Okay.
People have been dialing in to live webcasts of the Early Rain Covenant Church in order to hold prayer meetings and gather, but even some of these have been stopped. On June 4 of this year, Chengdu police went into the home of one congregant and told him and his family that they could not get online that day. Since December, authorities have arrested a total of more than 300 members of this church, according to Early Rain, including children. As of March 27, we're still under some form of police custody, with 16 released but still subject to investigation, and 11 still detained in prison.
The church continues to send out daily scripture and posts videos of sermons. In one from earlier this month, which I think Chinese Christians and activists would want expressed to an international audience, Pastor Wang reads from the “Westminster Confession of Faith” about the role of the church and state.
Pastor Wang reads to his congregation and says that the role of Christ is as “the only head of the church”, and asks, “The government in China does not respect this stance of ours, does it?” He goes on to say that the government has not made laws ensuring “that all religious and ecclesiastical assemblies be held without molestation or disturbance”.
He adds, “The Bible says this is their responsibility. The Bible says that if a government does not fulfill this responsibility, it will one day be judged. They don't know, because they don't believe, but we do, so do we have a responsibility to tell them? Yes, we do.”
Thank you.