ICC Note: Over the past weekend news reports began to pour in of the human shield formed by thousands of Christians in Zhejiang Province, China, to protect a newly-built $3.8 million dollar church from being demolished by local authorities. Below is a copy of an open letter sent by the church calling for support and prayer from the worldwide Christian community and detailing the campaign against crosses and churches in the province over the past few months. 
4/8/2014 China (ChinaAid) – Christians in Wenzhou, in China’s coastal Zhejiang province, released a letter to the public on Friday, explaining their spiritual perspective in regards to the recent demolition order on Sanjiang Church and other local churches. The letter, which can be read below, also asks for support from the worldwide Christian community.
In the cross, in the cross: A letter of prayer to all brothers and sisters in Christ worldwide, regarding the demolition of churches in Zhejiang province!
Written by Christians in Wenzhou
Translated and edited by China Aid
April 4, 2014
May grace and peace from the only omnipotent and glorious God and the Lord Jesus, who we worship, be upon you!
“I believe in the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints” is the common faith of all true Christians. Not only do we say we believe in this faith, but also, we should express through our actions that we, the brothers and sisters in Christ, are connected to each other and we should give our bitter testimony thereon!
Recently, there have been vicious incidents in various places of Zhejiang in which crosses and churches are being demolished. Even for the churches that have not been asked to demolish their own crosses, they have been told not to turn on the light on their cross at night. After Hangzhou, Yuhang, Zhoushan and other places [faced some sort of demolition], many churches in Wenzhou are facing forced demolition.
Last year, Sanjiang Church in Oubei, Yongjia County was commended by the Wenzhou government as a model for architecture. Now, however, the government makes all-out efforts and is determined to demolish the church. The brothers and sisters of this church and brothers and sisters from various places in Wenzhou, who have come to support the church, have been singing, praying and gathering in the holy hall of the church for nearly a month. Among them, many take turns to watch and pray 24 hours a day.
Not only this is happening, but in Yueqing city alone, churches in Dajing, Baixiang, Jiangjiaqiao and other places have all received a notice to demolish the crosses or their church buildings.
Today, more than a hundred people tried to tear down the nursing home belonging to Jiangjiaqiao Church without success. We are honest to you [by telling you] that a few churches are indeed suspected of having violated the building codes as they got an oral approval while the official paperwork was being processed. In these cases, the churches are willing to make a compromise in making changes to the structure and process the needed paperwork. However, we have noted that some churches have been there for more than 10 years or even longer than that.
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