Chinese House Churches Raided, Two Foreign Pastors Missing

Chinese House Churches Raided, Two Foreign Pastors Missing

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

SICHUAN/HENAN, CHINA (ANS) -- ChinaAid (www.ChinaAid.org) has told the ASSIST News Service that on Sunday, September 26, 2010, Youqing Church in Qu County, Da Prefecture, Sichuan province, China, was raided by the local police.

"Objects were smashed, books were confiscated and people were taken to the local police station," said a ChinaAid spokesperson. "Their family members were requested to pay money to bail out the detainees.

"On September 29th at 5 p.m. local time, four of the church members attempted to negotiate with Sichuan police in hopes of having their confiscated belongings returned to them in accordance with law. Instead, they were arrested on the spot."

ChinaAid is also reporting that a raid was conducted on Wednesday,September 22, 2010, at around 4 p.m on the Mid-Autumn Festival Day where a house church meeting in Wancheng District, Nanyang City, Henan province ,was invaded and all who were present, except for one elderly woman, were arrested.

"Two foreign pastors present at the meeting, one from the United States and one from Russia, were detained and so was their translator," said the spokesperson. "During the arrests, one member of the church, Ma Hanzhong, was beaten. The whereabouts of the two foreign instructors are unknown. The officials of Henan province have threatened to sentence the detained believers to re-education through labor."

In both of these critical cases, ChinaAid calls for worldwide attention and advocacy on behalf of those in need.

"We encourage Christians to stand with the persecuted and continue to pray for them," added the ChinaAid spokesperson.