Xi’an Church of Abundance in central China’s Shaanxi province issued a prayer letter on 5 June revealing that Pastor Lian Changnian (71) had been released on bail on 12 April after two years and eight months in prison.
Pastor Lian was released in very poor mental and physical health due to severe psychological and physical abuse in detention. He was quickly taken to Xi’an Mental Health Centre for evaluation and also underwent an MRI of the cervical spine.
On 29 May he was diagnosed with “organic mental disorder, state of anxiety and severe fatigue of the entire brain” and the MRI results showed cervical vertebral bone hyperplasia with multiple disc herniation and oedema. He was admitted to hospital for treatment on 3 June, and was hospitalised again on 13 June due to a recurrence of severe cervical and lumbar spine conditions.
Pastor Lian Changnian leads one of the largest churches in the Chinese Gospel Fellowship house-church network and was detained without trial on fraud charges after police portrayed regular donations to the church as fraud by its leaders. Chinese authorities often make false accusations of fraud against leaders of unregistered house churches, based on the collection of tithes and offerings, as a way to have them imprisoned.
Xi’an Church of Abundance has suffered years of persecution and many of its pastors, co-workers and members have been arrested, with Pastor Lian Changnian imprisoned multiple times. His most recent arrest occurred during a raid on 17 August 2022, when he and his son Pastor Lian Xuliang and preacher Fu Juan were detained on suspicion of fraud and placed under “residential surveillance at a designated location” – secret detention at a government-designated site, in this case a converted hotel where the three Christians were held separately in narrow rooms for six months.
On 15 February 2023 they were criminally detained on suspicion of fraud and were transferred to Baqiao Detention Centre in Xi’an, where they were held under better conditions with adequate food. The following month they were formally arrested on suspicion of fraud and in January 2024 their case entered the courts, with a sentencing recommendation of five years’ imprisonment each. A pre-trial meeting was scheduled for 16 June 2025, with the formal trial set to begin on 24 June.
China Aid reported that following the three leaders’ arrest police summoned church members and tortured them into framing the pastors, but added that many of those whom police identified as “victims” said their money was donated to God and that they had not been defrauded by the pastors. A Christian named Qin Wen even hired a lawyer to prove she was not a victim.
Lian Xuliang and Fu Juan were released on bail along with Lian Changnian on 12 April and the three Christians were reunited with their families – the photo shows Lian Changnian (second from right) and Lian Xuliang (second from left) with family members.
Tortured in detention
The prayer letter issued by Xi’an Church of Abundance states that the three Christians endured torture during their detention under residential surveillance at a designated location, including starvation, beatings, forced ingestion of unidentified drugs and prolonged denial of access to the toilet, measures that China Aid describes as “all classic methods of coercive interrogation”.
The letter also says that Pastor Lian Changnian was subjected to intimidation, threats and abuse by the authorities and that as a result he was unable to sleep lying down for the entire two years and eight months of his detention. It states that both his physical and mental health have been “gravely damaged”.
Pastor Lian’s lawyer observed signs of mental instability in 2023, and on a visit in April 2024 the lawyer found him confused, agitated, fearful and physically weak, unable to express himself clearly or to answer most of the lawyer’s questions.
In July it was reported that on a more recent visit the lawyer had found that Pastor Lian’s condition had improved and he seemed mentally clear, but in September the lawyer found that the pastor’s condition had severely worsened, with signs of cognitive decline and hallucinations, and he was afraid to sleep for fear he would be poisoned or strangled. Pastor Lian’s family and lawyer were extremely concerned about him and repeatedly informed the court and detention centre about his physical and mental condition, saying he is no longer fit to remain in detention.
(China Aid)
Photos: China Aid