(Xi’an – November 4, 2025) Pastor Lian Xuliang, Pastor Lian Changnian, and Sister Fu Juan of Xi’an Church of Abundance were arrested and detained again on November 2 by the First Branch of the Xi’an Municipal Public Security Bureau. They are once again facing the highly controversial charge of “fraud.” According to the arrest notices, the operation was approved by the Baqiao District Court of Xi’an City, and the three Christians are currently being held at the Weiyang District Detention Center in Xi’an.

Repeated Detentions and Prolonged Legal Pressure

This is not the first time that the church’s pastoral team has been detained by authorities. Back on August 17, 2022, Pastor Lian Xuliang, Pastor Lian Changnian, and Sister Fu Juan were previously detained on the same charge of “fraud” and spent two years and eight months in custody. However, the three of them were later placed under residential surveillance at a designated location and released on bail on April 12, 2025. Pastor Lian Changnian was allowed to receive hospital treatment due to severe deterioration of his health, but on November 2, they were once again formally arrested and taken into custody.

Pastor Lian Changnian is 71 years old this year.

In a public statement released on the 4th, Church of Abundance said: “This case was tried on July 9, 2025, and no verdict has yet been issued. What is shocking is that while awaiting the verdict, the authorities took the three individuals away again and detained them.”

“Fraud” Used as a Tool Against House Churches

This pattern of repeated arrests, prolonged detention, and being detained once again after being released on bail highlights the authorities’ intentional use of legal procedures to exert ongoing pressure and psychological torment on Christian communities.

In recent years, the charge of “fraud” has increasingly been used by local governments across China as a common tactic to suppress pastors of house churches systematically. The charge serves to effectively damage the social reputations of churches and pastors while avoiding the use of religious-related criminal charges (such as those involving “cults”) as defined in criminal law, thereby reducing the level of scrutiny from international communities.

Weak Evidence and Political Motives

House churches in many regions will have voluntary offerings and tithings during gatherings (a standard Christian practice), and the fact that pastors have been charged with “fraud” merely for practicing it demonstrates that these cases are not truly criminal in nature but are instead driven by directives from higher-level state security authorities.

In the Church of Abundance case, in order to complete the legal process, prosecutors pinpoint the testimony of a supposed “victim,” Qin Wen, as the primary basis for the fraud allegations. However, the “victim” has stated that she was never harmed and publicly stated that she was coerced into cooperating in making a false accusation. She has independently hired legal counsel to clear the names of the three individuals. This leaves the prosecution’s case on unstable ground and further exposes the political motivations and weak evidence behind the charges.

Call for International Attention

The Xi’an Church of Abundance has been in operation for 30 years and is one of the significant house churches in the local region. It was officially banned by the Xi’an Civil Affairs Bureau on August 19, 2022, on the grounds of being an “illegal social organization.” The re-arrest of Pastor Lian Changnian, Pastor Lian Xuliang, and Sister Fu Juan is not only a persecution of one church but also a clear indication of the Chinese government’s zero-tolerance stance toward unregistered house churches and its systematic violation of citizens’ religious freedom.

ChinaAid strongly calls on the U.S. government and President Trump’s administration to engage in firm diplomatic negotiations with China’s highest authorities, urging the Chinese government to abide by international conventions and safeguard the fundamental dignity and religious rights of Chinese citizens. The association also urges the international community to continue to pay attention to this matter and to ensure that “fraud” does not become a normalized tool for the authorities to suppress unofficial religious communities.

Reported by China Aid Association, based on the reports from the Kingdom Prayer Network