Couple's 12th anniversary spent in jail defying campaign against Beijing church
Shortly before their arrest, Chu Xiaodong, at left, and his wife Yu Xingmei, sitting at the far end of the park bench, celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary by worshiping Jesus
Chinese Christians Chu Xiaodong and Yu Xingmei spent their 12th wedding anniversary in jail.
Their crime? They showed up for church in China’s capital of Beijing.
They were promptly arrested as the Chinese government’s campaign against the 1,000-member Shouwang Church entered week 13.
Sunday night, the couple were the last two remaining detainees who had not been released by the end of the day, according to ChinaAid, a New York-based advocacy group.
A Shouwang service during happier times
On Shouwang’s Google Buzz social media page, church members kept a running tally throughout the day of who was in police custody and who had been released. When church member Fu Jing was released about 6:30 p.m., one church member wrote, “Fu Jing is out! Praise the Lord! She said that when she was inside and was experiencing a moment of weakness, from outside came the sounds of brothers and sisters singing hymns. Thank you to those brothers and sisters who were there waiting for her!”
Pastors Song and Jin“As in previous weeks, those church members who were not under house arrest or had not been detained at the outdoor worship site and still had freedom of movement fanned out across the city to the various police stations where church members had been taken to, bringing them food and water and waiting outside until the detainees were released,” reported ChinaAid.
Shouwang arrests in April
For three months, Chinese police have mobilized each weekend to prevent the congregation from meeting. In April, the church announced that services would move to a public park after the government pressured its landlord to stop allowing the congregation to meet in his restaurant.
Pastor Jin preaching outdoors during a snow storm on November 1This has happened before.
Earlier church members had raised $4 million to purchase the floor of a high-rise building, but officials intimidated the seller into refusing to turn over the keys — although he was allowed to keep the church’s money. In November, faced with nowhere to meet, the congregation had services in a park — during a snowstorm.
Singing outdoors
In the three months since the latest confrontation began, the church’s leaders have been under house arrest. Several have lost their jobs. Pastor Jin Tian Ming has been unable to leave his home since Easter.
Each Sunday, police turn out in force, arresting any church members who show up at the park to worship.
Church members are held for up to 48 hours without charging them, but officials then pressure their employers to fire them and their landlords to evict them from their homes. Other church members have been forced to leave Beijing.
CLICK HERE to read about pressure put on one church member
On Sunday, July 3, the police action against Shouwang Church members had started even earlier than in previous weeks.
Authorities were attempting to ensure that nothing be allowed to mar the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on July 1.
“Some Shouwang Church members were put under house arrest as early as Tuesday, as compared with most weeks when church members were confined to their homes starting on Friday evening,” reported ChinaAid.
At least 21 church members were taken into police custody Sunday morning. All but two — the couple celebrating their wedding anniversary — were released by 9 p.m., according to church sources.
The foreign news media has been strong-armed by officials not to cover the weekly arrests. So, photos have been scarce — mostly taken on cellphones and put on the Internet. The Chinese government’s notorious “Great Firewall of China” has even blocked outsiders’ access to those photos.
Singing for Fu Ching, four members of the Shouwang sang hymns in a park across from the police station -- hoping Fu Ching could hear them. She reported that she did and that it gave her strength during her 12 hours of interogation
Even so, photos leaked out of Chu Xiaodong and Yu Xingmei sitting in the park with two other church members shortly before their arrest, then of the couple sitting in a police station singing a hymn as they awaited questioning.
The four were able to gain access to the open-air plaza in northwest Beijing’s Zhongguancun area that has been the church’s designated outdoor worship site since April 10.
In previous weeks, police presence at the plaza was heavy, with police officers ringing the plaza and turning away or detaining anyone who tried to enter the plaza.
On the Internet, church members appealed to Christians worldwide to pray for the congregation. One Shouwang couple appealed on the church’s Google Buzz site for help from other church members because they could not go out to get food or to help an out-of-town family member who had come to Beijing and had nowhere to stay.
The Shouwang Church in happier times
One website carried this appeal, “We earnestly ask those in the Body of Christ who are overseas to continue to pray for this brother and his family, that the Holy Spirit might comfort them and help them stand firm in the faith.”
Why the campaign against their church?
“Shouwang remains steadfast in its refusal join the official government-run Three-Self Patriotic Movement or to break up its congregation into smaller meeting groups that the government has seemed willing to tolerate when house churches have grown too large,” says Bob Fu of ChinaAid.
In May, the leadership of 17 other “house churches” petitioned the Chinese government to back off in its campaign against the Shouwang congregation. That petition was ignored.
CLICK HERE to read about the risks taken by petition-signers
A Shouwang service before the trouble started
While religious freedom is outlined in China’s constitution, the only legal Protestant churches in China — the Three-Self Patriotic Movement — are run by the government. Three-Self pastors are paid by the government. No one under 18 is allowed to attend. Sermon topics are mandated by the government.
Churches not under the authority of the Chinese government’s state administration for religious affairs are subject to persecution. Attendees are subject to being arrested.
CLICK HERE to read a Shouwang church member’s personal ordeal in police custody
Chinese Catholic churches must belong to the Patriotic Catholic Association — and must cut all ties to the Vatican or any other Catholics worldwide. As many as 150 million Chinese refuse to participate in the state-run churches, instead belonging to “underground” or “house” churches — both Protestant and Catholic. Their leaders are routinely arrested. Many have spent years in prison.
To watch a video smuggled out of China about the underground church, CLICK HERE
Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/pray_for_the_persecuted_church/2011/07/co...
Views: 72
Saving Pastor Gong
Please Help Saving jailed Pastor Gong of Huanan Chruch
http://ministrysolar.wix.com/pastor-gong-huanan
~~~
Since Dec 2, 2012, my father Pastor Shengliang Gong had High Blood Pressure and Cerebral Infraction, but he never got the proper medical checkup and adequate treatments. Consequently, my father’s illness got worse and worse. More than once my father almost fell to the ground during last November.
Finally when he got the checkup on November 26th 2013, the doctor said my father’s illness was not very optimistic. He was having Cerebral Infraction, Encephalatrophy, Brain Lesions and Leukoaraiosis, etc. The doctor said that my father needs to have checkup every three months. So we repeatedly requested the prison officials to perform checkup accordingly, once every three months. The prison said that they had one done on April 17th, but refused to release the hospital’s medical treatments records and conclusions to neither my father nor the family members. They would not make any specific statements about my father’s illness. Now, my father and our family have no ideas about the level of his illness.
Since my father illness, previously we could buy some appropriate medicines for him according to his known conditions pieced together from oral communications of diagnosis, after consulting with doctors. Though this won’t amount to totally healing, it was the only way our family could do for him under the circumstances. But now, as the prison withholding medical records from us, we are unable to know his condition and thus cannot providing suitable medicines for him-the very minimum request was denied of us.
The inadequate medical treatments within the prison cannot give my father prompt and sufficient treatments. Yet the prison won’t send him to hospitals outside for necessary treatments and regular checkups, causing further serious damages to his health. The prison won’t allow him the fundamental human rights; they also deprive his right to know about his illness condition. The prison as law enforcement agency behaves illegally. Effectively, they are directly pushing my gravely ill father to dead end street of death.
I appeal to the international communities concerning my father’s health and human rights conditions. Please join us to rally for my father and our family’s rights to medical records and the right to know the situation of my father’s sickness; also his right to have regular medical treatments, thereby saving his life and protect his fundamental rights!!
Pastor Shengliang Gong’s daughter: Huali Gong
June 30th 2014
Cell Phone: 13241248388
Han Kou prison department phone number: 027-83556018
Instructor Hanwen Wang: 15327298562
中國福音化
五十年來，中國大陸的信徒從不到100萬（1949）遽增到八千萬（2000），這是中國五千年來難得的宣教黃金時期；在中國教會裡，也普遍呈現「羊在找牧人」的現象，上帝為中國敞開了大門！現在就是「中國福音化」的關鍵時刻！
教會國度化
教會是基督榮耀的身體，是一切事工的根柢。今日世界各地的基督教宗派都去中國宣教，如何促使海外教會超越宗派主義，中國教會突破山頭主義，共同營造具有「國度觀」的宣教事工，將是中國教會拓展生根的關鍵時刻！
文化基督化
1989年「六四」之後，大批的中國知識分子信主，他們承認了理性的局限性，也不再提「反宗教、反帝國主義」，轉而思考基督教對中國現代化有何貢獻？如今正是因勢利導，以基督思想來影響中國文化，以聖經真理來更新中國文化的關鍵時刻！
Persecution Blog
Missionary Pilot Shares The Rest of the Auca Martyrs' Story
Growing up the home of missionary parents in Ecuador, Gene Jordan has always known the story of five men—Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian—who gave their lives in the jungle to reach an isolated Indian...
After Arrest, "I Was Terrified"
“Dr. Andrew” is working to share the gospel in the Middle East, but he hasn’t always had a heart to share Christ’s love with Muslims. Growing up in a nominal Christian family, Andrew was harassed by Muslims his whole life....Being a True Vessel for God's Use
“Brother Matthew” is a pastor and church planter in South Asia, working among Muslims to share the gospel. After threats against his life and an attack on his brother, he was encouraged by family members to leave his country. He...VOM Radio in Central Asia
"Tanya" is a Christian worker in Central Asia, living and ministering in a country where she must always be cautious about what she says openly and who she says it around. Listen to hear how Christians in the former Soviet...Nate Saint Memorial School: End of an Era
The end of an era comes next month. In August 1985, I clutched my mom’s hand and squeaked my rubber flip-flopped way down the gravel path from the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) “base” to the cinderblock Nate Saint Memorial school....Forum
Rev. Wang Yi—CHENGDU Early Rain Church's Declaration of civil Disobedience Statements
Started by John 唐 in Prayer Requests Dec 13, 2018.
'Don't you dare bring Christianity to Shanxi,' says official before detaining Beijing believer
Started by CMIUSCA in Prayer Requests Apr 7, 2013.
新任教皇的“中国挑战”
Started by CMIUSCA in Chinese House Church Mar 13, 2013.
对中国的宣教政策
Started by CMIUSCA in Prayer Requests Jan 19, 2013.
放眼大陸 : 「全能神」為何是「邪教」？
Started by CMIUSCA in Prayer Requests Jan 3, 2013.
© 2024 Created by China Ministries International.
Powered by
