Shouwang Showdown, 15 Weeks In
Christianity Today has received a first-hand update on the continued standoff between Beijing authorities and one of China's largest house churches.
More than 14 weeks after Shouwang Church in Beijing moved its worship services outdoors in April after being evicted by its landlord due to government pressure, worshipers continue to gather on Sundays in the Zhongguancun district of Beijing even as local authorities make more arrests.
Promise Hsu reports that while most arrests have resulted in jail stints no longer than 48 hours, two churchgoers have been forcibly sent back to their hometowns by Beijing officials.
Hsu writes: "On June 27, Wang Chuanliang, a Shouwang member, was sent back to his hometown in the eastern province of Shandong by Haidian's Dongsheng Police Station and the Shandong provincial office in Beijing. It was the second repatriation since Shouwang began the outdoor worship on April 10th. It was the same Dongsheng Police Station that sent back Hu Jian, another Shouwang parishioner, to his hometown in the central Hubei Province in May. Hu Jian returned to Beijing almost a month later and continued to attend outdoor worship and thus was detained every Sunday since then."
In addition to arrests and repatriation by local authorities, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, China's state-sanctioned Protestant denomination, has increased efforts to admonish and convert Shouwang detainees.
Hsu writes that in early June, "Some Three-Self Church people were sent to police stations asking the detained parishioners to leave Shouwang Church and join them or put an end to the outdoor worship." He adds that Shouwang officials responded to these coercive measures with a quote from Romans 14 in the church's weekly bulletin: "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand."
Resilience has not come without division, however. Toward the end of May, Shouwang pastor Song Jun, minister Jian Lijin, and deacons Ji Cheng and Yuan Yansong left the church amid disagreements over the continued outdoor worship protests, according to Compass Direct News.
Despite internal conflicts, Shouwang has found support from nearly 20 other Chinese house churches that submitted a bold petition to the National People's Congress on May 11 requesting an amendment to China's religious freedom law as well as an end to the renting ban placed on Shouwang. But on May 31, police confirmed that pastor Shi Enhao, deputy chairman of the Chinese House Church Alliance, who filed the petition, was detained on suspicion of "using superstition to undermine national law enforcement" and held for 12 days. He was later detained indefinitely on June 21, this time as a criminal, and currently awaits government sentencing.
Hsu says that worshipers will continue gathering on Sundays until Christmas 2011, when they will reassess the situation if permanent space has not yet been allocated to the church.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify Shi Enhao's situation with the Chinese government.
Copyright © 2011 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere:
Promise Hsu also sent Christianity Today a report in late April.
Earlier coverage includes:
Why Beijing's Largest House Church Refuses to Stop Meeting Outdoors | Shouwang vows to continue showdown until Christmas in hopes of ending Achilles' heel of unregistered churches: government pressure on landlords. (Apr. 26, 2011)
Church in China to Risk Worshipping in Park | Evicted from one site and denied others, unregistered congregation resorts to open air. (Apr. 8, 2011)
The 'Handicap Icon' Gets New Life
Sidelining the Stigma of Mental Illness
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Chris Stigall
The issue is not wanting a mega-church. The issue is brothers and sisters in Christ being allowed to worship as God Himself has decreed He should be worshiped. This article barely scratches the surface of the oppression and persecution Chinese brothers and sisters face every day for attempting to do that. Do a little research; there are many pastors, and other servants of Christ, in prison, in China, right this moment. Not only are they being abused, but their families outside of prison are as well. Matthew 25:36 [I was] Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. It doesn't say, "I was in prison, and you claimed I wanted a mega-church".
Sean T
To make an equivalence with the petty problems we have in the west with what's happening in China is nothing less than a piece of monumental ignorance. And to accuse people whom you do not know there as indulging in mega church ego mania is hardly compassionate. I do know people in the thick of this event, some of whom have been imprisoned. And I can tell you that they would be praying for you now that God would forgive you for such ignorance.
Jim W
Strange that this story gains such traction in Western media. Every day US zoning restrictions inhibit Christians from worshiping in unauthorized places or building churches according to our unfettered choice. Are we as outspoken about those affronts to our religious freedom? In China the vast majority of believers (tens of millions) meeting in small house churches (generally 60 or less -- about the same size as the average sized church in the US) do so without harassment. The case of the Shouwang Church may be more about the leaders wanting to press the issue of size for an unregistered church because they want a mega-church and the publicity it brings. Is it necessary? House churches are thriving, rapidly reproducing and reaching many for Christ. Why force the issue of size, shaming local officials who are trying to enforce the law, resulting in more persecution for many who worship in real house churches? And why do we support the leaders who do so?
Vik Feodorov
I feel now, where my heart is, reading this information. Reminded me of the day, when my father was arrested for the first time. But, there is bright side: like the Soviet Union lost its war against Christ's message quite miserably, Gospel in China will not be stopped!