Urgent Bulletin Reveals Alarming Developments in Yang Rongli’s Trial
(Linfen, Shanxi, China – April 18, 2025) The son of Yang Rongli, pastor of the Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, Shanxi, issued an urgent bulletin detailing the latest developments in the April 17, 2025 trial of his mother and eleven other church co-workers. The bulletin reveals deeply concerning developments regarding the case.
Church Labeled as Criminal Organization
According to the bulletin, Yang Rongli is well aware that the potential sentencing and determination of the charges currently faced by the 12 co-workers, including herself, are effectively being concentrated solely on her. The prosecution has determined Golden Lampstand church as a “criminal fraud organization,” labeling Yang Rongli and her husband as the “criminal ringleaders.” At the same time, the remaining ten co-workers are accused of being “members of Yang Rongli’s criminal group.” The outcome of Yang Rongli’s individual defense will directly impact whether all the defendants and indeed the entire church, will be officially designated as a “crime syndicate.”
Defense Strategy and Courtroom Protest
Her son disclosed that even before the trial began (on April 16), Yang Rongli specifically instructed her lawyers not to compromise or coordinate in any form of “theater” during the proceedings but to conduct a serious legal defense.
On April 17, the day of the hearing, when the defense attorneys entered the court with laptops, it led to a tense negotiation over their legal rights issues with the court. In response to the lawyers’ firm protests, the court maintained a hardline stance and provided no legal justification. This series of happenings further reinforced Yang Rongli and her legal team’s judgment that the prosecution had already predetermined the verdict and was intent on forcibly imposing guilt upon the defendants and the church and would not be providing a way out.
Lawyers Resign in Protest
Under the position of firm refusal to cooperate in “theater,” Yang Rongli and her lawyers agreed to collectively resign from the case as a form of strong protest. On the afternoon of April 17, three lawyers formally submitted their resignation documents to the court. Another lawyer, Zhang Kai, after consulting with Yang Rongli’s husband, also chose to protest outside the courtroom as a show of firm resistance.
Yang Rongli and her husband have decided that if the court insists on proceeding with the trial in the absence of their legal counsel, they will neither admit guilt nor accept punishments; instead, they will choose to self-represent.
Spiritual Resistance Through Fasting
What is worrisome is that Yang Rongli had long foreseen the development of the situation and thus began a total fast from both food and water. As of April 18, it was the fourth day. She has resolved to undertake fasting, this form of Christian spiritual discipline, as a wholehearted reliance on God’s deliverance and as her final, sorrowful protest, hoping to use her own life to testify to the collective innocence of the 12 brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as the entire Golden Lampstand church.
She cannot accept that the family members who have served faithfully alongside her for years are now branded as “members of the Yang Rongli fraud organization.”
It is reported that Yang Rongli has written a will and informed her son on how to handle matters should anything happen. Her son also stated that he will support his mother and walk this path to the end with her.
At the end of the statement, he wrote: “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I am deeply honored that such a good shepherd is my mother.”
Ongoing Persecution of the Golden Lampstand Church
This urgent bulletin reveals the grim circumstances surrounding the trial of the case of the Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen and the profound suffering and resistance Yang Rongli has undertaken to defend her faith and the innocence of the church.
The Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen is a well-known house church in Shanxi. For a long time, it has been targeted by local authorities for refusing to join the “Three-Self Patriotic Association.” As early as 2009, Golden Lampstand church suffered a major crackdown by the government, resulting in severe property loss. Multiple co-workers, including Yang Rongli, were sentenced and sent to re-education through labor under charges such as “illegal occupation of farmland,” which drew significant attention from both domestic and international churches and human rights organizations. It has since been regarded as a representative case of the worsening state of religious freedom in China.
A Symbol of Religious Suppression in China
Years later, the persecution of the Golden Lampstand Church has not ceased. In 2021, Yang Rongli, her husband Wang Xiaoguang, and other church members were arrested again, this time on charges of “fraud.” It is widely believed that this is a typical tactic used by local authorities to suppress and frame house churches that refuse to submit to official control. This trial unfolds against the backdrop of prolonged repression against the Golden Lampstand Church, and its fairness is severely questioned.
The Golden Lampstand church case is widely seen as an example of the tense relationship between unregistered house churches and the Chinese government.
China Aid Association is closely monitoring the ongoing developments of this major church case, which urgently requires the attention of the broader public.
(Reported by Special Correspondent Gao Zhensai of ChinaAid)
