CHINA: PASTOR SHEN SHAOCHUN RELEASED AFTER MORE THAN 6 YEARS IN PRISON
Voice of the Martyrs Korea is reporting that Pastor Shen Shaochun was released from Xishuangbanna Prison in Yunnan Province at the end of 2024 after completing six years and three months of a seven-year sentence for allegedly organizing illegal border crossings into China from neighboring Myanmar. Voice of the Martyrs had conducted a global letter writing campaign on behalf of Pastor Shen, working to ensure that he received a constant stream of encouraging letters from other believers for the duration of his imprisonment while making sure prison officials were aware that people around the world were closely monitoring the pastor’s situation.
According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley, Pastor Shen’s wife, son, daughter-in-law, and grandson traveled to the prison to pick him up. He was released 9 months early, and Representative Foley says he has safely returned to his home in Nanjing.
Representative Foley says that the early release is especially good news due to ongoing concerns about Pastor Shen’s health.
“Voice of the Martyrs Korea and other international observers raised concerns about Pastor Shen’s declining health last April,” says Representative Foley. “He was diagnosed with high blood pressure and has to take blood pressure medication every day. His teeth also often ache. Before his imprisonment in 2018, Pastor Shen had an eye disease in his left eye. Due to his busy schedule, he delayed treatment, and later his left eye became completely blind, and he could only use his right eye. After being imprisoned, he was assigned work which was particularly taxing on the eyes in prison, so his right eye vision also significantly declined.”
She says photos taken on the day of his release show that his current state appears good.
“In July of last year, his 83-year-old father passed away,” says Representative Foley. “The old man’s regret was that he could not wait for his son to be released from prison. Pastor Shen’s mother is 79 years old this year.”
Pastor Shen Shaochun was born in Huaiyuan County in 1966. Both of his parents were preachers who planted 4 churches. After graduation from seminary in the early 1990s, he worked part-time farming and part-time serving in the local seminary. In 2006, he was called to serve full-time. Starting in 2016, Pastor Shen Shaochun went to Wa State, Myanmar to teach and founded the “Living Water Elementary School” there.
Pastor Shen Shaochun (holding flowers) upon his release from prison, surrounded by wife (left), son (right), daughter-in-law (far right), and grandson (front). (Source: Internet)
In 2018, four theology students who were attending the school were arrested by the Myanmar police and handed over to the Chinese police. The police traced the case back to Pastor Shen. Pastor Shen was arrested on September 30, 2018, and later brought to court for trial.
“In court, Pastor Shen did not want to identify anyone, hoping that the police would release the four theology students,” says Representative Foley. “He fully admitted guilt and accepted punishment.”
Pastor Shen was eventually sentenced to seven years in prison for “organizing others to illegally cross the border”. He was scheduled for release in September 2025.
Representative Foley cautions that prayers are often needed more after a prisoner is released than during the imprisonment. “Former prisoners of faith often tell us that while they are in prison, the Lord feels very close to them, and then when they are released the feel overwhelmed by all the challenges of returning to normal life–especially when authorities are watching closely,” she says. “Pastor Shen will need time to recover his health and to make arrangements to meet with his wife. The family will need to rebuild their relationships day-to-day and discover a new ‘normal’ routine. We should pray that the family will experience the Lord’s comfort and strong, safe presence, and that they will know how to serve him in the coming days.”
Pastor Shen Shaochun (file photo)
Representative Foley also says that writing letters to Christians imprisoned for their faith is a ministry often neglected by Christians. “Most Christians don’t realize that it is often possible to write letters to Christians like Pastor Shen, to encourage them while they are in prison,” says Representative Foley. “Christians assume that the letters would be blocked or would create further troubles for Christian prisoners, or they worry that they themselves will be tracked somehow for writing a letter. But our website maintains a list of prisoners in places where mail can be received, and where a simple letter of Christian encouragement will not create trouble for the prisoner or the letter writer. Former prisoners frequently tell us how much letters from Christians around the world meant to them during their imprisonment.”
The ministry’s website currently lists the information and addresses for 10 Christians currently imprisoned for their faith, in countries including China, North Korea, and Eritrea. The list is accessible at https://vomkorea.com/en/prisoner-profiles/.