TSPM is the The Three-Self Patriotic Movement, a large Protestant organization in China. Also these churches are approved to operate, they still had their accounts blocked on the popular WeChat social media site. This significantly hampers the churches’ ability to communicate with their members. The crackdown is yet another manifestation of how the Chinese government has recently been acting with markedly greater impunity against Christians. It is trying to do nothing less than destroy Christianity and create a new facsimile of the religion that serves to advance the goals of the Communist Party. This threatens all the Christians of the country, including the tiny community of Orthodox Christians in China.
In this, offers yet another instance of the persecution of Christians by governing officials that is unfortunately on the increase not only in China, but in all too many other nations around the world.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in China, see here.
“China Removes WeChat Accounts of TSPM Approved Churches,” by Anthony Lee, China Christian Daily, June 10, 2021:
China blocked many registered churches’ WeChat accounts after a recent crackdown on online Christian content.
Those banned accounts on WeChat, China’s main social media platform, are owned by many TSPM approved churches in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Yunnan.
The official account of Beijing Haidian Church, one of the official flagship churches in the country, was removed around Monday. Probably on the same day, Shanghai Pure Heart Church, formerly known as “The First Presbyterian Church of Shanghai”, suffered the same fate.
Other official church accounts that were likely blocked on Monday include Beijing Zhushikou Church, Chongqing Holy Grace Church, Huai’an Church of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing Holy Word Church of Jiangsu Province, and Zhuhai Meihua Church of Guangdong Province; they all lost their WeChat accounts.
It is said that an old batch of church accounts were shut down during the last weekend of May and even earlier in late April.
The clampdown on Christianity within cyberspace was launched in late April. On April 29, several popular Christian WeChat accounts with “Bible” or “gospel” related titles were closed down.
Some Christian public accounts on WeChat, mostly pertaining to Christian books and publishing, were banned on Monday….
Any search using keywords including “Christ (jidu in Chinese)”, “gospel”, and “fellowship” fails to get any Christianity-related public accounts. Those keywords seem to be blocked on WeChat.
