CHINA — It’s the Chinese New Year, but for Christian families in China, the new year is set to bring increased surveillance and persecution. As Andrew Boyd from Release International reports, the state is homing in on Christian children.

As China celebrates its New Year, which begins in February, Chinese Christians are braced for a year of growing persecution, targeting children and Christian families. School children who admit their faith are being required by the Communist Party to sign a declaration that they will renounce Christianity. Release International supports persecuted Christians around the world. Bob Fu is R.I.’s China partner.

Bob Fu:

For the first time, millions of Chinese children are forced to sign a form, these Christian children, to renounce their faith in public. The teachers, the children, all have to mark whether they are Christians or not. And if they admitted they are Christians, then they were asked to sign a Communist Party propaganda department form to renounce their faith. And if the parents and grandparents are not working hard or refuse to cooperate to make their children denounce their faith, then their job security would be jeopardized. We have received cases showing what even grandparents would lose their public health and public welfare if they did not dissuade them from believing Christianity.

One mother who was holding a Sunday school class for her five children at home found herself surrounded by police and arrested after her husband betrayed her to the authorities. Release International’s 2024 Persecution Trends Report reveals persecution is deepening in China. Some state-registered churches have been prevented from meeting, their pastors arrested and their crosses torn down. Many Christians have to gather in secret to experience any freedom of worship. They risk surveillance and arrest.

Release International’s partners say the persecution of Christians in China is every bit as bad as the dark days of the Cultural Revolution. In the words of Bob Fu, “The Communist Party has declared war against the cross. The authorities appear increasingly desperate to stop the rapid growth of Christianity in China, where some say there are now more Christians than communists.

About Release International

Release International is a Christian ministry working through local church partners in around 30 countries across the world, helping persecuted Christians prayerfully, pastorally and practically. The ministry was founded in 1968, inspired by the testimony and ministry of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand. Following the demise of Communism in Eastern Europe and the increase in the persecution of Christians elsewhere in the world, the Ministry broadened its activities and changed its name to Release International.

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