Sixty to seventy police and government officials raided a worship service being held by the long-persecuted Early Rain Covenant Church on Sunday 14 June in a hotel in Jiangyou City, about 170 km northeast of Chengdu where the church is based.
Church members including several families had arrived at the hotel on the previous day and video footage posted on social media shows happy scenes of families registering for the weekend away and also of children enjoying time in the grounds of the hotel and at their own programme. Meanwhile, the church members held a meeting at which they elected two new elders and one assistant deacon to the church leadership.
The Sunday morning service began around 9am and video footage shows police officers, including SWAT teams, surrounding the hotel conference room and then entering it at 11am and halting the service, conducting identity checks and demanding that church members sign a “guarantee letter” before being released. However, the text of the letter is not known as officials refused to disclose its contents unless individuals first agreed to sign it. Most church members refused to sign the letter .
Police took away 33 church members, including two elders, Wu Wuqing (pictured) and Yan Hong, in three police vans and three police buses to a local detention centre. The remaining members of the church were held at the hotel until around 7pm and were only released after a further recording of identity documents.
Families of the detained church members went to the detention centre where all of those detained were released between 9pm and 11pm. Elders Wu Wuqing and Yan Hong, were sentenced to 15 and 14 days’ administrative detention respectively. Administrative detention is a non-judicial punishment imposed by police for “minor offences” like petty theft, public disturbance or unauthorised protests. It does not result in a formal criminal record but detainees are given a police record. It is often used against house church leaders.
Wu Wuqing and his family have faced many persecutions in recent years. Since 2020, water and electricity to their apartment have been cut off repeatedly in a bid to force them to leave Chengdu. On occasion, guards have been dispatched outside the apartment door to follow Preacher Wu whenever he goes out, and he has been detained on many occasions. Preacher Yan Hong was detained by police in January 2026 in a previous raid on the church.
View video of church raid (on X)
Reaction to raid
On Monday 15 June the church issued a public statement in which it described the events of the raid and reflected, “We thank the Lord for using this trial once again to bear witness to the Christian faith before many who have not yet heard the Gospel. Though the world may regard such experiences as shameful, we count them as an honour and a privilege.”
The church also called for prayer for the new elders and assistant deacon and the two detained elders, and specifically asked, “Pray also that the Lord would comfort and heal those who were frightened during the raid, especially the children who cried amid the chaos and confusion.”
Bob Fu, founder of Church in Chains partner organisation China Aid, condemned the raid saying, “This raid is another stark reminder that the Chinese Communist Party continues to treat peaceful Christian worship as a threat to state control. The detention of church leaders, ordinary believers and even children for participating in a Sunday worship service is a grave violation of religious freedom and fundamental human rights.”
BACKGROUND
Early Rain Covenant Church is one of the most prominent unregistered house churches in China. It began in the home of Wang Yi, a former law professor who is the lead pastor, and has suffered intense persecution since December 2018, when more than 150 members were detained following a raid. While many were released quickly, 54 were held for days or months. Some released members reported being deprived of food and water in custody and said they were tortured in an attempt to extract false evidence against Pastor Wang. He was charged with “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operations” and is serving a nine-year prison sentence, with an expected release date of December 2027.
Many released members lost their jobs, were evicted or had their bank accounts frozen, and some were sent back to their home towns in an apparent attempt to weaken the church leadership.
The authorities also closed Early Rain’s premises (two floors rented in an office building) in December 2018, since when members have continued to meet in smaller groups in homes or even outdoors. Many of them are under surveillance and police officers have gone to some members’ homes, intimidating, threatening and detaining them. Communication networks between church members have been blocked and mobile phones are monitored.
(Bitter Winter, China Aid, Early Rain Covenant Church)
Images: China Aid, Early Rain Covenant Church