Displaying items by tag: China

Journalist and church deacon of Early Rain Covenant Church, Zhang Guoqing, was missing for several days before it was discovered he was being held in police custody for ‘provoking trouble’. He had published a story of how the pastor’s mother, Chen Yaxue, had been beaten up by a policeman, and how one officer had grabbed her hair and kicked her. Also, eight Christian families from the same church were evicted from their homes and two fired from their jobs, after police pressured landlords and employers. Twelve Christians are currently being held in criminal detention, and one is missing. Pray for them all, asking the LORD to be a shield of protection around them (Psalm 3:3). Pray for the Lord’s provision for those who have lost their homes and jobs. Ask also for mental and physical healing for Chen Yaxue, after the cruel police assault.

European and Arab leaders recently held their first summit in a bid to bolster cooperation and protect their traditional diplomatic, economic and security interests while China and Russia move to fill the vacuum left by the United States. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, who organises summits for EU countries, acknowledged that ‘there are differences between us’, but said neighbours had much at stake. ‘We need to cooperate and not leave it to global powers far from our region’, he told leaders from forty countries. He did not name those powers, but an EU source confirmed he meant China and Russia. A suspected Russian spy working in the Swedish high-tech industry was arrested in Stockholm on 26 February. He was ‘suspected of being recruited as a Russian agent working under diplomatic cover’. See

Brother John and his friends met villagers playing music on a mountainside. John shared the hymn Amazing Grace with them and started talking about God’s grace, while a team member prayed silently. The team member said, ‘I think one of these older ladies has a painful knee’. One woman said, ‘Yes, I do, it’s terrible’, and her sister said, ‘Both my knees have problems.’ John said ‘The Creator God can heal those knees, can we touch them and ask Him to heal them? They agreed, and then John said, ‘In the name of Jesus, be well’. One elderly lady looked surprised and started doing deep knee bends. ‘What just happened? Is the pain gone?’ ‘Yes, the pain is gone!’ was the reply. The team prayed again and she was filled with the Spirit. Three ladies gave their lives to Jesus, received Bibles, and were taught how to study God’s word.

Figures for the persecution of Christians have shown a 'shocking increase', by 13.9% according to Open Doors World Watch List 2019. Asia has a sharp rise. China rose 16 places to number 27, with new laws to control all expressions of religion. Some church leaders say it is the worst since the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976. India, the world's largest democracy, is now number 10 on the list. Hindu extremists act with impunity, violently attacking Christians and churches and non-Hindu religious minorities. Rising nationalism is leading to persecution in Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal, where national identity is tied to religion and those from minority faiths are considered outcasts. Persecution in North Korea has been worse than any other country for the last 18 years. In the north and middle of Nigeria, 3,700 Christians were killed for their faith - almost twice as many as the previous year.

In December around a hundred Chinese Christians from a church in Chengdu, including the pastor and his wife, were imprisoned on allegations of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ (see). In a public letter, Pastor Wang makes clear that he does not seek to overthrow the state but to worship freely. He writes, ‘Separate me from my wife and children, ruin my reputation, destroy my life and my family - the authorities are capable of doing all of these things. However, no one in this world can force me to renounce my faith.’ Barnabas Fund is urging Christians to pray for the imprisoned pastor through their new webpage ‘Christian Prisoners of Conscience’.

Recently, questions were raised around UK complacency regarding cyber-security. Australia and New Zealand have refused to allow the Chinese firm Huawei to supply mobile networks with 5G equipment, saying it posed ‘significant security risks’ - a polite way of saying that Beijing might use 5G to disrupt communications in a future dispute. Canada recently arrested the Huawei founder’s daughter. America wants her extradited, stating that China is aggressively engaged in undermining US national security interests. The UK could be the only country allowing Huawei to play a key role in delivering the data on which everything from self-driving cars to smart city sensors will rely. Many believe that if Huawei is banned, China might refuse to do business with us in other fields post-Brexit. See also world article 2, and

Although Donald Trump and President Xi recently announced a trade agreement between the US and China, some believe 5G mobile networks might yet spark a further ‘trade war’. These mobile data networks will be rolled out commercially over the next decade, preparing the way for driverless cars and smart cities. Some say 5G technology, 100 times faster than today’s connections, could be a bigger leap forward than the original internet, and countries using it successfully will dominate 21st-century trade and commerce. Whoever builds and controls the new networks will take on huge political and economic importance. The US now wants to stop Chinese technology companies from taking a lead in this field. China is racing to gain a head start in these new technologies, and views 5G as potentially the key to 21st-century superpower status. See also UK article 3.

In Beijing, police have detained dozens of churchgoers and leaders of Early Rain Church in Chengdu, one of China's most prominent Protestant ‘house’ churches, in the latest government action against unregistered religious groups. Members of the church have been unable to contact pastor Wang Yi, the church's founder, or his wife, and church groups on the instant messaging platform WeChat have also been blocked. China's constitution guarantees religious freedom, but since President Xi Jinping took office six years ago, the government has tightened restrictions on religions seen as a challenge to the authority of the ruling Communist Party. The law requires that all places of worship register and submit to government oversight, but some churches have declined to register, for various reasons.

China’s planned artificial intelligence-controlled ‘social credit’ system is bringing a new depth of intervention into the lives of its citizens, including Christians. A vast network of advanced surveillance technology uses monitors individuals’ location, records their facial expressions and body language, and tracks all movements, giving them ‘social scores’ as they go about their daily lives. The expanding system could severely affect Christians if they are deemed to demonstrate ‘dissent’. In September 2018 the largest house church in Beijing was shut down for refusing to have security cameras inside their building, and 344 pastors called on the authorities to allow full religious freedom, adding, ‘For the sake of the gospel, we are prepared to bear the loss of our freedom and of our lives.’ Meanwhile the Bible Society reported the Bible is China’s best-seller, even though there are only 4,600 ordained pastors. On average, every pastor is responsible for 6,700 Christians.

2018 has seen a growth in the persecution of Christians, in some cases with a significant increase. There is a battle going on as more people embrace the Gospel. Here are three nations to pray for – two facing persecution and the third traumatised by civil war.

CHINA

• New regulations on religious affairs were introduced in February of this year. Persecution has intensified – churches have been demolished and crosses destroyed, some churches are seeing pictures of Jesus replaced with pictures of President Xi.
• In the western Xinjiang region over a million Uighurs have been put in “re-education centres”. This is a non-Chinese part of China and there are a heavy army and police crackdown. Christian friends just returned from Xinjiang report that Christians have also been sent to the camps. They cite the case of a Christian friend whose husband has been returned to his country of birth and the wife has been imprisoned for 18 years with no charges so no appeals can be made about her sentence.
• The three self-movement who are registered with the government have been told that nobody under 18 can attend their services to stop “indoctrination.”

Pray for strength and boldness for those caught up in this situation and for God’s love to astound their persecutors.

INDIA

• Persecution is intensifying. Extreme Hindus have an aim to eradicate every Muslim and Christian from India by 2021. In some places, they seem to have support from the government and the police. Pastors have been killed and their own family accused of the murder despite eyewitness reports of Hindu extremists.
• This is also a time of unprecedented church growth with many testimonies of miracles and amazing moves of the Holy Spirit amongst young people. The remarkable children’s prayer movement is growing. One district had no Christians 10 years ago and now has 200 churches.
• Persecution is more likely in traditional rural areas and in the north but radical Hindus can, and do, arise anywhere.

Pray for God’s Holy Spirit to blow on his church. Pray for more of you Lord. More miracles, more conversions, more joy, more children and young people on fire for Jesus. Bless your remarkable people in India.

YEMEN

• Houthi Shia Muslim rebel movement seized large areas of Yemen in 2014 when a new president was appointed. The Houthis went on to take Yemen’s largest city Sanaa, forcing President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi into exile abroad.
• The conflict escalated dramatically in March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Muslim Arab states - backed by the US, UK, and France - began air strikes against the Houthis, with the declared aim of restoring Mr. Hadi's government.
• The Iranians backed the Houthis and this impoverished nation became the surrogate battleground for the Middle East’s big players. The UN fears that up to 14 million Yemenis face famine.

Pray for peace and for food to reach the starving. Pray for people disillusioned with Islam to discover Jesus.

Steve Botham, Director of World Prayer Centre