China House Churches Want Parliament Investigation Into Crackdown

And the Government war against my Chinese brothers and sisters in Christ continues. I pray that God will keep them in this time of trial and that they won't renounce their faith.

5/12/2011 China (BosNewsLife) – Pastors of “house” churches in China urged the country’s parliament Wednesday, May 11, to investigate a police crackdown on one of Beijing’s largest underground churches while Chinese Christian leaders in the United States and Canada launched a global signature campaign to support the embattled Shouwang Church, supporters said.

Wednesday’s petition to China’s ‘National People’s Congress’ is the first such action by Chinese house churches, also known as the underground church, in 60 years of Communist rule of China, explained advocacy group China Aid Association (CAA). “It represents a further emboldening of the house church movement, which for decades was active only in the countryside, meeting in small groups in private homes and careful to maintain a low profile to avoid attracting government attention to the illegal gatherings,” added CAA, which is supporting the iniative.

Besides asking for a special commission to look into the Shouwang Church events, the petition also demands a review “of the constitutionality of China’s current rules governing religious affairs,” CAA explained.

CHRISTIANS DETAINED

The action follows the detention of over a dozen Shouwang Christians Sunday, May 8, in the fifth week of tensions with authorities over church attempts to hold outdoor worship services, Christians said. Earlier, hundreds of Christians were detained or put under arrest to prevent them from leaving their houses or apartments including on Easter weekend, according to church members.

Chinese authorities have also driven people out of their houses or apartments, a church member told BosNewsLife. In one of the latest reported incidents, at least one family was forced to leave their home Sunday, May 8, before the worship service was about to begin. Shouwang Church has defended its decision to hold open air services saying authorities effectively banned its indoor gatherings. China’s authorities have denied wrongdoing saying Christians are free to gather in the official, state-backed, churches.

OUTDOORS WORSHIP

Advocacy groups say however that many of China’s up to 130 million Christians prefer to worship outside Communist government control including “house” churches, named this way as they are often organized in homes of individual believers. (Source)

…