(Chengdu — April 26, 2026) At around 9:00 a.m. on April 26, 2026, the Jinsha Yulin small group of Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Reformed Church (成都秋雨圣约归正教会) was raided by local police while holding a Sunday worship service. This marks another disruption at gatherings after the church has endured prolonged administrative and legal pressure.
According to worshippers present, officers from a nearby police station arrived at the gathering site less than an hour after the service began. Police conducted identity checks on those present and issued explicit warnings, requiring members not to rent housing for gatherings within the jurisdiction. After registering everyone’s identification information, the police left the scene. Due to the intervention, the day’s worship service was forced to a halt and could not proceed as planned.
Since the December 9, 2018, case, Early Rain Covenant Church has remained a key target of the authorities’ surveillance. Several of its leaders have long faced detention, sentencing, or house arrest.
As a key church leader, Elder Li Yingqiang (李英强) has been repeatedly taken away over the past several years. In the most recent major operation, he was criminally detained on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.” Despite facing legal risks, he has repeatedly stated that the church will continue to bear witness to faith in the public sphere, making him a focal point of police attention.
After the church’s main venue was closed down, gatherings were held in private residences across various districts of Chengdu in the form of “small groups.” The disruption of the Jinsha Yulin small group demonstrates that authorities’ suppression of such decentralized gatherings has become a routine practice.
Observers note that although no large-scale arrests were made in this incident, administrative measures such as “identity registration” and “pressuring landlords” (prohibiting rentals) are intended to restrict the church’s space for survival further. The ongoing situation of Early Rain Church has become an important indicator for the international community in assessing the state of religious freedom in China.
