China: Vanishing Bishop
20 Jul 2012The day after his ordination last Saturday Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin resigned and then mysteriously disappeared. His fellow bishops say he has vanished and it is not known if he is in hiding or something more sinister. The authorities arMexico gang attacks Christian youth campe outraged because of a speech he made after his ordination and a friend said he is in a forced time of reflection. Chinese Catholics number between 8-12 million, and are divided between a state-sanctioned church that has installed bishops without Vatican approval and an ‘underground’ wing long wary of associating with the Communist Party-run church. (see PA 2012-28)
Pray: for Ma’s release, and may God use this situation to highlight to the West the need for positive change in China’s attitude towards Christianity.
More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48132012/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/
China: Support for Chen Guangcheng
08 May 2012An open letter from Women's Rights Without Frontiers has been sent to President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and Ambassador Locke, on Behalf of Chen Guangcheng stating, ‘The American people and the people of the world cry out for freedom for Chen Guangcheng. If you deliver him back into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, he will no doubt be imprisoned, tortured, possibly killed. Would you use this noble man as a bargaining chip in trade talks? To do so would be to sell the soul of our nation.’ Chen is an activist for the lives of women and babies in China; a man of inconceivable bravery. Poor, blind, beaten and detained, he stands alone against the crushing brutality of the communist regime’s One Child Policy. The women of China have suffered the torture of forced abortion and involuntary sterilization at the hands of the Chinese population control machine for thirty-two years.
Pray: as Secretary Clinton travels to Beijing next week - may she speak out on the world stage for Chen and women's rights. (Ps.12:5)
More: http://www.breakingchristiannews.com/index.php
China: Riots and persecution
16 Jun 2011
Pictures have been slow to emerge from the southern Chinese city of Xintang, where rioting factory workers enraged by the reported beating of a street vendor attacked police stations and torched vehicles over the weekend. Security forces are a constant presence on city streets, and residents have been told not to go out at night or transmit photos of the unrest online. However, a number of photographs taken by stringers working for Reuters and AFP have been made available over the past 24 hours. For images of this un-reported uprising click the more button, and pray as you view. Also according to ChinaAid sources two women ministers were beaten and detained for 24 hours last weekend after an outdoor praise and worship service attended by 100 house church Christians in Korla. See:
Pray: that all hidden violence and injustice be exposed and eradicated. (Ps.7:6)
China: Prayer for Christian rights lawyers
22 Feb 2011Two years after Beijing lawyer Gao Zhisheng was arrested there is still no news of his whereabouts or condition. There are many religious rights lawyers currently detained in China. Dr Fan Yafeng, head of the Chinese Christian Human Rights' Lawyers Association, was detained on December 9 and tortured repeatedly over several days – he is now under house arrest. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports 'an increase in the Chinese authorities' use of house arrest in recent months to suppress human rights activists. The decision to award the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo is considered the trigger for this crackdown. China Aid reports a recent increase in 'physical attacks on lawyers' by court officials. They also report a well-known blind legal activist, Chen Guangcheng, and his wife, being severely beaten this week over a YouTube video about their house arrest. They were confined to their bed and denied medical treatment after the attack.
Pray: for detained Christians to be aware of Jesus presence in the midst of their suffering. (Jn.ll:35)
More: http://www.releaseinternational.org/pages/posts/china-call-for-prayer-for-persecuted-christian-rights-lawyers-805.php
China: Police raid Christmas Eve service
12 Jan 2011
Police raided a house church Christmas Eve service in the south-western city of Chengdu on Friday night, taking into custody 17 believers, including one pregnant woman, sources told ChinaAid. Wang Yi, an elder of the Autumn Rain Church in Chengdu, Sichuan province, was taken to the local Caoshi Road police station, while the other brothers and sisters, as well as one non-Christian ‘seeker,’ were interrogated inside a police vehicle belonging to the Jinjiang sub-bureau. ChinaAid Association condemns the Chengdu authorities for their illegal raid on the Autumn Rain Church and for the totally superfluous act of taking church members into custody. It expresses its great respect to Wang, the other believers and the non-Christian ‘seeker’. By suffering persecution for the sake of your faith on Christmas Eve, you have truly lived out the real meaning of Christmas. Pray: for the Church as it faces ongoing challenges against meeting together. (Heb.10:25) More: http://www.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=35091&PN=1&TPN=1
China: Plans to 'eradicate house churches'
26 Apr 2012China has begun a campaign to eradicate house churches within ten years. Last September a secret document was issued by the Chinese authorities aimed at 'completely eradicating house churches' in three phases. (1) from January to June 2012- investigate house churches and create files on them. (2) to 'clean up' those churches within 3 years. (3) completely wipe out the house churches within 10 years. In December 2010, 'Operation Deterrence' was launched and Government officials were to 'guide' Christians attending unregistered churches to worship in government-approved Three-Self churches. At the same time, they were to break up larger churches, such as Shouwang Church in Beijing into smaller groups. Shouwang has been forced to hold services in the open-air since Easter 2011, and worshippers face surveillance and arrest. • Please pray also for Shouwang Church in Beijing, whose members faithfully meet outside in all weathers, under surveillance and at risk of arrest. Ask that God would embolden and protect them.
Pray: against the increase in persecution of house churches and for God to bless them with continued growth. (Is.65:22-24)
China: Persecution rising
24 Feb 2013Last year a three-phase plan to eradicate unregistered house churches began (See Prayer Alert 17-2012). Since then persecution has risen by 42%. 442 of the arrests were clergy. The three-phase approach arose because the government sees house churches as a hostile group of dissenters. The government intends to force Christians to join the official Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) church system. In last year’s first phase the state secretly investigated house churches across the country and created files on them. This was followed by a wave of crackdowns on house churches which has continued into 2013 as part of the second phase. Some house churches have registered to avoid arrests and harassment, but most object to TSPM theological beliefs and state controls. The number of Protestant house-church Christians has been estimated at between 45 million and 60 million.
Pray: against the tactics of banning and sealing churches, may there be a tsunami of Christian evangelism and conversion in China. (Is.11:9)
Pastor Bike is the chairman of the China House Church Alliance and is a passionate evangelist known for riding his bike across the country on missions of encouragement to the many Chinese House Churches. ChinaAid is reporting that on Monday September 20 during the trial of house church Christians Liu Yunhua and Gao Jianli, Pastor ‘Bike’ and his wife came to see the trial but were detained by the Public Security Bureau. Pastor Bike has been arrested and interrogated countless times in the past 10 years in his efforts to strengthen house church Christians. Other Christians who came to the trial were also detained on their way home. There is no record of their release. ChinaAid urges Xuchang's local government to respect Pastor Bike and his wife's rights as citizens and are calling on them to release the detained house church members. ‘We ask Christians worldwide to join us in prayer for their protection and encouragement,’ a spokesperson said. Pray: for God to use ChinaAid and other Christian resources to infuse His justice in this and similar situations in China. (Ps.7:9-10)