OPEN DOORS USA Allen Yuan, a towering figure in Chinas house-church movement during severe eras of Christian persecution, died August 16 at a hospital in Beijing. He was 91. A small funeral took place in Beijing today. As Yuans wife Alice left her home for his funeral today, she was calm and joyful that her long-persecuted husband was at last with the Lord. Our family was well prepared for his death, she said. Yuan is survived by six children. His second son, Yuan Fu Sing, continues to lead his church. Yuan led growing congregations before and after imprisonment for his Christian faith. He was one of 11 preachers, including Watchman Nee and Wang Ming Dao, who refused to join the Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) after the Communist rule of Mao Tse-Tung began in 1949. In 1958, at 44, he was arrested when the regime determined his Christian faith was counter-revolutionary. Yuan received a life sentence with no hope of parole, leaving his mother, his wife and six children, ages 6 to 17, without means of sustenance. Because of policy changes in China over the next few decades, though, he was released in December 1979, having served a total of 21 years and eight months [Go To Full Story]
