(China – December 18, 2024) On November 30, 2024, Chinese house church pastors, lawyers, and family members issued a joint statement regarding the “fraud” charges against Linfen Covenant House Church’s preachers Li Jie, Han Xiaodong, and brother Wang Qiang for maintaining their Christian faith.
Overview of the Joint Statement
The statement firmly opposes the persecution of Linfen Covenant House Church and other house churches under the guise of “fraud.” The Joint Statement points out that voluntary church offerings based on biblical principles are entirely reasonable and legal. The Chinese government’s criminalization of Christians under “fraud” charges harms the universal church worldwide.
It urges the Chinese government to comply with Article 36 of the Constitution regarding citizens’ religious freedom rights, as well as international conventions signed by China, including Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.
The statement calls for adherence to the principle of “separation of church and state,” immediate release of preachers Li Jie and Han Xiaodong, and nationwide withdrawal of all “fraud” cases against church co-workers based on house church identity.
The statement notes that Linfen Covenant House Church is a house church that affirms the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, as well as the Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort, and Belgic Confession. It is a Presbyterian-governed church that upholds the spirit of the Reformation and continues Puritan faith traditions.
A Timeline – What happened during the Linfen Covenant House Church Arrest?
On August 19, 2022, over 30 adults and 40 children from Linfen Covenant House Church were conducting outdoor activities at a scenic area in Lingshi County. Suddenly, many men rushed in, immediately handcuffing Li Jie and Han Xiaodong face-down on the floor. No explanation was given throughout the raid. Children were frightened to tears, and parents were forbidden from speaking when trying to protect them.
On August 23, Li Jie and his wife, and Han Xiaodong were placed under “residential surveillance at a designated location.” They were deprived of sleep for 5 days and 4 nights and subjected to physical punishment and humiliation. On November 1, Wang Qiang was arrested for refusing to make false testimony against Li Jie and Han Xiaodong and abandon his faith. During the residential surveillance at a designated location, he endured severe torture, including being tied to a “tiger bench” without sleep for 7 days and 7 nights and being beaten with books. Only after complaints to the Procuratorate was his status changed to criminal detention.
On May 26, 2023, the Yaodu District Procuratorate in Linfen prosecuted the case under “fraud” charges, but no trial has been held to date.
A List of “Fraud” cases against Chinese House Churches since 2018
Reports indicate that since 2018, there have been thirteen known cases of house churches persecuted under “fraud” charges:
- Wangjia Hunli House Church in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province
- Egangqiao Church in Ezhou, Hubei Province
- Linfen Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, Shanxi Province
- Ren’ai Reformed Church in Guiyang, Guizhou Province
- Deyang Qingcaodi Reformed Church in Deyang, Sichuan Province case
- Linfen Covenant House Church in Linfen, Shanxi Province
- Xi’an Church of Abundance in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province
- Case of two co-workers from Hefei Youth Fellowship charged with “fraud”
- Hefei Ganquan Church in Hefei, Anhui Province
- Bengbu Living Stone Reformed Church in Bengbu, Anhui Province
- Case of Chen Lijun, preacher of a house church in Luanchuan County, Luoyang, Henan Province
- Case of three Christians in Guangdong Province participating in online prayer meeting
- Case of three female Christians in Suining, Sichuan Province charged with “fraud”
The authorities’ logic for prosecution is: Since house church Pastors lack clergy certificate issued by the government and churches are unregistered, any church offerings constitute fraud. If this prosecution logic is allowed to expand fully, all pastoral co-workers in China’s house churches would be unjustly accused.
The Joint Statement against “fraud” charges
The Joint Statement declares: As Christians, we find many errors in these cases and hereby state our position:
- The Church is founded on the Holy Bible, and thus we follow Biblical principles for “offerings”
The authorities’ view that unregistered churches are illegal misplaces the church’s foundation. Whether a group is a church is determined by the Holy Bible, not by if it’s registered with the government. A biblical church necessarily follows Bible’s teachings on faith, life, and offerings.
In the Old Testament, Israelites were to give a tenth of their income to priests and Levites. A typical verse is Malachi 3:10: “‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.'”
In the New Testament, both Jesus and Apostle Paul stated that “the worker deserves his wages” and that “those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” Furthermore, “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17). Here, “honor” specifically refers to support received from the church by full-time or bi-vocational ministers.
- The church is founded on traditions, and church traditions grew together with “offerings”
Throughout 2000 years of church history, whenever Christianity spread to any culture or ethnic group, it taught believers to worship God, with offerings being part of worship. Christians are to offer their bodies, their lives, and naturally their money to serve God, supporting church needs and caring for the poor.
Christian churches in both East and West have established many monasteries, universities, and magnificent churches, all built through Christians’ donations of money, resources, knowledge, and time. More importantly, the church’s expansion from Jerusalem along the Mediterranean to the whole world was supported by Christian offerings.
In modern times, thousands of missionaries in China preached the gospel, built schools, hospitals, and conducted various evangelical and charitable works benefiting millions of Chinese people, costing a huge amount of money. All this was supported by countless Christian offerings.
Chinese house churches continue this tradition. They maintain Christ as the only head of the church, following the principle of separation of church and state – rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. Through worship and offerings, they glorify God. Whether ministers or ordinary believers, whether offering their lives or possessions to God, all join in glorifying God and receiving grace from Him.
- The legitimacy and legality of house church offerings are confirmed by domestic law and international conventions.
From a civil law perspective, Christian “offerings,” like monetary donations in other religions, constitute gifts under civil law. Believers’ offerings to churches become church property according to personal will. Churches support their co-workers as a basis for conducting worship, teaching, pastoral care, evangelism, and charitable work. Whether offerings go to churches or specific pastoral co-workers, the civil law gift relationship remains unchanged.
Such religious donations, whether called Christian “offerings,” Islamic “sadaqah,” or Buddhist “merit offerings,” are self-evidently legal and recognized in modern national legislation. This represents secular governments’ implementation of citizens’ religious freedom rights.
From constitutional and international conventions perspectives, religious freedom is the touchstone for protecting other basic rights. Religious freedom relates to freedom of speech, association, and assembly. If religious freedom isn’t protected, it often indicates the loss of speech, association, and assembly rights.
International Laws that protect Religious Freedom
Article 36 of the Constitution establishes religious freedom rights. International conventions including UDHR Article 18, ICCPR Article 18, the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of Religious Intolerance and Discrimination, and General Comment 22 explaining ICCPR Article 18, all emphasize the state’s obligation to respect, protect, and promote religious freedom, specifically in seven aspects:
- Freedom to have, choose, and change religion or belief
- Freedom to practice religion or belief, including rights to manifest, practice, and express beliefs privately or publicly
- Freedom from coercion in having, maintaining, or changing beliefs
- Freedom from discrimination
- Parents’ or guardians’ right to raise children according to their religious or life stance
- Institutional freedom and right to legal recognition. Religious groups should be officially recognized as communities and given legal entity status to form institutions representing their interests and rights. However, official registration or legal entity status should never be prerequisites for religious groups to exercise religious freedom or determine their affairs
- Right to conscientious objection. Religious freedom protects people from being forced to act against their conscience and core beliefs, especially regarding weapons or lethal force
We believe:
The authorities violate constitutional and rule of law by creating administrative regulations like the Religious Affairs Regulations, effectively dividing Chinese churches into registered Three-Self churches that accept government intervention and supervision, and numerous unregistered house churches that resist illegal government intervention and supervision of faith.
The authorities’ unjust legislation denies house churches legal entity status, directly violating the international principle that “religious groups should be granted legal entity status.” However, churches don’t lose their catholicity and two-thousand-year continuity with universal church core beliefs due to secular government’s bad laws.
Whether Three-Self or house church believers, all have the right to witness their faith through “offerings” – this is also all believers’ conscience obligation. Churches have the right to receive and independently use offerings according to biblical principles and two-thousand-year tradition.
The authorities’ simple logic that house church pastors without clergy certificate issued by the government and unregistered churches receiving biblical offerings constitute fraud offends all Christians and Christianity nationwide, trampling the Constitution and international conventions. Since all Christians essentially belong to Jesus Christ as one family, the authorities’ actions offend and harm Christians and churches worldwide.
Linfen Covenant House Church is a house church established according to biblical principles and church tradition. Authorities arrested co-workers, including Li Jie, Han Xiaodong, and Wang Qiang (currently released on bail), on charges of “fraud,” subjecting them to residential surveillance at a designated location, detention, and arrest as part of criminal enforcement measures. This has caused innocent individuals to suffer enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, and arrest. Fundamentally, it constitutes a severe violation of the right to freedom of religion or belief as guaranteed by China’s Constitution and international conventions.
Therefore, we jointly issue this statement urging authorities to:
- Respect constitutional and international convention-guaranteed religious freedom rights, implementing the “separation of church and state” principle of “rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”
- Immediately release Linfen Covenant House Church preachers Li Jie and Han Xiaodong, and withdraw all “fraud” cases nationwide against co- workers based on house church identity.
As of November 30, 2024, initial signatories (in order of last name):
Li Shanshan, family member of Linfen Covenant House Church case
Chen Ying, family member of Linfen Covenant House Church case
Wen Huijuan, family member of Linfen Covenant House Church case
Zhang Ruxin, family member of Linfen Covenant House Church case
Fang Xiangui, legal professional
Li Jinxing (Wu Lei), legal professional
Li Dabin, legal professional
Li Fangping, legal professional
Jiang Tianyong, legal professional
Wu Shaoping, legal professional
Yang Hui, legal professional
Li Yingqiang, Elder
An Yankui, Preacher
Yang Hua, Pastor
Wu Wuqing, Preacher
Zhang Tan, Chairman of Melbourne Overseas Chinese Mission
Hao Ming, Elder
Huang Xiaoning, Pastor
John (Sanqiang) Cao, Pastor
Regardless of where you are, if you agree with this joint statement and care about religious freedom in China, you can email us to sign with your real name in “name + occupation” format. We will release new signatory lists in batches.
Contact: [email protected]
(Reported by Special Correspondent Ningmeng for ChinaAid)