Around 11 a.m. on Sunday, June 14, communist authorities raided Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, and arrested dozens of believers.
Roughly 30 SWAT officers and another 60 police officers reportedly entered the hotel conference room where the church had gathered for worship, recorded the names of those in attendance, and forcibly removed numerous believers from the building. Three believers were also injured during the raid.
Three buses and three vans were used to transport church elders, members, and children to local police stations.
The church later issued an urgent prayer request for those who were detained, including Elder Yan Hong, Elder Wu Qing, Brother Liu Yingxu, Brother Nie Bo, Brother Li Benli, and Brother Axin. The whereabouts of these and other detainees are unknown.
According to the church, 33 members were detained following the raid. Most were questioned for several hours, and some were pressured to sign a letter guaranteeing they would no longer gather as part of Early Rain. Most church members refused to sign the document.
The church later asked other churches to pray that those in police custody would experience God’s peace, that their most basic needs would be met, that the violence against them would stop, and that the church in China would become more united because of the raid.
Authorities have raided Early Rain several times in recent years, including, most notably, in December 2018, when Pastor Wang Yi, the church’s founder, was arrested and beaten. In late 2019, a court sentenced Wang to nine years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power and illegal business operations.”
