Tony Lambert goes behind the headlines of persecution and church demolitions
‘They have gone too far. Countless worshippers are shedding tears of sorrow.’ – pastor in Wenzhou, April 28.
One of China’s largest churches was completely demolished on April 28, sending shock-waves throughout the large Christian community. The last two decades have seen a gradual lessening of persecution. But suddenly a wave of repression has swept through Zhejiang province on the south-east coast which has seen the greatest growth. Zhejiang includes the large Wenzhou area where over one million of its eight million inhabitants are Protestants. Wenzhou has over 2,000 churches – many of them mega-churches built in recent years to contain congregations numbering in the thousands.
