On 10 August a court in Fuyang in eastern China’s Anhui province sentenced three leaders of Maizhong Reformed Church to prison terms of up to one year and seven months on charges of “organising illegal gatherings”.
The church refuses to register with China’s state-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement and authorities shut it down in 2023, but members continued to meet in small groups in their homes.
The jailed leaders are, from left, Pastor Chang Shun (detained at a house church gathering in his home in June 2025 and sentenced to one year and six months in prison), Pastor Zhang Sen (detained while visiting friends in Jiangsu province, brought back to Fuyang and sentenced to one year and seven months in prison) and Elder Ma Tao (detained at the gathering in Pastor Chang’s home and sentenced to one year and four months in prison).
Prosecutors had previously cited activities including home worship gatherings, weddings and religious instruction as evidence supporting the criminal charges. The court said the three leaders’ activities had severely disrupted public order and stated in its judgment that they repeatedly organised gatherings in the name of Maizhong Reformed Church despite knowing that authorities had legally shut it down.
Following the verdict Pastor Zhang’s wife Xu Chao wrote on X, “This is not about the length of the sentences but that they should never have been convicted in the first place. Conducting weddings and serving believers have been classified as crimes. This is a verdict we cannot accept. Sending innocent people to prison is a harm to justice.”
She is pictured with the other leaders’ wives speaking out in a video on 5 August 2026 (from left: Xu Chao, Li Yunyan and Li Mei).
In a video posted on X on 13 June, Pastor Chang’s wife Li Yunyan said that during court hearings on 9-10 June investigators warned her husband that she could be detained and their child placed in state custody if he refused to confess. She also alleged that he was threatened and verbally abused during questioning.
Background
Fuyang Maizhong Reformed Church refuses to join the government-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement and was banned in 2023, but even before the ban it suffered multiple police raids on church gatherings.
Since the ban the congregation has met in small groups under heavy surveillance, enduring many more police raids. Members have frequently been detained, harassed, followed and forced to move, and some have found tracking devices under their cars and electric scooters.
On 29 June 2025 a group of individuals claiming to be community workers forcibly entered Pastor Chang Shun’s home, where church members had gathered for Sunday worship, and took him and Elder Ma Tao into custody. Friends and relatives who were present were taken to the police station for questioning and were later forced to leave their homes and told not to reside in Fuyang.
On 2 July 2025 the two leaders were placed in criminal detention in Fuyang Detention Centre on suspicion of “organising illegal gatherings”.
On 9 July 2025 Pastor Zhang was arrested while visiting friends in Xuzhou city, Jiangsu province, and was brought back to Fuyang and placed under criminal detention. Previously, in March 2024, he had been administratively detained for 15 days for “praying without prior reporting”.
On 4 Aug 2025 his wife Xu Chao issued a prayer request letter denouncing the ongoing persecution of her family and church and listing a series of harassment including surveillance cameras being installed at the door of their home, GPS trackers placed on their vehicles and listening and tracking devices planted in their computers and phones. She said their children had suffered severe psychological trauma from witnessing the long-term persecution of their family.
(China Aid)
Photos: China Aid