ICC Note: The forced demolition of the 4,000 seat Sanjiang Christian Church on Monday in Zhejiang Province has many Christians in the area seriously concerned that a campaign of church demolitions is about to begin. In 2000, authorities launched a devastating campaign that demolished hundreds of church buildings across the province, one of China’s most Christian. 

4/29/2014 China (ChinaAid) – “They’ve begun… They are now tearing down the main church building. They are not only demolishing the cross. It’s not like they said before, that they would demolish only the cross, but leave the main church intact. It’s impossible,” a Wenzhou pastor said about yesterday’s forced demolition of Sanjiang Church in China’s coastal Zhejiang.

Believers are also being threatened to keep quiet about the incident while several have been detained or summoned to the public security bureau. Many believe that the demolition of Sanjiang Church sets a precedent, leaving no hope for smaller churches to withstand persecution.

The Church had stood as a symbol of resistance against the province’s “Three Rectifications and One Demolition” campaign against “illegal structures,” many of which were churches and organizations run by churches, since thousands of believers flocked to the church on April 3 to guard it from demolition.

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“Immediately after they finish demolishing the church here [in Yongjia County], smaller local churches, such as the ones built in villages for 1-2 million yuan (US$159,000-319,000) will be the next targets,” a Sanjiang Church pastor said. “We estimate the authorities will take action immediately.”

“When authorities see such a procedure and plan can be taken in Sanjiang, they shouldn’t [encounter] any problems implementing these procedures and plans in other small gathering sites. This should is only a question of scale, and they can easily do it.”

Sanjiang Church was the home to more than 2,000 members. It was built 10 years ago, when the government approved the building under the condition that the Church use the old building they had been meeting in as collateral. During the building process, the government told the Church to increase the size of the building, saying it would draw more believers if it was bigger, according to a report posted on social media by a church member. The government reportedly told Sanjiang Church that the church building must be big and imposing and should be a landmark structure in the area.

Believers maintain that the campaign isn’t just to weed out illegal structures, but is meant to stop the spread of Christianity in Zhejiang. “This is not a simple demolition of illegal structure. Instead, this is a persecution of faith. We can prove this from several aspects. At the end of last year, the Zhejiang Provincial Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs (CERA) produced a plan of implementation,” one Christian said.

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