• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS GLOBAL
    • TESTIMONIES GLOBAL
    • OP-EDS GLOBAL
    • FEATURED GLOBAL
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
    • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / China / News China

Return Visit System: Closing Churches for Good

02/17/2019Gu Xi |

Monthly visits, detailed checklists, tracking of believers who fail to attend approved churches – a systematic plan to ensure closed down churches stay closed.

A town government employee from central China’s Henan Province has provided to Bitter Winter the details of “Return-Visit System” to suppress permanently closed down churches. The source has also provided two forms to be used in the suppression process, which shed further light on the extent of the persecution of believers in China.

The Return-Visit System mandates that government personnel in villages and towns conduct an inspection every month after a church – both house and Three-Self church – has been closed. During the return visit, they must make a detailed record, take photos, and fill out a return-visit checklist. They must also question the head of the closed church. At the end of the month, the documents and photos must be submitted to the county’s United Front Work Department office.

Return-Visit System
The description of “Return-Visit System” issued by a village in Henan.

The policy also stipulates that government personnel must obtain a clear understanding of the mood and opinions of the congregations of closed places of worship and “do a good job of policy promotion and educational guidance.”

Bitter Winter also obtained the “Periodic Checklist for Christian Meeting Venues” from the source. The checklist requires inspectors to document the whereabouts of the person in charge of the meeting venue; whether all religious symbols and furniture had been removed from premises; what the church is used for if it had been repurposed; whether the official entrusted with the closing down of the church has signed the statement taking full responsibility for implementing the task; whether members of the congregation are still meeting privately, and so on.

Periodic Checklist for Christian Meeting Venues
“Periodic Checklist for Christian Meeting Venues” is meant to record information on the status of a closed church.

Another form delivered to Bitter Winter is entitled “List of Persons Who Are Not Participating in Religious Activities at the Arranged Venue.” This form is used to collect detailed information on whether Christians from a closed down house church are attending Three-Self church as instructed, and if not, where they are going. In short, the government is tracking people to see if they are following orders and report those who do not comply.

List of Persons Who Are Not Participating in Religious Activities
“List of Persons Who Are Not Participating in Religious Activities at the Arranged Venue of a Village” is used to collect information on whether believers are attending Three-Self churches.

In November 2018, two police officers came with a video camera to a house church meeting venue in Henan’s Sanmenxia city that had been shut down. They took videos of the entire meeting place and asked the leader of the church whether believers were still holding gatherings. After confirming that meetings had not continued, the officers posted a “gatherings have stopped” notice on the church door.

Similar return visits were carried out at a house church in Zhengzhou city’s Jinshui district in Henan. In August 2018, Elim Church was shut down by the government. To prevent believers from holding gatherings secretly, officials put up two banners at the entrance of the church. One of the banners prohibited any gatherings by non-authorized religious groups, and the other read: “A fine of 20,000 to 200,000 RMB (about $2,945 to $29,450) will be imposed for allowing illegal religious activities.” Government personnel also warned believers that they were forbidden to tear down these banners under penalty of fines and arrest. In September, the government sent staff once again, this time to clear out all the furnishings from the meeting venue.

More robust “return visit” policies were required for a church in Xili village under the jurisdiction of Sanmenxia city. In August 2018, the church was “confiscated” by the government. Afterward, some believers held gatherings of two or three people. Some secretly returned to the church in the middle of the night to pray and left as soon as dawn arrived.

On December 12, 60 to 70 believers secretly returned to the church to hold a gathering. Most of them were elderly believers who suffer from illness and have limited mobility. After finding out about the gathering, 30 government personnel rushed to the church, carried the seniors out of the building and left them on the ground outside the entrance. One of the elderly Christians who was carried out is nearly 80 years old and she spends her days in bed in a cave-dwelling behind the church. Others who were removed suffered injuries or torn clothes.

Due to the cold winter weather, after the government personnel left, believers unlocked the door of the church and entered it to warm themselves. Unexpectedly, government personnel returned. The next day, village officials purchased a large lock and locked the church door.

Reported by Gu Xi

Tagged With: Authorities Against Christians, House Churches, Three-Self Church

bw-profile
Gu Xi

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Xi’an Church of Abundance: Crackdown on a Historical House Church

    Xi’an Church of Abundance: Crackdown on a Historical House Church

  • Zhao Weikai: Russian-Style Jail Sentence for “Extremism”

    Zhao Weikai: Russian-Style Jail Sentence for “Extremism”

  • Shaanxi: Persecution of the Church of Abundance Continues

    Shaanxi: Persecution of the Church of Abundance Continues

  • Chinese Christians Compelled to Honor Deceased CCP Leader Jiang Zemin

    Chinese Christians Compelled to Honor Deceased CCP Leader Jiang Zemin

Keep Reading

  • Beijing Lampstand Church: Families Demand Release of Arrested Pastor, Co-Worker
    Beijing Lampstand Church: Families Demand Release of Arrested Pastor, Co-Worker

    Qin Sifeng and Su Minjun are in jail in Shandong after they tried to evangelize in Yunnan, a reminder of the “zero tolerance” policy for house churches who operate outside of their area.

  • Church of the Rock: Wife of Detained Pastor Speaks Out
    Church of the Rock: Wife of Detained Pastor Speaks Out

    Hao Ying claims that the authorities refuse to schedule an appeal trial for her husband, Pastor Geng Zejun.

  • Leading House Churches Targeted in China
    Leading House Churches Targeted in China

    Beijing’s Zion Church, Renai Church in Guiyang, and Early Rain in Chengdu continue to be under attack.

  • Henan Preacher Arrested for Purchasing Christian Books Online
    Henan Preacher Arrested for Purchasing Christian Books Online

    Chen Lijun was detained in August. His wife reports he is still in jail, and his family is in desperate conditions.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Wenzhou, Parents Asked to Sign a “Kindergarten Family Commitment Not to Believe in Religion” by He Yuyan
  • Empowering the Next Generation of Uyghurs to Challenge China’s Genocide by Marco Respinti
  • China’s New Crackdown Targets “Self-Media” by Zhou Kexin
  • Thailand and Pakistan: No Friends of Uyghur Refugees by Marco Respinti
  • Russia, Hare Krishnas Accused of Planning Attacks Against Military Conscription Bureaus by Massimo Introvigne
  • Why “Cults” (and “Brainwashing”) Do Not Exist by Massimo Introvigne
  • A Uyghur View: Putin Got His Arrest Warrant—Xi Jinping Should Be Next by Kok Bayraq

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY