ERCC Member’s Home Intruded by Local Police

01/17/2021 China (International Christian Concern) – On January 14, a member of the heavily persecuted Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) in China’s Chengdu had her house intruded by the police when she was not home. The police confiscated two boxes of notebooks for devotionals without proper procedure.

According to Shu Qiong’s account, she left her home around 9 am that day. When she returned home at 6 pm, she noticed that the notebooks she had for devotionals in her closet were gone. After confirming with her family that no one took the boxes, she called the police to file a report.

With her 9-month-old son in her arm, she went to the Jinyang Police Station in Wuhou district. After taking down her case, a police officer named Wang Hongwei told her that her missing boxes are case-related items and have been confiscated.

Clueless about what “case” she was involved in, Shu asked for a list of confiscated case-related items, to which the police refused. She further questioned the legality of the police intruding her home without proper procedure. Wang just told her, “It is about the police working on a case, so there is no need to show you any document.”

She was infuriated by her experience, so she decided to write Chengdu City Mayor Wang Fengchao and ask for her religious freedom as an ordinary Christian citizen. Her January 15 letter, however, caught the attention of the authorities again. She and her non-believing husband were summoned to the police station for a few hours on January 16.

The authorities in Chengdu continue to harass and monitor the active members of ERCC, hoping that the house church can stop gathering. Yet the church still stands strong and will continue to gather in various forms.