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UPDATE: Pastor Wang Yi Remains in Custody in China + +

Friends, we have an update on the situation of Pastor Wang Yi, who was arrested on December 9th along with his wife and 10 elders. Some 100 believers from the 750-member Early Rain Covenant Church were detained, questioned and later released. Pastor Wang’s wife was also released. Pastor Wang and the 10 church elders remain in custody. Wang now faces a possible jail sentence of 15 years as the government alleges he is, “inciting subversion of state power.”

Many Early Rain church members have begun attending other churches in the city or have started their own small groups.

One week later, the Chinese government was still actively working to suppress Christian churches. On December 16th, 60 police and religious affairs officials arrived unannounced to shut down church services and Sunday School meetings at the 5000-member Rongguili Church in Guangzhou. Believers told one reporter, “They read out law enforcement notices declaring our venue was an illegal gathering [doing] illegal publishing and illegal fundraising and confiscated all Bibles.” Hundreds of bibles, other materials and church members’ mobile phones were confiscated, and the church was closed.

Please pray for the immediate release of Pastor Wang Yi and the 10 Early Rain Covenant church leaders still in detention.

Pray for Wang’s wife Jiang Rong and their children. Ask God for continued boldness for the Early Rain church members to continue as faithful ambassadors of Christ’s hope and love.

Pray believers from Rongguili Church will find ways to meet together and that their faith would be strengthened.

*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.