Lin Xuesui wanted to be a missionary. He has ended up being a prisoner of conscience.
by He Yuyan
His wife keeps alerting house churches and human rights organizations and websites. His name is Lin Xuesui and he is a prisoner of conscience. While his wife, Li Chunqing, is in Wenzhou, Lin Xuesui is in the detention center of Gulin county, in the southern part of Sichuan province.
Lin is a co-worker in a house church with a reformed theology in Wenzhou. When visiting co-religionists in rural Gulin county, he found the area both poverty-stricken and underdeveloped from the point of view of Christian presence. He accepted, with the blessing of his church in Wenzhou, the invitation of the local believers, and decided to remain there as a missionary.
Lin was remarkably successful in helping the destitute local Christian and in spreading the Gospel by organizing Bible study meetings and Sunday services. This did not escape the vigilant eye of the CCP,which does not tolerate missionary activities.
As reported by Bitter Winter, on June 14, 2022, a Sunday service was raided by the police and Lin was detained together with two co-workers. While the latter have been released and put under residential surveillance, Lin has been formally arrested. His case was transferred to the Procurate on September 22.
The prosecution has now been started in view of a trial. Lin’s case is further evidence that there is a new wave of crackdowns on house churches. Those who send missionaries to other areas of China are specially targeted.
His wife continues to ask for Lin’s release, insisting that he did not commit any crime. However, for the CCP Sunday services conducted outside the government-controlled Three- Self Church are “illegal gatherings” and organizing them is a crime.
