With nearly 100 million Christians, the Church is the largest social force in China not controlled by the Communist Party. As a result, there are increasing efforts to restrict the way Christians operate. A considerable number of Christians are still imprisoned. Church meetings continue to be disrupted in several provinces. Churches have also been closed and landlords pressured to stop renting to Christians. In 2017 some of China’s underground churches were pushed to join the state-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement, while a new law on religion is being rolled out in 2018.
China’s Christians still ‘persecuted’
The “persecution” of Chinese Christians continued to increase last year, according to an annual report from China Aid. Churches were outlawed, house churches raided and Christians detained for practising their faith, according to the report, which documented 134 cases of “persecution” involving 7,424 Christians in 2013.
Nanle Church update: 11 released
A number of Christians from Nanle County Church in Henan Province, China, have been released after almost two months in custody, although 13 are still being detained. Twenty-four church members were arrested in mid-November, including five church leaders, after a dispute over a piece of land on which the group […]
More Christians arrested in Nanle
Several more members of Nanle County Church in Henan Province in China have been arrested, China Aid reports. Those reportedly detained include the youngest daughter of Pastor Zhang Shaojie, who was himself one of the 24 church members arrested last month. Seven of the 24 were reportedly released, but the […]
Chinese Christians’ lawyers attacked in presence of foreign TV crew
Lawyers took shelter in a nearby office, using furniture to barricade the door from the mob outside.China Aid Association An attack on lawyers hired to defend 17 detained Christians in central China, shown around the world on Sky TV, has drawn attention to a case which may not be […]
Lawyers begin hunger strike
Fifteen lawyers who have been prevented from seeing their clients – a group of 24 Chinese Christians arrested in Henan Province earlier this month – have started a hunger strike outside the Nanle County Public Security Bureau. China Aid reports that of the 24 Christians detained, seven have been released, […]
Chinese church protests against arrest of 23 members
House church’ in Henan province, pictured in late 1980s/early 1990s.Open Doors International A church in eastern China has written a letter to the Chinese government, demanding permission to stage a protest against the detention of 23 members of its congregation. The Nanle County Church in Puyang, Henan province, which […]
China asks Church for help with social care
China is facing a social care crisis, particularly in caring for an increasingly elderly population.Richard Asia / Flickr / Creative Commons The Chinese government has welcomed the role of the Church in providing social care in the country. China’s leaders have been holding a meeting this week in Beijing […]
Beaten Chinese pastor suspects regime
A Chinese house church leader who was abducted and beaten while driving home last week said he suspects local government agents, China Aid reports. Li Shuangping, leader of Linfen house church, was dragged from his car on Aug. 13 and assaulted by four men, who threatened to kill Li and […]
China crackdown on house churches?
A government campaign is underway in China to eradicate unregistered churches, according to Release International. The agency says members of unregistered house churches in Shandong province in eastern China are visited in their homes and told to attend the government-approved churches of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Meanwhile, Christian Solidarity Worldwide […]
Chinese house church leader Samuel Lamb dies
One of the most well-known Christian leaders in China, Pastor Samuel Lamb, died on Saturday (Aug 3) in Guangzhou, aged 88. He had been arrested during one of the first big waves of persecution in Mao’s China and was first imprisoned from 1955 to 1957, when estimates put the number […]