{"id":43686,"date":"2022-08-30T14:00:53","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T05:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=43686"},"modified":"2022-08-30T13:40:57","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T04:40:57","slug":"vomk-report-218","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2022\/08\/30\/vomk-report-218\/","title":{"rendered":"CHINA: Three Megachurches Carry on Despite Weekend Government Crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”43670″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Three of China\u2019s most prominent unregistered churches which are no strangers to government raids\u2014Zion Church and Shouwang Church in Beijing and Early Rain Church in Chengdu\u2014endured another crackdown by authorities in separate events during the days of August 11-14. ” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” el_class=”headline”][vc_column_text]According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea, <\/span>Zion Church\u2019s<\/span> Mentougou<\/span> district<\/span> branch was <\/span>raided during its regular <\/span>Sunday worship services on August 14<\/span> by ten officials from the <\/span>Mentougou<\/span> District Culture and Tourism Bureau, community management office, and police station<\/span>. T<\/span>he<\/span> officials <\/span>confiscated two computers and <\/span>detained <\/span>P<\/span>astor <\/span>Yang Jun,<\/span> who had been ordained last week, along with<\/span> eight other church members <\/span>and two children<\/span>. Some of those who were detained <\/span>were taken <\/span>to the<\/span> Memtougou<\/span> District Culture <\/span>while others were held at the <\/span>Yongding<\/span> Police Station.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> \u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_single_image image=”43675″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Voice of the Martyrs Korea also reported that <\/span>the August 14 <\/span>worship service<\/span> of<\/span> Early Rain Covenant Church <\/span>in <\/span>Chengdu <\/span>were raided by some 20 to 30 uniformed and plain clothes police officers. <\/span>An estimated 50 to 60 church members were gathered at <\/span>a tea house in <\/span>Chengdu\u2019s <\/span>Wuhou<\/span> District <\/span>when police entered<\/span>, locked the tea house door,<\/span> and reportedly announced that Early Rain Church had been shut down and that<\/span> attendees were required to register their IDs before being permitted to leave. One church member, <\/span>Xing Hongwei<\/span>, who writes under the pseudonym \u201c<\/span>A Xin<\/span>\u201d, was arrested <\/span>and charged with \u201cassaulting a police officer\u201d for his refusal to cooperate with the officers who were present.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Voice of the Martyrs Korea reports that earlier that weekend, <\/span>Shouwang<\/span> Church <\/span>E<\/span>lder <\/span>You <\/span>Guanhui<\/span> was <\/span>forbidden from leaving his house early <\/span><\/span>Thursday<\/span> morning <\/span>August 1<\/span>1<\/span><\/span> by local authorities<\/span> in Beijing<\/span>. <\/span>Another<\/span> member of the church, <\/span>S<\/span>ister <\/span>Xiaojuan<\/span>, was <\/span>summoned <\/span>to the police station <\/span>that day for questioning<\/span>, while<\/span> two other church members, <\/span><\/span>Hao<\/span><\/span>Zhi<\/span> and <\/span>Yansong<\/span>, were taken into <\/span>temporary custody at <\/span>the <\/span>Haidian<\/span> Branch Law Enforcement Center<\/span>. All three members were released the same day<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr<\/span>.<\/span> Hyun Sook Foley,<\/span> the three churches are accustomed to the <\/span>frequent raids and detentions.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”43678″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Police raid the Sunday worship services of Early Rain Covenant Church at a tea house in Chengdu\u2019s Wuhou District on August 14. ” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>It\u2019s important to emphasize that these churches are under a high level of constant attack by authorities, but it\u2019s even more important to emphasize that these churches <\/span>have faithfully endured every attack and <\/span>have <\/span>remained steadfast in their witness to Christ,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201c<\/span>All three churches <\/span>are <\/span>pray<\/span>ing<\/span> for their persecutors<\/span> daily<\/span>. They <\/span>are <\/span>trust<\/span>ing<\/span> in the Lord to <\/span>preserve them each day. They <\/span>are <\/span>refus<\/span>ing <\/span>to give up or to give too much attention to the <\/span>government<\/span>. They <\/span>are staying focused on the commands of the Lord, not the commands of the Communist party.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley notes that <\/span>persecution is <\/span>simply another part of ongoing church life for these and other unregistered Chinese churches. \u201c<\/span>Shouwang<\/span> Church, for example, <\/span>updated its members <\/span>about the <\/span><\/span>August 1<\/span>1<\/span><\/span> detentions in its <\/span>regular <\/span>online church bulletin<\/span>, right next to a recruitment notice for a new church club<\/span>, its weekly church financial update, <\/span>and <\/span>the meeting arrangements for next week<\/span>.<\/span> In other words, it\u2019s just part of the ongoing life of the church.\u201d <\/span>Representative Foley noted <\/span>that <\/span>Shouwang<\/span> Church <\/span>has <\/span>continue<\/span>d<\/span> to meet outside<\/span> for 11 years<\/span>, since it <\/span>was denied use of its own <\/span>building<\/span>. The church recently marked its<\/span> 592<\/span><\/span>nd<\/span><\/span> outdoor service.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as with the Christians in the Book of Acts, persecution has not stopped the spread of the gospel,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cInstead, persecution has spread the gospel to people and places <\/span>it would otherwise not reach\u2014from parks to tea houses to police stations to prison cells.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says it is <\/span>too soon to determine <\/span>whether the three crackdowns on the same weekend are a sign of a new wave of <\/span>restrictions imposed by authorities. \u201c<\/span>I am certain that these three churches would agree that the biggest news is not that they were raided again by the Chinese <\/span>government,<\/span> but that Jesus Christ has continued to sustain them through every hardship.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”43681″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Elder You Guanhui, one of several members of Beijing\u2019s Shouwang Church who were detained at home or questioned by authorities on Thursday August 11.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”43684″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Worship at Beijing\u2019s Zion Church before authorities barred the church from using its building. The church now worships outdoors. ” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Voice of the Martyrs Korea continues to call <\/span>Christians to set aside special <\/span>times of <\/span>intercession for <\/span>Zion Church, <\/span>Shouwang<\/span> Church, Early Rain Church, and Chin<\/span>a\u2019s other unregistered churches. \u201cPray not only for the Lord to continue to sustain them through these times of persecution but also that the Holy Spirit would empower their witness to police officers and authorities every time they are <\/span>held for questioning,\u201d says Representative Foley.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Individuals interested in learning more about Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s work in partnership with underground Chinese Christians wherever they are found can visit <\/span><\/span>www.vomkorea.com\/en\/china<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”43670″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Three of China\u2019s most prominent unregistered churches which are no strangers to government raids\u2014Zion Church and Shouwang Church in Beijing and Early Rain Church in Chengdu\u2014endured another …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":43671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[857,235,869,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russian-special","category-special-column","category-china-special","category-vomk-report"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}