ChristianPersecution.com reported on the persecuted Christians from China who settled in Texas on April 16 and March 31; those posts provide background on what is said below.
For background on Orthodox Christianity in China, see here.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in China, see here.
“Chinese Pastor Who Faced Severe Persecution Gets Religious Freedom Hearing in DC,” CBN News, July 13, 2023:
Religious rights advocates pleaded on behalf of persecuted Christians at a congressional hearing on religious freedom in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith, chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, stood alongside Pastor Pan Yongguang, who led more than 60 Chinese Christians out of China to find religious freedom.
“This is really a day of great celebration, but it’s also an appeal to Xi Jinping and to the U.N. and the government here and the governments of all democracies to speak out on behalf of religious freedom. This persecution has got to stop,” Smith said.
The story of the Chinese congregation known as the “Mayflower Church” is one of faith and perseverance.
Earlier this year, Smith helped the Chinese Christians secure religious freedom in the United States when they were unexpectedly detained and were at risk of forced repatriation to China due to suspected pressure from agents of the Chinese Communist Party.
Smith worked with the pastor of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church to find asylum in the U.S. after they fled China in 2019 to South Korea then to Thailand in August of 2022 before finding a new home in Tyler, Texas….
The Mayflower Church members received a warm welcome after landing in Dallas, Texas.
Pan’s son, Paul, and the rest of the members of the Mayflower Church are grateful for the new life they now have in the U.S.
“This is a place where people believe in God and they have the freedom of worship and freedom of faith,” he said. “The freedom I enjoy the most is I can finally go to an official school. I thank God for everything He has done for all of us. He has taken us out of the detention center and brought us safely here to America. And He will let us live in peace and freedom in America.”
Prominent religious leaders from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist faiths addressed the dire state of religious freedom in Communist China. The congressional roundtable hearing was hosted by the Chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI)….
