(ChurchLeaders) The coronavirus pandemic has not stopped the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from persecuting Christians in general, and it has not stopped the CCP from oppressing Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) in particular. Authorities arrested several of the church’s members as they were participating in an online service on Easter Sunday.
“At that time I was also in the Zoom call, but there was a long period of time where I did not hear a thing,” an ERCC member told International Christian Concern (ICC). “I thought it’s the network connection issue at first, but I soon heard a quarrel erupt. Our coworker Wang Jun was questioning some people, [saying], ‘Who are you to do this [to us]?’”
ERCC is a house church located in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. The church’s pastor, Wang Yi, is currently serving a prison sentence of nine years for charges including “inciting subversion of state power.”