Missions

China's Relentless Persecution of House Church Head

An open letter, posted Monday, by the president of the Chinese House Church Alliance revealed the relentless persecution endured by him and his family under the hands of the Chinese government.

As noted by many other human rights group, China has engaged in a softer crackdown on churches by preferring to target house church leaders instead of ordinary Christians to avoid attracting international attention to human rights violations.

In his third letter, Zhang urged the international community to pray for the upcoming Beijing Olympics and to press the Chinese government to practice true religious freedom as it claims in its official laws.

“We pray to God that those brothers and sisters imprisoned for preaching Jesus Christ will be released soon and that God will make leaders in the Chinese government to treat the believers in a correct way and that God will make China a country full of love, justice, freedom and prosperity!” Zhang wrote.

On Tuesday, China Aid Association said it just learned that 21 major house church leaders were recently sent to labor camp at the same time for re-education. They were all detained on Dec. 7, 2007, during a massive arrest at a leadership training gathering with some 249 leaders in Shandong province.

The 21 senior church leaders were sentenced from one year and three months to three years in the labor camp, according to CAA. They were accused of being members of an "evil cult" by the PSB. Among the 21 sentenced, 17 are men and four are women.

Open Doors, a Christian persecution watchdog group, has organized a prayer campaign for persecuted Christians in China centered around the Beijing Olympics. Participants will pray for persecuted Christians in China and for a spiritual revival in the country.

On the Web: www.opendoorsusa.org

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