China: Twenty-One Pastors Sent to Labour Camps
Mar 04 2008
Postings >> China

Twenty-one pastors have been sent en masse to labour camps amid growing suspicion that China is trying to gag house churches before the Beijing Olympics.

This move by the authorities in Shandong Province is the largest mass sentencing of house church leaders in a quarter of a century, according to China Aid.

The 21 leaders were among 270 people detained in December in Hedeng district, Linyi city, where they had gathered for leadership training. Sentences ranged from 15 months to three years for so called ‘evil cult’ activities. The other 249 were fined and released.

China Aid has drawn parallels with China’s first Yan Da (‘strike hard’) in 1983 when thousands of house church leaders were sent to labour camps.

Other recent arrests fuel suspicions that the Chinese authorities are trying to silence house church leaders to avoid potentially embarrassing protests about religious liberty during the Olympics. On February 20, the president of the Inner Mongolia branch of the Chinese House Church Alliance and 40 co-workers were detained when 100 police officers stormed a Bible study.

Two days earlier, two female leaders from the Alliance were seized at a station in Luohe, Henan province, while they were waiting for a train to Beijing. And four Christian women were held for five days after distributing gospel tracts at a bus station in Zhejiang province.

• Pray that China’s church will continue to stand firm amid intense persecution.
• Pray that countries such as ours will step up the pressure on China to reform.