(Xi’an, Shaanxi Province – April 4, 2024) On March 25, 2024, the Xi’an Church of Abundance issued a prayer request letter, revealing the latest development in the case involving Pastor Lian Changnian, Lian Xuliang, and Preacher Fu Juan, who were accused of “fraud.” The case entered the court at the end of January 2024, with the court’s prosecution against the three Christians the amount of ￥390,000 yuan($54,030 U.S. dollars), and the suggested sentences of 5 years.
The Xi’an Church of Abundance that Pastor Lian Changnian ministers is affiliated with the “China Gospel Fellowship,” a house church with 10,000,000 congregants originated from the Tanghe area of Henan Province. China Gospel Fellowship has developed and become a national house church system with evangelical and Pentecostal features, consisting of a few hundred pastors, and a few dozen missionary teams, so it is one of the most developed house churches in China. The China Gospel Fellowship has long faced persecution from the government, being categorized as one of the several banned cult organizations. There have been numerous large-scale arrests of pastors, co-workers, and congregants. Pastor Lian Changnian himself has been imprisoned multiple times.
Since July 20, 2022, Christians from the Church of Abundance have been continuously receiving oral summons and home visits from the police of the Shilipu Police Station in Xi’an. Some Christians’ homes have been searched. According to summoned believers, the police officers have used threats related to their job and children’s schooling to demand that they surrender church offerings, provide false testimony, and accuse the pastor of fraud and spreading cults. They have even coerced believers into fabricating false facts and exaggerating the amount of their offerings. Some police officers have deceived summoned believers by claiming that the pastor receives a monthly salary of ￥50,000 yuan （~￥6,927 U.S. dollars）, and they have told summoned believers that the larger their reported offering amounts, the more money will be recovered.
On August 17, 2022, the Shilipu Police Station in Xi’an detained Pastor Lian Changnian under the charge of “fraud” and placed him under “residential surveillance at a designated location”. Pastor Lian Xuliang, his son, and co-worker Fu Juan were also placed under “residential surveillance at designated location” on the same charge. After being secretly detained by the government for six months, their family finally received news about them. During their period of residential surveillance, the three individuals endured torture including starvation, physical abuse, forced ingestion of unknown substances, and prolonged denial of restroom access to force them to provide false testimony. It wasn’t until February 15, 2023 at midnight, that Pastor Lian Changnian, Lian Xuliang, and Fu Juan were formally criminally detained on suspicion of “fraud”. After being transferred to the detention center, their access to food and sleep was finally ensured.
On March 22, 2023, with approval from the Baqiao District People’s Procuratorate in Xi’an, Pastors Lian Changnian, Lian Xuliang, and Preacher Fu Juan were formally arrested on suspicion of “fraud.” Subsequently, the police continued to summon Christians from their church, resorting even to brutal torture methods such as handcuffing, shackling, and covering heads with curtains, coercing them to betray church leaders and renounce their faith. Even Christians from other churches that are associated with the Church of Abundance were taken to hotels by the police, where they were handcuffed to benches and subjected to intimidation, insults, and forced confession.
Since August 17, 2022, Pastor Lian Changnian, Pastor Lian Xuliang, and Preacher Fu Juan have been detained for over one year and seven months. The Church of Abundance stated in yesterday’s prayer request letter that in its thirty years of existence, the church has strictly adhered to the teachings of the Bible, and there has never been a report of a pastor defrauding anyone. This case is purely a wrongful accusation! They requested brothers and sisters to pray for them. They also expressed hopes for the legal status and freedom of belief for Chinese house churches.
