The Chinese government has launched a three-phase campaign to eradicate Protestant house churches. This is according to a press release published on Friday, April 20 by the China Aid Association (CAA). The government's strategy was clearly outlined in a document released last September during a training program for "Patriots in Chinese Society", led by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, according to an unnamed source from CAA.
The document directs local authorities to conduct a thorough survey of house churches across the country from January through June this year and create a case file on each of them. In the next phase, which will run for the next two to three years, authorities will strongly encourage house churches to join the government-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). And in phase three, to be completed within the next ten years, churches that refuse to comply will be shut down, according to the CAA.
The authorities will also ban the word "house church" and all references to house churches on websites and in other media and replace it with the term "house gatherings" - a term to describe groups that meet in places subject to TSPM. In a recent survey conducted by CAA's source in several provinces, 95 % of house churches have already felt the effects of these investigations, while 85 % reported that files had already been created on them by local religious affairs departments.
"Since the beginning of 2012, we have noticed an increase in the persecution of Christians," CAA said in a press release. "In addition to the continued persecution of the Shouwang Church in Beijing, the number of similar cases has increased by 20 % in one year and has spread to other areas, including Christian education, publishing and bookstores."
Source: Compass Direct News
