China

“Its Religious Affairs Office has announced that not only must all religious organizations get state approval for any activity they undertake. They are also expected to ‘spread the principles and policies of the Chinese Communist Party.’” - Acton

“China will enforce new restrictions on religious groups, organizations, meetings, and other related events starting on February 1.” - Catholic Herald

“Major news outlets are reporting that a secretive court in China has sentenced detained Christian pastor Wang Yi to 9 years in prison for inciting subversion of the government. Yi is one of the country’s most famous Christian leaders who founded and leads a large, well-known house church in the country.” - RNS

“As more government officials in China are empowered to close churches and a ‘social credit’ system threatens to block Christians from schools, bank loans and jobs, authorities have taken harsh measures against more churches, sources said.” - Church Leaders

“Authorities in China forcibly removed Christians and arrested several faith leaders gathered at a state-recognized church that suddenly was deemed ‘illegal’ by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), moments before it was demolished, according to a Chinese persecution watchdog.” - Fox

“From that day on, the lesson has been branded on my heart: freedom of religion and conscience is a precious, foundational, and indispensable right, and we must never take it for granted.” - Os Guinness

“Shouwang and Early Rain are two high-profile examples of China’s renewed crackdown on unregistered churches, just one part of the Chinese government’s campaign to ‘sinicize’ religion, which means to reshape religion so that it supports the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).” - World

“Shouwang Church, which famously kept meeting outdoors after losing its pastor and worship space, is the fourth major unregistered congregation to be forcibly closed in recent months.” - Christianity Today

“Nearly 50 more members, including 11 kids, of a Chinese megachurch closed down by the communist government in December were arrested at two different venues last Sunday, a watchdog group has reported.” - Christian Post

“Last fall, missionary John Miller sat in the back row of an unregistered church in Sichuan province, worshipping as he had every Sunday morning for the past year and a half. Then eight police officers walked in.” - WORLD