Pastors and church leaders pray during one of the sessions of this conference.

Equip
Police interrogate and detain conference hopefuls

    Chinese authorities cracked down on more than 50 house church pastors hoping to attend a training conference in Hong Kong at the beginning of November.

    Of the approximately 400 church leaders registered for the event, many faced personal risks for attempting to attend the conference. In a fresh revision to the Regulations on Religious Affairs, China reiterated its opposition against religious practitioners traveling abroad or interacting with foreigners for training. 

    Authorities detained and interrogated more than 50 church members en route, barring them from participating. When one attendee heard this, he said, “I feel that up until right now, the government still restricts the lives of the faithful.”

    Even of the attendees who did manage to reach Hong Kong, many reported needing to circumvent authorities’ attempts to stop them from coming. One woman, Anna Peng, spoke of the “cat-and-mouse game” she and her team had to go through to stay away from police hunts in their home in Inner Mongolia.

    Such detentions echo a pattern of persecution prevalent in the last few years. Whenever a Christian conference was held in Hong Kong, authorities would warn church members not to travel there.