Chinese House Church Alliance Shares A Troubling Year in Review for Persecuted Churches
ICC Note:
ChinaAid releases year-in-review for the persecuted church in China
12/21/09 China (ChinaAid)–Following the World Evangelical Alliance’s visits with TSPM leaders in China and their positive verdict on church life and religious freedom, members of the Chinese House Church Alliance remember the cases of intense Christian persecution of 2009:
The Blessed 2009 Through Persecutions
A Review of Year 2009 by Chinese House Church Alliance
As Christmas is approaching, the Chinese House Church Alliance (CHCA) bids a farewell to the tough year 2009 and greets 2010 with a confidence in God’s providence. In 2009 the Chinese government continued its persecution of the House Church Movement (HCM) more intensively and CHCA as with all members of the House Church Movement have suffered a great deal.
The following cases of persecution in 2009 includes, but is not limited to, member churches of CHCA, their staff, and the president Rev. Zhang Mingxuan of CHCA, believers in other house churches, and even the Three-self Patriotic Movement Church (TSPM or TSPMC) in Municipalities, autonomous regions, and provinces:
February 8-11: Rev. Zhang Mingxuan and his wife Xie Fenglan were detained by the Nanyang government in Henan Province.
March 21: Rev. Zhang Mingxuan was arrested by the authorities of the Tongzhou District of Beijing and transferred to Nanyang police.
June 14: TSPM Changchun Church in Ninan city of Shandong Province was torn down receiving only a pitiful compensation.
June 21: HCM Qiu-yu Church in Chengdu city of Sichuan Province was shut down as an illegal organization with its properties confiscated.
July 4- 6: CHCA held its fourth annual conference in Nanyang, He-Nan, but at the end of the conference it was raided by the Nanyang government and the attendees were detained and interrogated.
August 6: Xiayi Religious Bureau of He-Nan issued a verdict and canceled the house church of Sangdong village, Sanggu.
August 25: A registered house church in Rizhao city, Shandong Province was called an “ illegal religious training program.” As a punishment while the church was holding the commencement of the second session training program, Religious Bureau officials and Donggang police raided the meeting and confiscated Bibles, computers, etc. The church’s two meeting places at Shijiu Port Haibin No. 2 Road and another at Huanghai No.1 Road #36 were de-registered.
September 13: Around 3 AM, the local government raided the Fushan branch of Linfeng Church in Shanxi province and its Gospel Shoe Factory. The policemen beat up and injured a few dozen of the church members, left many rooms and facilities in ruins, and confiscated all of personal Bibles, cellphones and money of those believers.
September 23 to October 3: Rev. Zhang Mingxuan and his wife Xie Fenglan were detained by Nanyang government, Henan province.
October 13: Rev. Zhang Mingxuan and his wife went to Shanxi Linfen for the purpose of visiting the persecuted Brothers and Sisters there, but they were detained by local police in the train station upon their arrival and transferred to the Nanyang police of Henan.
November 10: Rev. Zhang Mingxuan and his wife went to Shanghai and visited the persecuted members of Wangbang church, but they were arrested by the local police and transferred to Nanyang police for a detention until the 18th.
December 7: The defense lawyer for the defendant Uyghur Christian church leader Alimujiang Yimiti learned that his client had been sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Xinjiang Kashigar Region Middle Level People’s Court on August 6th.
