of a widespread crackdown against active Christians meeting in homes across the Communist nation, a key religious rights watchdog announced Friday, February 13.
The well informed Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) said Ms. Qiao Chunling, a 41-year-old resident of Fangcheng city in Henan province, was arrested during a house church service at Guanlin, Luoyang city. "Ms. Qiao is a very important house church leader closely associated with Mr. Li Tian’en, one of the most prominent house church leaders in China," VOM claimed.
Another church leader, 58-year old Ms. Xu Yongling, was detained the next day at Nanyang city also in Henan province. "She was asleep at the home of a local church member when police raided and arrested her," VOM added in a statement monitored by BosNewsLife.
"Deborah" Xu is the sister of prominent house church leader Peter Xu Yongze, who now lives in the United States. She has been arrested many times in the past and is now the leader of the "Born Again Movement" church, which claims to have millions of members throughout China, VOM said. In addition Mr Zeng Guangbo, 35, was arrested January 25 at a house church at Zengzhuang village, Yuanzhuang town in Deng county of Henan province.
ESCAPING CUSTODY
He escaped from custody two days later, and is currently in hiding in China, VOM said. "Zeng is a former military policeman who worked in the Department of Broadcasting and TV in Beijing before he was expelled because of his relationship with Peter Xu’s house church in 1988. Since his first arrest, Mr Zeng has become a very active house church leader."
The latest arrest came as VOM received what it described as "shocking" video of an unregistered Chinese church being destroyed. VOM said the video, which was smuggled out of the country, showed how "The Tu Du Sha Church at Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province was bulldozed to the ground last June 26. The church was started around 1930 by Hudson Taylor’s group, China Inland Mission, and had grown in size to a weekly attendance of 1,500 members."
Police forces reportedly arrived before 4:00 a.m. expecting the church to be empty. Instead, they apparently found 300 believers gathered for prayer. "The police left, but returned just before 8:00 a.m. with 200 military policemen and more than 40 vehicles. In spite of the protests of church members, the church was completely destroyed. A Chinese Christian covertly videotaped the entire scene, and the video was smuggled out of the country," VOM said.
UNIQUE VIDEO
"In our 36 years of ministry, we’ve never had a video tape like this," said Tom White, VOM’s USA Director. "This tape shows how the Chinese government treats Christian groups that refuse to register."
Church analysts say that the Communist authorities have become increasingly concerned as the country is reportedly experiencing the fastest church growth in the world. Yet, the U.S.-based Christian broadcaster Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) has said it is preparing to reach China with the Gospel and that it has made some progress in talks about these plans with Chinese Communist officials.
