China Shuts Down Prominent Christian Church

China has closed down what many describe as one of the country’s largest “underground” Protestant churches, the Zion Church, over licensing.

Officials shut-down the church on Sunday for operating without a license, another big move by the Chinese government to control religious worship centres.

“After investigation, (we found) the ‘Zion Church in Beijing’ was not registered and carried out activities in the name of social organizations without authorization,” the Chaoyang district Civil Affairs Bureau said in a statement.

Local reports have it that about 70 officials got to the church’s premises in the northern part of Beijing after its Sunday afternoon service.

“They chased everyone out and sealed off the place, even tearing down our signage on the wall,” a church pastor Jin Mingri told AFP.

“All our things have been confiscated and we have not been allowed to re-enter the building.”





Disclaimer: Stories culled and pictures posted on this blog will be given due credit and is not the fault of drifternews.blogspot.com if website culled from misrepresents source of story.