An influential Protestant church in China said two of its leaders were arrested after more than dozens of worshipers, including children, were detained for questioning.
They were midway through Sunday service in the southwestern city of Jiangyou when armed police stormed the room they were in, Early Rain Covenant said in a statement Monday.
Founded in 2008 in the city of Chengdu, the church has long been on the Chinese Communist Party’s radar given the region’s tight control of religion.
Founding pastor Wang Yi was arrested in a raid in December 2018 and is serving a nine-year prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operations.”
The reasons for the arrest on Sunday of two of its leaders, Yan Hong and Wu Wuqing, are still unclear, the Church said in its statement published on Telegram. Chinese authorities have not yet responded to this statement or made any comments.
The church also shared photographs and videos showing worshipers sitting in a hotel ballroom surrounded by a team of Special Weapons and Tactical Unit (SWAT) officers.
At least 50 police officers were present during the raid at 11:00 a.m. local time, according to some members’ estimates.
More than 30 members and leaders were “forcibly taken away in several police vehicles” and interrogated at the Jiangyou detention center, the Church said. Throughout the process, they “exchanged, sang hymns and prayed until most of them were released,” the statement added.
Other worshipers, including elderly people and children, were locked in the ballroom and subjected to identity checks, according to the church. Clips show worshipers singing even as a plainclothes officer took the stage and repeatedly shouted at them to stop.
The church said the officers attempted to convince those in the ballroom to sign an affidavit in exchange for their release, but did not disclose the contents of the affidavit. The worshipers refused and were finally released at 6:00 p.m.
Aside from Yan and Wu, those taken for questioning were released between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Both preachers have already been arrested by authorities, the most recent being in Januarywhen they were summoned by the police for “picking quarrels and causing trouble”.
Chinese authorities said in 2018 that there were 44 million Christians in the country, but it is unclear whether that figure includes those who attend the many underground churches.
The Communist Party pressures Christians to join only state-sanctioned churches led by government-approved pastors.
Many have turned to underground churches, also known as “house churches,” over the years, but Christian groups say the government’s grip has tightened noticeably and arrests have become more frequent.
“[Sunday’s] This raid is another stark reminder that the Chinese Communist Party continues to view peaceful Christian worship as a threat to state control,” says Bob Fu, founder of ChinaAid, a nonprofit that monitors religious persecution.
In October last year, 30 leaders of the Zion Church, another of China’s largest underground churches, were arrested in seven cities. Its founder Ezra Jin remains in detention.