Pastors report harassment as China clamps down on house churches

A Chinese pastor reported that government authorities were poised to clamp down next on their house church amid the communist state's ongoing crackdown on house churches.

According to China Aid, Zhongfu Canaan Church Pastor Zhang from southern Guangdong province recounted early this month how he was summoned by state authorities who referred to their church as an "illegal gathering" and then asked them to join Three-Self Patriotic Movement. TSPM is one of the largest Protestant denominations in the country.

Authorities also reportedly asked the pastor details about the church such as the identities of its members and their funding. Zhang said he told them that their church has already existed for decades and that they cannot join TSPM.

"No [official] has come yet [to enforce], but the landlord is already very frightened," Zhang told China Aid, which serves as a watchdog for Christian persecution in the country. "He said, 'You need to move out immediately....' This is our current circumstance," he added.

An unnamed pastor who also spoke to the organization shared that pastors discussed how to deal with the government's clampdown against the churches during the National Work Conference on Religions. The pastor opined that the clampdown is more likely to start "where the churches are most active," citing Shenzhen, Guangdong and Dongguan.

A Christian member of Houshi Church, the largest house church in Guiyang province, also spoke in anonymity in an earlier interview and revealed that they discovered a state-run center dedicated to church persecution.

"I knew [the government was] going to do something about the church, but I didn't expect it to be so serious," the Christian said, adding that targeting Houshi Church is only part of a "big plan" by the state.

"If they have a [command and control center] they can mobilize all their resources," the source continued. "At the beginning, I just thought it was just at the city-level, but this document suggests that there must be some provincial level [government body] or an even higher on the operation."