Source: Direct Reports from China
Date: May 28, 2018
On April 28, a private school established by the Rock Church in Zhengzhou, Henan, organized a park trip for students. When the children were dancing to praise the Lord, the park staff interrupted them and threatened to report them to the police.
A staff member asked the teachers who allowed them to praise the Lord in the park and who was in charge of the group. He then ordered them to leave immediately, or he would call the police. The teachers immediately stopped the activity. According to the principal, this was not the first time they were told to leave a public place.
The Rock Church was established in 2003 and later built and ran a private school. When it first opened, the government ordered the school to stop classes, with an excuse that the school had not registered in the local education bureau. Since then, the school has been operating in secret. However, because the bureau conducted regular inspections, the school had no way but to move to another place. They also had to come up with strategies to deal with surprise inspections: once the bureau employees arrived, the school would warn the teachers to lead the students to escape through the back door as soon as possible. The students had to study in this unstable situation of fear for the past few years.
