detained Pastor Wang, one of the country’s most prominent Protestant pastors, and more than 100 members of the church.
After the raid of the church, a letter from Pastor Wang was released by the church. Pastor Wang had pre-written the letter for release in case something like this ever happened to him. In it, he said he respected the Chinese authorities and was “not interested in changing any political or legal institutions in China”. But he was “filled with anger and disgust at the persecution of the church by this Communist regime”. “As a pastor of a Christian church, I must denounce this wickedness openly and severely. The calling that I have received requires me to use non-violent methods to disobey those human laws that disobey the Bible and God,” he said.
The church leaders had always spoken the word of God and showed their faith to the church members. Before he converted to Christianity and started the Early Rain church, Pastor Wang was a trained lawyer, a prominent blogger and film critic in China. In 2006, Pastor Wang met President George W. Bush at the White House along with two other Christian activists. Pastor Wang sowed many seeds of faith among Chinese.
The Bible says that the seed of faith, even one as small as a mustard seed, can move mountains. The police searched homes of the Early Rain church members and pressured them to sign documents pledging to leave the church and to take their children out of its school, but church members refused. Last Sunday, the Early Rain church held its first outdoor worship service. Undoubtedly, more persecution will follow.
Pray for non-government-run churches
Churches that are not registered with the government are banned in China. However, more than half of the estimated 60 million Protestants in China worship at such churches. Shouwang, Huoshi, and the Early Rain churches have the most dynamic congregations in China and grow the fastest in the country. Sadly, these leading churches are persecuted to the edge of extinction.
Over the past few years, the government has made a nationwide effort to restrict people’s spiritual life in China, because of President Xi’s drive to exert a tighter control over society. The government has destroyed churches or removed their steeples and crosses. In 2016, the government enacted new regulations emphasizing that all places of worship must be controlled by the government and banning foreign ties. In 2018, the Chinese authorities banned online sales of the Bible and in many areas, Christians are forbidden to celebrate Christmas.
The Chinese regime wants its people to only worship the Communist Party; eradicating religious belief has become one of the government’s top priorities. Steps against Muslims have been draconian, as well. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese Muslims have been sent to internment camps in China’s far western region of Xinjiang while others have been banned from fasting during Ramadan.
Saving leading house churches in China is important, because they opened the door of God’s Kingdom and sowed the seed of faith. We, people who are blessed to live in the United States, should condemn the Chinese government policy of driving churches like Shouwang, Huoshi and the Early Rain to the edge of extinction. As the pastor of the Early Rain remarked, we must openly denounce the wickedness of the Chinese Communist regime and use non-violent methods to disobey those human laws that disobey the Bible and God.
I encourage you to join me in praying for those leading house churches in China. They are the light of the world and a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14).