(Chengdu — September 14, 2026) Following years of arrests, harassment and surveillance targeting members of Early Rain Covenant Church, Chinese police detained 11 people during a small reading gathering at a Chengdu teahouse last Thursday, most of them over age 60.
According to members of Early Rain Covenant Church, one of China’s best-known Protestant house churches, the gathering took place around 3 p.m. in Wuhou District, where members of Enci Fellowship were holding a reading meeting. Officers from Hongpailou Police Station detained the group, including several people in their 70s; only two were in their 50s.
Church members outside the police station said most of those detained have chronic health conditions. Among them was 73-year-old He Futao, who previously underwent surgery to remove a cancer-affected lung and recently fainted and required emergency medical treatment.
Around midnight Friday, church members waiting outside the police station saw an ambulance arrive. They speculated that an elderly detainee may have experienced a medical emergency, prompting police to call for medical assistance.
When family members called to ask when the detainees would be released, police said the matter would be handled within 24 hours. Officers cited an ongoing “investigation into a cult” but declined to provide further information.
As temperatures in Chengdu fell to around 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit), one church member persuaded police to allow two pieces of warm clothing to be delivered to those inside. Family members and church members urged police to release the elderly detainees.
As of 10 a.m. Saturday, Hongpailou Police Station had released nine individuals, while Elder Wu Wuqing and Brother Shen Xiaoqing remained in detention. The families have received notification from police that Wu and Shen have been accused of “illegally organizing proselytizing activities.” Both were sentenced to 10 days of administrative detention and fined 500 yuan and 300 yuan (est. 70 and 40 USD), respectively.
Rev. Dr. Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, described the detention of elderly Christians at a peaceful reading gathering as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s “war against religious freedom,” calling the action cruel and absurd.
Persecuted for years by Chinese authorities
The pressure on Early Rain Covenant Church dates to a large-scale crackdown on Dec. 9, 2018, when authorities arrested and detained numerous church members. Since then, police in Chengdu and Deyang, Sichuan Province, have continued to monitor, harass and detain church members.
Earlier this year, on Jan. 6, Deyang police arrested several church members, including Elder Li Yingqiang, preacher Dai Zhichao and deacon Jia Xuewei. They were later criminally detained on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and “organizing illegal gatherings.”
On June 14, police in Jiangyou deployed more than 100 officers to intercept more than 100 church members and children gathering for a meal at a hotel. Thirty-two members were detained at a case-handling center for more than 12 hours and were not returned to Chengdu until early the next day.
The repeated disruption of Early Rain gatherings has continued even as church members have adapted by meeting in smaller groups following years of raids, arrests and other restrictions.
Although China’s Constitution states that citizens enjoy freedom of religious belief, authorities have adopted increasingly strict controls on house churches that are not affiliated with the official Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Fu said authorities have used a range of tactics to weaken Early Rain Covenant Church.
“For churches like Early Rain Covenant Church that have received widespread international attention, local authorities often use frequent short-term detentions, administrative harassment, and national security charges to gradually dismantle their community ties and organizational structure,” Fu stated.
As of publication, the Wuhou Branch of the Chengdu Municipal Public Security Bureau and Hongpailou Police Station had not publicly responded to the incident.
Gao Zhensai is a special correspondent for ChinaAid News. Founded in 2002, ChinaAid is an international Christian human rights organization committed to promoting religious freedom and the rule of law in China through advocacy, legal support, and international awareness campaigns.