Not even small, rural house churches escape the persecution of the CCP if they are not affiliated with the government-controlled Three-Self Church and show a certain activism.
On April 24, 2023, Sister Enlin, the wife of Preacher Chang Hao, sent a report about the confused situation of her husband. He runs a small rural church in Zhenxiong County, under the administration of Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province.
On April 14, his church was raided by the police who took away Bibles, Christian books, and the anti-COVID masks inscribed with verses from the Bible he distributed, which had become popular in the area and had specially disturbed the authorities.
Sister Enlin writes that “on the third day after Brother Chang Hao was taken away, the police called us and said that he would be detained for three days first, and then they would re-examine the situation later.
Then on April 20, we and our lawyer wanted to go to the Zhenxiong Detention Center to meet my husband, Brother Chang Hao, but they said the meeting was not possible, so we went to the Zhenxiong Public Security Bureau to petition and ask what happened to Brother Chang Hao. They told us that he was in administrative detention for eight days.”
“Then, continues Sister Enlin, we called the police officers who had first contacted us to inquire about the situation. They said he was now in criminal detention. We do not know on what charges he has been detained, but he has not been released.”
Sister Enlin concludes: “I don’t know where my husband is now, whether he is safe and healthy or not, and we don’t know what to do now, so we can only ask for your help to pray!”