Thursday, July 26, 2012

China – Officials target unregistered church

Authorities appear to be carrying out their campaign of eradicating unregistered churches by clamping down on Christians in Shandong province.

We have received reports that all the members of one church were visited in their homes by officials and directed to attend government-approved Three Self churches instead.

This move by the authorities would appear to confirm that a government campaign to eradicate house churches is well under way (Prayer Alert, April 23).

According to our partner China Aid, a secret document was issued by the authorities last September aimed at 'completely eradicating house churches' in three phases. The first phase, from January to June this year, was to investigate unregistered churches and create files on them.

According to China Aid the clampdown can be traced back to December 2010 when the Communist Party Central Committee launched 'Operation Deterrence'. Government officials were told to 'guide' Christians attending unregistered churches to worship instead in the officially sanctioned Three Self churches.

• Please pray that Christians in Shandong would remain strong in their faith and have wisdom in expressing their beliefs.
• That the government campaign to eradicate unregistered churches would backfire and lead to further growth in Christianity.