CHCA and 3 Other Organizations Support Liangren Church

ChinaAid
May 20, 2010

BEIJING – On May 18, the Chinese Christian House Church Alliance released a statement regarding their support of the Liangren House Church. Leaders of the CHCA and three other organizations (the Christian Human Rights Attorneys Group, the Preparatory Committee of Chinese Human Rights Attorneys Association, and the Chinese Justice Alliance) are standing with the Liangren church members.  The Liangren Christians have been locked out of their rented building, disturbed in their quiet outdoor worship by police, and deprived of their pastor, Wang Dao, who has been criminally detained on groundless charges of “suspicion of gathering a mob to disturb public order.”
Statement from Chinese Christian House Church Alliance:
It is learned that Liangren Church of Guangzhou is a young church mainly made up of intellectuals that evolved originally from a college campus fellowship. Among nearly a thousand urban house churches in Guangzhou, Liangren is not a big church. The church is committed to Gospel work among college students and migrant workers and launched the ministry of education relief of “Home of the Lamb Children” in the earthquake disaster area of Sichuan and it is still holding onto the program as of now.

As a result, the church attracted the attention of the PSB and was thus investigated. Ever since then, the church has continuously been suffering persecution and on many occasions was illegally abolished, chased away and suppressed by the Guangzhou authorities. Since the beginning of the 2010, Liangren Church has had to move its gathering sites over 10 times. On the average, they have to move almost once a week! On the morning of May 2, the church’s newly leased gathering site at Room 503, Building 2, No. 101, North Yiyuan Road in Haizhu District was locked with an iron chain and sealed by the landlord who was ordered to do so by the relevant agencies of Guangzhou government. The properties of the church were also locked inside and the members of the church were blocked outside the gate and was not allowed to enter the house. Therefore, members of Liangren Church were forced to hold their first outdoor worship outside the gate!

Liangren Church was forced to choose to worship outdoors in People’s Park when they only wanted to follow the order of God of “not forsaking the assembling,” and when they were not even allowed to worship God in their own legally rented house, i.e. in their own homes. Pastor Wang Dao said: “In fact, we really don’t want to go to the park to be exposed to the rain, sunlight and the elements. We could be more intimate with God in the quiet house that we have legally rented!!! As long as the PSB removes the iron chains on our gathering site, we will go back indoors in the very next week. Our bottom line is “not forsaking the assembling.” This is our stand and is also the stand of all the members of Liangren Church!

However, despite this, Pastor Wang Dao (previous name: Wang Tongjiang) was still taken away by the Guangzhou PSB on May 8 and was placed on criminal detention on May 9 on the groundless “suspicion of gathering a mob to disturb public order.” According to Article 290 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, the objective conditions for a conviction of “gathering a mob to disturb public order” is “crowds are assembled to disturb the otherwise normal activities of enterprises, public institutions and social organizations; where the process of work, production, business, teaching, and scientific research are disrupted; and where serious losses have been caused…”

However, the brothers and sisters of Liangren Church were only singing hymns and sharing their testimonies in the park and didn’t at all disturb the public order. If the police did not interfere, no one would have noticed what they were doing and no one would care what they were doing. Therefore, our brothers and sisters neither had the intention to disturb the public order or caused any negative consequences, let alone any losses to enterprises, public institutions or social organizations. Therefore, the accusation does not hold true at all.

On the contrary, while Liangren Church held an outdoor worship in the park on May 9 as planned, they were dispersed by the Guangzhou PSB. In the Internet video clips, we see officers from Guangzhou PSB dash out and say: “Whoever of you stands out to talk about (the Bible), I will arrest him or her.” “We don’t allow you to talk about Jesus.” This proves it was not the brothers and sisters of Liangren Church that were disturbing the public order. Instead, it exposed the local government’s intention to violate the citizens’ freedom of religion. This is a violation of citizens’ basic rights and is the trampling of the rule of law.

Based on this, Chinese Christian House Church Alliance, Christian Human Rights Attorneys Group, Preparatory Committee of Chinese Human Rights Attorneys Association and Christian Righteousness Alliance hereby make the following 5-point statement:

1. The church is the home of God and is the body of Christ. Our Lord Jesus is the head of the church and the believers are the limbs on the body of Christ. Christians must not stop gathering as this is a teaching from the Bible. We encourage and support Liangren Church in persisting in gathering under any circumstances. We also call on more brothers and sisters to pray for Liangren Church of Guangzhou. We implore the Lord to personally take care of and bless His Liangren Church just as He takes care of His own pupils in the eye!
2. Liangren Church is a church that adheres to the truth of the Bible and keeps the stand of a house church. That it is not currently registered at the government is not because it wants to come into a conflict with the government, but it is not willing to join the TSPM. As citizens of the People’s Republic of China, believers of house churches have the basic right to freedom of religion. The freedom of religion is not only the basic right of citizens confirmed by the constitutions of various countries, it is also protected in explicit terms in “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” and other international covenants.
3. The function of the government is to reward the benevolent and punish the evil in accordance with righteousness, and the authority of the government also comes from God. The purpose of God in setting up a government is not to make the benevolent afraid, but to make the evil afraid. We call on the Guangzhou authorities to correct their errors in time, protect the citizens’ freedom of religion and stop the illegal and the wrongful conduct of interfering with and suppressing citizens’ freedom of religion. Just as it is said in Proverbs: “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs: 14:34)
4. Liangren Church has been forced to move several dozens of times and it can still not gather at the place that they rent. This is not only the violation by the authorities of citizens’ freedom of religion, it is also the reason why Liangren Church was forced to gather in the park. That Liangren Church gathered in the park did not intend to disturb the public order. In fact, they didn’t disturb the public order in the first place. Placing Pastor Wang Dao on criminal detention on suspicion of gathering a mob to disturb public order is obviously an insult on Liangren Church’s gathering in the park and is an unreasonable suppression of Pastor Wang Dao. This cannot cover up the fact that the authorities violated citizens’ freedom of religion.
5. On the eve of the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, Guangzhou police’s illegal and unreasonable suppression of Liangren Church and their violation of citizens’ freedom of religious belief and the unlawful detention of Pastor Wang Dao undermine the image of Guangzhou Municipal Government and are a deviation from the goal promoted by the Chinese government of building a harmonious society with democratic rule of law, equality and justice, sincerity and friendship, vitality, stability and order and harmony between man and nature. The conduct of Guangzhou police will bring negative impact to the 16th Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou in 2010. For this, we call on the relevant authorities to respect citizens’ religious freedom, release Pastor Wang Dao and get on the road of equality and justice.

Chinese Christian House Church Alliance
Christian Human Rights Attorneys Group
Preparatory Committee of Chinese Human Rights Attorneys Association
Chinese Justice Alliance


May 18, 2010

For more information and background, see the following:
Liangren Church Case Summary
Liangren Church Documentation Appendix

ChinaAid stands with the Chinese Christian House Church Alliance in speaking out against the injustices committed against the Liangren Church. We urge the authorities to take action to right these injustices against their citizens, to grant the Liangren Church access to their building, and to release Pastor Wang Dao. Christians around the world are encouraged to pray for the church members, and specifically for the safety and release of Pastor Wang Dao.


China Aid Contacts
Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.chinaaid.org

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