CHINA: 9 EARLY RAIN CHURCH LEADERS DETAINED AGAIN ON ANNIVERSARY OF PASTOR’S ARREST
In what has become an annual ritual, Chinese officials again detained leaders of Early Rain Covenant Church on the anniversary of the arrest of Pastor Wang Yi and more than 100 members of the Chengdu congregation on December 9, 2018. This year, nine Early Rain leaders including Pastor Wu Wuqing and Elder Li Yingqiang were detained from morning through afternoon, according to Voice of the Martyrs Korea and its US-based partner, China Aid.
“December 9 is annually observed by Early Rain Covenant Church as a day of prayer and fasting not only for their own church but also for the persecuted Chinese church nationwide,” said Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley. “Every year since 2018, the day has been disrupted by the rounding up of Early Rain leaders under the pretext of ‘illegal association activities.’”
Representative Foley says Voice of the Martyrs Korea and China Aid have confirmed that the following church leaders were taken away from their homes by police and Public Security Bureau agents during a period from around 11:30AM to 4:30PM on December 9: Deacon Zeng Qingtao; Pastor Yan Hong; Pastor Wu Wuqing; Deacon Xiao Luobiao; Pastor Dai Zhichao; and Elder Li Yingqiang’s family of four.
File photo of Early Rain Elder Yan Hong (right) and Deacon Zeng Qingtao (left) at a police station during an earlier detainment. The two were among 9 Early Rain Covenant Church leaders detained by police on December 9.
According to Representative Foley, on December 9 Early Rain members participated in an online prayer meeting with members of the North American Baptist Church, the American Evangelical Society of China, and several other organizations to pray for persecuted Chinese house churches.
“The prayer meeting included recorded greetings and live messages from Chinese and American pastors encouraging Chinese Christians as they walk the way of the Cross,” said Representative Foley. She says that after the prayer meeting ended, the nine Early Rain leaders and family members were gradually released by the police and permitted to return home.
The anniversary detainment of leaders was the latest in a series of actions against the church following the arrest of Senior Pastor Wang Yi and more than 100 members of its Chengdu congregation on December 9, 2018. Pastor Wang Yi was sentenced on December 30, 2019, to nine years in prison by the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court for inciting subversion of state power and illegal business operations.
“Many Christians around the world wrongly think that Early Rain Church must have given up and ceased operating by now, after years of continuous onslaught by the authorities,” says Representative Foley. “But even as authorities continue to rage , the Lord continues to sustain Early Rain Church, raising up new leaders as Pastor Wang Yi continues to be held in prison. Early Rain Church is in many ways more joyful and alive than many churches in our own country which have faced comparatively fewer hardships.”
Individuals interested in learning more about the persecution of house church Christians of China can visit https://vomkorea.com/project/china .
