(Guangdong province) The Chinese government continues to ban Chinese house churches under the pretext of banning illegal social organizations. The Panyu Civil Affairs Bureau of Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province in southern China banned Guangzhou Bible Reformed Church on August 24th.
Guangzhou Bible Reformed Church Banned
This house church was not registered with the Chinese government. The notice from the Civil Affairs Bureau determined that Guangzhou Biblical Reformed operated as “an illegal social organization.”
Official notice
The announcement states: “Upon investigation, ‘Guangzhou Biblical Reformed Church’ is without registration, and has carried out unauthorized activities in the name of a social organization[… the church] falls under the category of an illegal social organization. After looking into it, it has now been decided to ban it.”
New strategy
Recently, multiple cases indicate that the Chinese government is implementing a unified approach to suppress family churches across different regions. Local civil affairs bureaus in several provinces have issued announcements to ban family churches, and even the wording and format of these announcements are remarkably consistent.
Background
Guangzhou Reformed Bible Church is a family church that adheres to reformed theology. Its leadership refused to join the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Pastor Huang Xiaoning of Guangzhou Reformed well-known in the area. Since the implementation of the new “Regulations on Religious Affairs” in 2018, police forcefully disrupted the church’s Sunday gatherings on multiple occasions. Pastor Huang has been repeatedly “invited for tea” (euphemism for being summoned by police for questioning) and detained.
Relentless persecution
The church has six branches, and in May of this year, five of these branches were simultaneously raided, during which elders, pastors, and co-workers were taken away by the police. On June 4th, the church’s Sunday worship was disrupted again. A joint operation was carried out by Guangzhou’s emergency office, general office, religious affairs bureau, public security bureau, fire department, dispersing believers and halting the church service. On the evening of the 21st, Pastor Huang Xiaoning’s house was cut off from electricity, and the door’s keyhole was blocked.
Other churches targeted
On May 4, in the same province (Guangdong), four Christians from the Shengjia Church in Shunde were criminally detained by authorities on suspicion of “illegal business operations.”
Challenges for house churches in China
According to Chinese law, worship activities of house churches are entirely legal. However, China’s political objectives and ideology do not permit the continued existence of house churches. Especially since 2012, China’s tolerance towards Christianity has significantly decreased, and Christians face extremely challenging realities. Despite the fact that the activities of Christians remain within the legal framework.
ChinaAid strongly urges the world to pay attention to the persecution of Christians by the Chinese government and calls for the intercession of the universal church.
~Gao Zhensai, Special Correspondent of ChinaAid
