ICC Note:

A Chinese pastor was forcibly removed from his position and ordered to stop preaching and evangelizing by a state-run organization. Pastor Zhang Chongzhu was placed under surveillance at his residence known as “black jail.” He had been detained twice this year for allegedly stealing state secrets. Many speculate this move was an attempt by the Chinese government to prevent people from attending the pastor’s house church. China’s crackdown on religion has been especially strong in areas known for their prevalence of Muslims and Christians. In a report on persecution in China, China Aid said 2016 was, “one of the most tyrannical years since the Cultural Revolution.”

11/22/2016 China (The Gospel Herald) – Two of China’s leading Christian, state-run organizations forcibly removed a pastor from his position in the coastal province of Zhejiang and ordered him to cease preaching or evangelizing – or face the consequences.

According to persecution watchdog China Aid, Zhang Chongzhu, the pastor of Pyongyang Three-Self Patriotic Movement Church, was placed under “residential surveillance in a designated location,” otherwise known as a “black jail,” last September.

Earlier this year, he was criminally detained for “stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing state secrets or intelligence to entities outside China” and formally arrested on March 9 for the same crime.

While he was released in May, he now faces an even greater challenge: In October, the Zhejiang Provincial China Christian Council and the Zhejiang Provincial Three-Self Patriotic Movement, China’s two state-run Christian organizations, expelled him from the clergy and revoked a certificate proving that he was licensed to preach.

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