China police raid underground church service, detain two Early Rain leaders

China police raid underground church service, detain two Early Rain leaders

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An underground church in China says two of its leaders remain in custody after armed police raided a Sunday service in the country’s south-west and detained dozens of worshippers, including children.

Early Rain Covenant Church said officers entered a hotel ballroom in Jiangyou at about 11am on Sunday, during worship. The church, founded in Chengdu in 2008, shared images and video footage on Telegram showing congregants seated in rows while a line of SWAT officers stood around them. Members estimated at least 50 police officers were involved.

The church said “more than 30 members and leaders were forcibly taken away in several police vehicles” and driven to Jiangyou detention centre for questioning. It said those detained “fellowshipped, sang hymns, and prayed until most of them were released.”

It added that others, mainly elderly people and children, were kept in the ballroom for hours and subjected to identity checks. In one clip described by the church, a plain-clothes officer repeatedly ordered the congregation to stop singing from the stage, but worship continued.

Early Rain said police attempted to have those kept in the ballroom sign an affidavit in exchange for release, but they refused. The group was allowed to leave around 6pm.

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The church said the remaining detainees were released later that night, between 9pm and 11pm. Two preachers, Yan Hong and Wu Wuqing, were still being held, and the church said it had not been told why they were detained.

Early Rain said both men have previously been held, most recently in January when police summoned them for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.

The BBC reported that Early Rain has long been under pressure from Chinese authorities. Its founder, Pastor Wang Yi, was arrested during a raid in December 2018 and is serving a nine-year prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operations”.

China officially counts about 44 million Christians, but the figure does not include the many who worship in unregistered “house churches”. The Communist Party allows only state-approved churches with government-vetted pastors, and rights groups say pressure has intensified in recent years.

The BBC also noted that in October last year, police detained 30 leaders from Zion Church, another underground network, in raids across seven cities. Its founder, Ezra Jin, remains in custody.

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