Outdoor worship and arrests resume as Chinese authorities again deny facility to Shouwang Church
By Sarah Page DUBLIN (Compass Direct News) – Authorities in China again thwarted efforts by Shouwang Church to lease a worship facility at the year’s end, and the Beijing congregation again met outdoors on Sunday (Jan. 1) – resulting in the arrest of 48 members, sources said. “The church tried three times to rent three different venues, but it was all to no avail because of the authorities’ intervention,” a source close to the church told Compass. … Read entire article »
Filed under: China, Christian, Compass Direct, Persecution
Chinese Believers Arrested for Attending Outdoor Service
By Michael Ireland Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) – Thirteen Chinese Christian believers were taken into custody by authorities during an outdoor worship service held by the Beijing Shouwang Church on September 11. The gathering was the church’s 23 outdoor service. According to ChinaAid (www.chinaaid.org), many believers have been detained at home since Saturday. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Assist News Service, China, Christian
Church in China to Risk Worshipping in Park
By Dan Wooding Founder of the ASSIST News Service BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) – Compass Direct News (CDN) is reporting that one of the largest unregistered Protestant churches in Beijing plans to risk arrest by worshipping in a park this Sunday (April 10) after eviction from the restaurant where they have met for the past year. The CDN story says that a source has told them that the owner of the Old Story Club restaurant issued repeated requests for the Shouwang Church to find another worship venue, and authorities have pressured other prospective landlords to close their facilities to the 1,000-member congregation. “Unwilling to subject themselves to the controls and restrictions of the official Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the congregation has held three services each Sunday … Read entire article »
Filed under: China, Christian, Compass Direct, Persecution
China Launches Major Crackdown on House Churches
By Jeremy Reynalds Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) — In a troubling setback, Chinese authorities last week launched a crackdown directed at Christians who belong to China’s huge network of unregistered house churches, calling a “cult” one of the fastest-growing populations of Christians in the world. According to a news release from ChinaAid, the powerful Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party launched “Operation Deterrence” on Dec. 1. ChinaAid said according to the Politburo’s top-secret instructions, the crackdown on the largest component of the mainland Chinese church is to continue through March 2011. “CCP Central Committee for Comprehensive Management of Social order,” the foot soldiers of China’s security apparatus, have been told to collect information about house churches throughout the country and turn these reports in to their superiors. A long “blacklist” … Read entire article »
Filed under: Assist News Service, China, Christian, Persecution
Cyber Attack Takes Down ChinaAid Association Website
By Jeremy Reynalds Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service MIDLAND, TEXAS (ANS) — The Chinese-language website of ChinaAid Association, which monitors and reports on religious persecution and other human rights abuses in China, and a bilingual companion website have both collapsed under cyber attacks. The assault began Tuesday evening, the group said in a news release on Wednesday. ChinaAid’s Chinese-language website at www.chinaaid.net and its www.monitorchina.org website, which provide Chinese and English material about religious persecution and the rule of law, were both inaccessible as a result of the attacks. ChinaAid said heavy malicious traffic had repeatedly caused the website’s server, located in the United States, to crash. Its technical staff was still working Wed. evening to restore the websites. ChinaAid’s mirror English-language site at www.chinaaid.org, hosted by a different server, has so far been … Read entire article »
Filed under: Assist News Service, China, Persecution
