China's Shouwang Church Continues Sunday Protests in Beijing

Beijing's Shouwang Church, one of China's largest house churches, continues to refuse official registration in spite of increasing pressure from the Chinese government, Christianity Today reports. Members of Shouwang have been meeting outdoors for Sunday morning services for 17 months -- and say they will continue to do so until they receive official permission to return to an indoor location. The government has increased efforts to dissuade church leaders, including sentencing senior pastor Jin Tianming to 500 days of house arrest and detaining church members 1,600 times at 90 different police stations over the past 17 months. Tianming recently took legal action, submitting an administrative review protesting the government's interference with legal church functions, but The South China Morning Post reports that the legal affairs office of the Beijing government has rejected the petition. "This is obviously repression of citizens' religious freedom and the church's right to practice its faith," Tianming previously said.