By Our Reporter
CHINA – Since taking power in 2012, China’s President Xi Jinping has ordered authorities to shut down any house church not under Communist government control, leading to what one expert says has been a “massive new wave of persecution” sweeping the nation.
This has prompted Christians in Hong Kong to attend church all dressed in black as a protest against mainland China’s crackdown on prominent congregations.
According to the South China Morning Post, the movement has been started by five progressive Christian groups that have launched an internet campaign in support of the action.
Organisers, according to Christian Today, said they had reached 47,000 people via Facebook. The Post visited one church in Tai Po where a third of the 500-strong congregation was dressed in black. Next week numbers are expected to rise, the news sources stated.
Hong Kong, formerly a British colony, experiences greater freedom than mainland China and Christians are more able to voice dissent.
Church leaders at the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu including its pastor Wang Yi are the latest to have been arrested by China authorities, who are particularly targeting ‘underground’ churches which are not part of official bodies.
Authorities tear down crosses, burn Bibles and replace images of Jesus Christ with posters of president, Wang Yi.
According to a prayer letter from Early Rain Covenant Church reported by China Aid, some of those Christians still in custody have been denied access to their lawyers.
Around 160 people from the church have now been arrested, some of whom have now been released but some of whom face criminal charges.
According to China Aid, preventing prisoners meeting with lawyers is ‘a tactic that violates Chinese law but is often employed during procedures targeting prisoners incarcerated for political or religious reasons’.
