ICC Note: This brief news flash provided by ChinaAid is yet another example of the wide leeway Chinese authorities have in arbitrarily shutting down unregistered places of worship. It is also an example of the tactics Chinese authorities use to pressure house church Christians while attempting to appear uninvolved. 
3/30/2013 China (ChinaAid) – A Reformed Church in Shanghai has been targeted by the local government for persecution, including ordering the church to shut down and putting the senior pastor under surveillance, ChinaAid has learned.
Senior Pastor Gao Baoluo (Paul) said that the situation has been increasingly tense since the beginning of March. He said, the government departments don’t even bother trying to have any direct contact; instead, they go behind our backs to threaten the landlord and not allow us to continue worshipping here. Then they go to the work units of the individual church members and give them orders, telling them they do not have permission to come to our church anymore, otherwise, they must resign from their jobs or they will be fired.
The senior pastor said, “Last weekend, even my 70-year-old elderly mother was summoned by the neighborhood committee and forced to answer questions about my situation, which gave the old lady a great fright.”
Pastor Gao’s personal freedom is currently under threat: every time he leaves his home, he is tailed by plainclothes police.
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