Chinese officials take 70 Christians into custody

China (MNN) ― ChinaAid, a ministry partner of the Voice of the Martyrs, got word this week that a house church which has been meeting for nearly 20 years was raided by police. More than 70 Christians were taken into custody.

The church, in far west China's region of Xinjiang, China, was meeting at the pastor's home when officials stormed in. 

Ten policemen and Domestic Security Protection agents announced that the believers were holding an "unapproved, illegal meeting" and ordered an immediate end to it, reports ChinaAid.

The police confiscated the Christians' Bibles, hymnals, notebooks, Christian education DVDs, and other materials, but they refused to provide a receipt for the confiscated items as required by law.

Police then took the believers away. After forcing each Christian there to be photographed, authorities took them to the respective local police stations of their places of employment for questioning. Some were not released for two days.

The pastor and his wife were called into the local police station again the day after the raid for further questioning. They were threatened by the police, who ordered them to stop holding meetings in their home.

Pray for this persecuted body of believers. Pray that they will boldly continue living out the Gospel. Pray also that the officials would have a change in heart.

ChinaAid encourages calls to the Chinese police station to advocate on behalf of this house church. Find phone numbers here.

Iran: Ten converts arrested during raid on house church

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

SHIRAZ, IRAN (ANS) -- Plain clothes security authorities have raided an Iranian house church gathering and arrested 10 members of this Christian group who were gathered for prayer service in Shiraz, Fars province, which is 580 miles south of the capital. All 10 detainees were transferred to an unknown location.

Mojtaba Hosseini, a Christian convert who was among those arrested

According to Mohabat News

(www.mohabatnews.com), an Iranian Christian news agency, following the continued arrests of Iranian Christians, security authorities invaded a residential building used as house church on Wednesday, February 8, 2012, and arrested 10 Christian converts who were gathered there to worship.

“These believers who had gathered in a home to hold a worship service were arrested and transferred to an unknown location using a police vehicle,” said a spokesperson for Mohabat News.

“The location of the detainees is still unknown despite their family's efforts. The authorities refuse to give any information in this regard.”

Although precise details are still not available in this respect, the report from Mohabat News indicates that a man called Mojtaba Hosseini is among those arrested. He was also arrested on May 11, 2008, together with eight other Christian converts on charges of “having a Christian faith.” Security officials had asked the then 21-year-old, Mojtaba Hosseini to renounce his faith and collaborate with the Intelligence office.

“It is also noteworthy that last month reports were published regarding the arrest of a number of Christians in the AOG church of Ahwaz including the pastor of the church and two other church members,” said the spokesperson.

“Today, the pressures and security measures implemented by the Islamic Republic against churches in Iran have resulted in the closure of churches in which services were being held in Farsi. The other churches, which are allowed to remain open, are obliged by order of the Intelligence Ministry to prevent Farsi speakers from entering their churches.”

The spokesperson added, “In spite of all these circumstances, when people from other religious backgrounds embrace Christianity, they feel the need to gather in small groups in their homes and dedicate their own personal houses for worship services. The Islamic Republic of Iran considers such groups security and spying tools for the West.”

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Dan Wooding, 71, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books, one of which is his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

House Church Leaders in Inner Mongolia, Ningixa Criminally Detained

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service


WUHAI, INNER MONGOLIA (ANS) -- Fifteen house church leaders from two remote regions of China have been in detention since mid-July.

According to a news release from the ChinaAid Association, during this period local police have tried to extort money from their families with promises of their release once the money has been paid, and threats of labor camp sentences or criminal prosecution if it is not.

ChinaAid said the incident began at 10 a.m. on July 26, when dozens of local police and officers of the Domestic Security Protection Department entered a meeting in the city of Wuhai, Inner Mongolia. There more than 20 church leaders from Wuhai and Ningxia province's Shizuishan were gathered to plan summer church activities.

ChinaAid said police surrounded the meeting site and arrested 21 people. They also confiscated everything at the meeting site, not just Bibles but even the bamboo mats that attendees use to rest and nap on after meetings. Everything was loaded into police vehicles and taken away.

The 21 detainees were later criminally detained on suspicion of "using a cult organization to undermine national law enforcement." However, ChinaAid said, police failed to notify the families as required, and didn't provide families with paperwork (also required) for the detention.

ChinaAid said before the 21 detainees were transferred to the Wuhai Detention Center, they were given physical exams. Six of them were elderly, and found to be in poor health. As a result, the detention center refused to accept them and they were released.

The remaining 15 church leaders were held for 15 days, after which the Public Security Bureau notified the families that their case had already been sent to the prosecutor's office. The families were told that if they raised 50,000 yuan (US$ 7800), the detainees would be released.

ChinaAid said when the families delivered the money to the prosecutor's office, the case was sent back to the Public Security Bureau.

According to ChinaAid, the Public Security Bureau then told the families that if they raised several tens of thousands of yuan (thousands of dollars) again, the detainees would be released. If not, they would be sent to labor camps or criminally prosecuted.

ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu was shocked when he learned of this case and has been following it closely. He condemned the local officials and speaking in a news release, called on them to "immediately and with no pre-conditions release these innocent Christian believers."

Fu commented, "As the Bible says, 'It is hard for you to kick against the goads,'" quoting the words that God spoke to Paul of Tarsus, who had been brutally persecuting the early church, when he had his miraculous Damascus Road conversion.

Fu added, "The church will not retreat in the face of persecution. In fact, it will grow larger and stronger with each passing day."

For more information about ChinaAid go to www.chinaaid.org

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Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter,http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City." Additional details on "Homeless in the City" are available at http://www.homelessinthecity.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds atjeremyreynalds@comcast.net.

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Week 13: China arrests 19 more Christians

Posted on Jul 6, 2011 | by Whitney Jones

Police in Tiananmen Square

BEIJING (BP)--Despite restrictions due to the Chinese Communist Party's 90th anniversary, members of Shouwang Church in Beijing continued to meet outdoors July 3, leading to at least 19 arrests.

Church members defied the Chinese government for the 13th consecutive week with the outdoor service. The illegal church, which was evicted from its leased meeting space in April, reported in a translated statement on ChinaAid.org that police were waiting outside the church's designated worship site, an open-air plaza in northwest 

Beijing, and "only a few dozen people" were able to meet because, "many believers were under stricter detainment at home. Some individuals were taken to be detained in hotels nearby."

All but two of the 19 people arrested were released by midnight, and one was released the next day.

Some church members have lost their homes or jobs and others have been subjected to verbal abuse because of their faith. Shouwang's strength and endurance through persecution has inspired churches all over the world, and members of Shouwang say the government's restrictions have not stunted the spread of the Gospel.

"As we suffer together with the Lord and take the cross together with him, our life is deeply rooted and is growing, so does our church take root and grow in this city and this country," the church said in its latest statement. "God's work is achieved through the cross, and all the disciples who are bearing the cross with the Lord are blessed."

Not wanting any unrest during the Communist Party's anniversary on July 1, police action against the church members began even earlier than the previous weeks according to ChinaAid, a group that monitors religious freedom in China.

Shouwang, which is one of the largest house churches in Beijing with nearly 1,000 members, is not a legal church. Only churches who are registered with the government and are members of the Three-Self Patriotic Church are considered legal. However, with registration come regulations that forbid evangelism, Sunday School, and baptizing minors, said Bob Fu, president and founder of ChinaAid.

Although members are in their third month with no indoor facility and continue to face persecution and time in prison for expressing their beliefs, the Chinese Christians continue to see God's divine hand working through their trials.

"We have seen God's work of protection and guidance for Shouwang Church," the church said. "The long-lasting battle has not demolished God's church. On the contrary, it helps us to see that the fire of life lighted by God in this church continues to burn, and that no force in this world can extinguish it."

More than 160 people were arrested at the first outdoor meeting of Shouwang Church. The following shows the approximate arrests from the subsequent weeks: Week 2 (50 arrests), Week 3 (40), Week 4 (30), Week 5 (13), Week 6 (20), Week 7 (25), Week 8 (20), Week 9 (20), Week 10 (14), Week 11 (14) and Week 12 (15).

Whitney Jones is a student at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and an intern with Baptist Press.