Tag: House churches

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard confiscates Christian literature as ‘publicity stunt’

September 26, 2017 Iran Bibles, House churches, Iran, Pardis, Shia, Tehran

Photographs released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard showing large quantities of confiscated Christian materials were a “publicity stunt” that reflected the Iranian regime’s fear of Christianity, says religious freedom advocate Mansour Borji. Borji, from advocacy group Article 18, told World Watch Monitor that the photographs, which were initially released in July, . . . Read More

Freed from prison after 4 years, Christian woman ‘banned from leaving Iran’

August 23, 2017 Iran Evin Prison, House churches, Iran, Maryam Naghash Zargaran

An Iranian Christian woman, who recently completed a four-year jail sentence for “violating national security” through her work with “house churches”, says she has been banned from leaving the country for six months. Maryam Naghash Zargaran, 39, who undertook several hunger strikes in prison to protest against being denied medical . . . Read More

Azerbaijan: Baptist pastor challenges state over constitutional right to worship

July 18, 2017 Azerbaijan Aliabad, Baku, Communism, Hamid Shabanov, House churches

Hamid Shabanov in 2007. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A Baptist pastor who has led a “house church” in Azerbaijan for 25 years is to challenge his latest “offence”, citing the country’s constitutional rights, reports Forum 18. Hamid Shabanov, and another church member, Mehman Agamammadov, were each given the minimum fine of 1,500 manats (900 US dollars) for leading . . . Read More

‘Longest seven minutes of my life’: Uzbek beaten up for leading secret church

July 12, 2017 Uzbekistan Communism, Converts, House churches, Islamic extremism, Soviet Union, Uzbekistan

Azamat became a Christian in the early days of Uzbekistan’s independence, soon after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, when, he says, the country “was a much freer place than it is now”. He embraced his new faith, setting up a network of house churches, and finding teachers for . . . Read More

German ambassador makes rare criticism of China over religious freedom

June 28, 2017 China Beijing, Catholics, China, Churches, Crosses, Education, House churches, Peter Shao Zhumin, Religious freedom, Wenzhou, Zhejiang

The German ambassador to China has made an official request that the Beijing government release Peter Shao Zhumin, the bishop of Wenzhou, reports Asia News. It is thought to be the first request of this kind made to China in 10 years. In his official statement on his embassy’s website . . . Read More

Azerbaijanis fined and detained for selling religious books

May 24, 2017 Azerbaijan Baku, Caucasus, Censorship, Central Asia, House churches

New cases have emerged of Azerbaijanis facing heavy fines and imprisonment for trying to sell or distribute religious literature. The South Caucasus state, which supposedly allows religious freedoms under its secular constitution, has made it difficult in the past for Christians to practise their faith. In December 2016 two church . . . Read More

Azerbaijani Christians fined over ‘illegal’ prayer meeting

December 13, 2016 Azerbaijan Aliabad, Hamid Shabanov, House churches

Thirty people were arrested when a dozen policemen interrupted the prayer meeting on the morning of 27 November at the house of Gamid and Ginayat Shabanov in Aliabad, a village in the south of Azerbaijan.

World Watch Monitor

UPDATE (13 Dec.) Two Azerbaijani church leaders have been fined 1,500 Azerbaijani Manats ($850) each for holding an “illegal” prayer meeting. All 30 attendees were initially arrested when a dozen policemen interrupted the meeting on the morning of 27 November at the house of Hamid and Ginayat Shabanov in Aliabad, . . . Read More

Russia: Church reacts as ‘anti-missionary bill’ becomes law

July 15, 2016 Russia Exile, House churches, Jehovah's Witnesses, Missionaries, Moscow, Pentecostals, Russia, Seventh-day Adventists, Soviet Union, Vladimir Putin, Yarovaya Law

On 7 July, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill referred to by one Christian organisation as an “anti-missionary bill”. The new law, known more commonly as the “Yarovaya” law (the name of one of its authors), which will come into effect on 20 July, was formally introduced . . . Read More

‘House church’ prompts Muslims to attack Christian homes in Alexandria

June 28, 2016 Egypt Alexandria, Copts, House churches

The anti-Christian crowd welcomed the arrival of the police to their slum village of al-Bayda-1World Watch Monitor Although the number of casualties may not cross the world-attention threshold, the story of what happened in al-Bayda-1, a settlement outside Alexandria, is indicative of a pattern faced by minority Christians in . . . Read More

China: woman buried alive in church demolition

April 19, 2016 China China, Crosses, Henan, House churches, Zhejiang

The wife of a church leader in China’s central Henan province was killed by being buried alive when she tried to prevent the destruction of her husband’s house-church, . Ding Cuimei and her husband, Li Jiangong, stepped in front of a bulldozer as it began to destroy Beitou church on . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye