Source: http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/
Date: September 8, 2021
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 613
CHINA: THE CCP versus CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
by Elizabeth Kendal
In evicting a community of young homeschooling families - all members of Chengdu's Early Rain Covenant Church - from their rented homes, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has demonstrated that it is prepared to escalate its persecution of non-compliant Christians to a whole new level. Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) has been targeted for severe punitive persecution since May 2018 when it criticised the CCP's new Religious Affairs Regulations and vowed to resist, declaring: 'The highest law of the Christian is the Bible. Any law that contradicts the Bible we will disobey by non-violent methods.' The ERCC disobeys unacceptable CCP laws by continuing to gather for worship, prayer and Bible study while unregistered; and by continuing to witness openly and teach youths under 18 years of age, despite all this being illegal. It also has encouraged like-minded churches to 'embrace civil disobedience' and do the same [see RLPB 483, The CCP's War on Religion Heats Up, 12 Dec 2018].
Chinese Young Pioneers: children are urged to 'have a firm faith to follow the Party from a young age'.
Global Times, 1 June 2021 (photo: Xinhua).
For ERCC and fellow non-compliant churches, the cost of discipleship has been high indeed. The evictions, however, may be about more than membership of ERCC. The punitive action may well have been triggered by the fact that these young families were known to be home-schooling their children together. The evictions coincide with a new CCP campaign to re-fashion Chinese culture by stripping it of corrupting Western influences and infusing it with 'Xi Jinping thought'. Some have labelled it 'Cultural Revolution 2.0'. Integral to the campaign is a focus on capturing and controlling the hearts and minds of Chinese youths. China's Compulsory Education Law [published online in the Chinese laguage] makes it illegal to homeschool or to operate sishu (private, unregistered schools). Article 2 defines 'compulsory education' as 'the education that all school-age children and adolescents must receive uniformly implemented by the state...' Despite this, education outside of the CCP system has been growing in recent decades as Chinese parents remove their children from the high pressure, exam-orientated, highly ideological, one-size-fits-all system where membership of the CCP's Chinese Young Pioneers (where children are taught to love and serve the Party) is mandatory. With the CCP now moving to reverse this trend, the days of tolerance are probably over.
Shu Qiong (left, holding child) appeals to passers-by. Chengdu, 2 September 2021.
(China Aid Association)
On Wednesday 1 September - the first day of the new school year - officials, police and a large group claiming to be landlords, approached ERCC member families in Jiaoda Garden residential compound in Chendu's Wuhou district. Individuals wearing red armbands told the believers: 'On behalf of all homeowners of the community, we want to tell you that Christians are not welcomed here.' The next day, sister Shu Qiong was driving home at 4pm when she was stopped at the compound gate by police officers who asked her, 'Are you a Christian?' 'Yes,' Shu replied, 'I am a follower of Jesus Christ.' When the police officers told her, 'That is not allowed here', Shu appealed to passers-by: 'I am a follower of Jesus Christ,' she said. 'Everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life in Him. We have no religious freedom in China. These police officers will not allow me to go home because of my Christian belief.' Later sister Sun, who is pregnant, was also stopped at the gate. [Three years ago -- during the violent raids of December 2018 -- Sun hemorrhaged and miscarried at the hands of Chengdu police.] When brother Li Ying questioned the legality of the police officers' actions, he was arrested, forcibly transported to the police station and charged with 'obstruction of law enforcement'. The Christian families, who occupy seven units within the compound, were given three days to evacuate their homes.
China Aid Association also reports that on 4 September, some 30 religious affairs officials, police and SWAT officers raided Maizi Christian Music High School in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province; a school dedicated to cultivating Christian musicians, specifically for ministry. Having already arrested Principal Xu, the authorities proceeded to confiscate the school's pianos, computers and documents. They also detained the students for 24 hours. Teachers expect to be summoned and interrogated. A day before the raid, Principal Xu told staff that police officers had called his landlord, and he advised staff to prepare for 'the test' (i.e. a spiritual test/trial). The school has appealed for prayer.
Elsewhere across China, children have started the school year with new textbooks and a new curriculum infused with 'Xi Jinping thought', as the 'Communist Party aims to extend his personality cult to children as young as seven and rear a new generation of patriots...' Teachers have been instructed to 'plant the seeds of loving the party, the country and socialism in young hearts.' As observers note, the introduction of a new curriculum incorporating 'Xi Jinping thought' comes as 'the CCP conducts a wider campaign to fight what it considers corrupting influences on the youth, from video games to celebrities and foreign educational tools'. Wang Dan, a US-based Chinese activist, expressed alarm: 'If this is not Cultural Revolution, what is it?' he asks. 'We have cried wolf about the re-emergence of the Cultural Revolution for many years. Now the wolf has come.'
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL:
- comfort and bless the Early Rain Covenant Church members who have been evicted from their homes because of their faith and uncompromising discipleship; may the Lord provide their every need.
- protect, comfort, and bless Principal Xu and all the staff and students of Maizi Christian Music High School; may the school secure the lawyer of the Lord's choosing; may all the school's property be returned.
- abundantly bless China's faithful believers with all the wisdom, grace and strength they will need to endure and to navigate these difficult and testing times.
Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress (Isaiah 33:2 NIV).
Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm!… Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!… For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2: 9,12,14 ESV).