Source: www.barnabasfund.org
Date: June 13, 2021
China has continued its crackdown on Christian social media content, with the accounts of churches and Christian ministries removed from social media platform WeChat on June 7.
These include registered churches that are part of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), China’s officially recognized Protestant body.
Nanjing Union Theological Seminary: The WeChat page of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary was among those to be suspended.
Among several TSPM churches removed from WeChat were Beijing Haidian Church and Shanghai Pure Heart Church.
In addition, the WeChat page of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary – a prominent Protestant seminary – has been suspended.
The WeChat page of 9Marks, an international ministry that provides resources for pastors and church leaders, as well as that of the newspaper Faith Weekly, have also been closed down .
The same appears to have happened to several Christian book publishers.
In April and May, several Christian accounts were removed from WeChat, while Christian search terms such as “Christ,” “Bible” and “Gospel” were also blocked.
WeChat is China’s main social media platform, used for sharing written content as well as photos and videos in a manner similar to Facebook or Twitter, and as a messaging service similar to WhatsApp.