Police arresting and detaining believers without a warrant of arrest, Christians being monitored, missing persons- these are just a few of what Chinese Christians experience in their own homeland, China.
Ren ruiting, a Chinese Christian woman, shares her terrifying experience from their own government. She recalled some of her unnerving experiences.
It was Dec. 9, 2018 and Ren just finished attending a rehearsal for a Christmas celebration of their church, Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, China. She decided to go out to eat, and while she was eating, her phone started vibrating. Unsettling messages were sent to her.
In an interview with the Christian Post, she said: "I started getting messages that police were arresting our church leaders and taking members from their homes,"
She didn't think much of it, at first, because it is normal for them to face such situation. She said: "People would go with the police officer for a couple of hours and then come back, so I wasn't too nervous at that time."
However, the messages became increasingly alarming over time.
Ren has been informed that their Pastor, Wang Yi, was detained, along with his wife. At this point, she became worried.
"I was talking to my friend, and suddenly she went silent. It was a horrible thing. One second someone would be talking to you, and then they would disappear. You don't know where they went, because they are taken away by the policeman. And that made me feel a little afraid."
At this point, Ren was scared because she knows that the police got her name and that she might be next.
Fearing for her life, she packed her things and traveled to her friend's house in the cold of night.
Ren attempted to contact her family and friends while hiding at her friend's house. But her WeChat stopped working, and the Police began calling her, which caused her to remove her phone's SIM card.
At this point, Ren expressed her worry for her life, and the unknowns surrounding the situation of her family and friends.
"I didn't know what happened to my friends, and they didn't know what happened to me. We all felt independent and isolated," she said. "We were not a big group, we were taken away one person at a time."
"At that time, I felt really afraid."
She said she just wished that she'll disappear, so that the authorities can't find her. Because if the authorities did, she will end up in prison.
Later, however, she presented herself to the police who made her sign a document stating she'd stop attending ERCC, stop engaging in a "cult," and instead submit to the communist government's "correction" work.
While she agreed to the first and second statements since ERCC was already shut down, she did not agree to the third as she feared she'd be sent to a re-education camp.
The police eventually released her after acquiring her WeChat account. She was placed under constant surveillance, with authorities monitoring her via WeChat and with dozens of police standing outside their home. The police were watching their every move,
"My mom took my two younger brothers back to her hometown for safety and security, so it was just me, my boyfriend at the time, and my father," she said. "Every move we made was monitored. [We all] wanted to go out for Christmas dinner but the policeman didn't allow us to do that."
About 100 persons connected to the church have been arrested by authorities. Despite the fact that the majority of them were freed, the church, which now meets in coffee shops, online, and in people's homes, are continually being harassed and monitored by the authorities under the Chinese Communist Party, even during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Ren's experience is not different from other members of the ERCC. There are other Chinese Christians as well who are being persecuted by the Communist Chinese government.
Readers are urged to pray for the Christians in China.
