Displaying items by tag: church destroyed

Chinese Christians in Anhui are said to be ‘outraged’ after their state-registered megachurch was demolished and their pastors arrested.

Demolition work (pictured) began at Funan County Christian Church on Friday, partway through a worship service. (More information and short video clip of the demolition here.)

Elderly church members knelt down in front of the church, begging officials not to destroy the building, says Release partner ChinaAid. Several fainted and required hospital treatment.

Pastors Geng Yimin and Sun Yongyao were arrested the next day on suspicion of ‘gathering a crowd to disturb social order’. Their church could seat up to 3,000 people.

ChinaAid Director Bob Fu says believers are ‘outraged’.

‘The Chinese Government is now ordering believers to worship in a remote endangered building which can only host a few hundred people,’ he said. Yet, ChinaAid says many Christians, including those in Funan, are too afraid to speak out for fear of more persecution.

Pray: that God will bless His people in Funan and provide a new building for them. Pray that they will grow in unity and faith through this ordeal.

Pray: for the immediate release without charge of Funan pastors Geng Yimin and Sun Yongyao. Ask God to comfort those who were distressed by the demolition.

Praise: God that Christianity is growing fast in China, despite intense persecution. Sources quoted by ChinaAid estimate that there are now more than 100 million Christians in China.

(Source: China Aid)

Uganda’s constitution provides for religious freedom, including conversion from one faith to another. Muslims make up 12% of Uganda’s population. Recently, Muslims in eastern Uganda sent a Christian mother to hospital with injuries for praying in Jesus’s name, and tore down a church building nearby. Both the woman and the church’s pastor fear that their lives are in danger. Deborah Gimbo was attacked while praying by herself in her home. She also prays three evenings a week in her home with two Christian women. The assailants said, ‘Today we warn you that you should avoid noisy prayers and the use of Issa [Jesus] in your prayers.’ A local imam told the assailants, ‘People who pray in Jesus’ name should be fought and pressured until they only worship Allah, or are killed’. Pastor Simon Mustafa Waseke, a former Muslim, had his church destroyed by villagers. The assailants threatened to kill him if he stays in the area.