Source: www.csw.org.uk
Date: August 3, 2024
Today our prayers are for Zhang Chunlei, an elder of Love (Ren’ai) Reformed Church in Guiyang in Guizhou Province.
Having been detained by the Chinese authorities for over three years already, Elder Zhang was sentenced on 24 July to a total of five years in prison.
This is to be served until 16 March 2026 to account for the time already spent in detention. Yet we believe in a God who can open prison doors without delay.
In Acts 16 we read how ‘everyone’s chains came loose’, while Acts 12 tells of Peter’s miraculous escape from prison as the church was earnestly praying.
Be encouraged by these accounts as you pray for Elder Zhang’s freedom today, and the countless others who are unjustly imprisoned in China.
Elder Zhang’s detention began on 16 March 2021.
Ten Christians from his church had been taken away earlier that day, during a police raid on a privately rented property where they were holding a retreat. Elder Zhang visited the police station to make inquiries, at which point he was detained.
Police officers raided Zhang’s home, subsequently accusing him and three others of ‘illegally operating as an association’.
On 1 May 2021 Elder Zhang was formally arrested on suspicion of ‘fraud’.
In January 2022 it emerged that the authorities had levelled an additional charge of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ against him.
The charges against Elder Zhang Chunlei are completely unfounded. He should not have spent the past three years in detention, and he certainly shouldn’t have been sentenced to any more time in prison.
Please pray:
- For Elder Zhang’s immediate and unconditional release.
- For reparations to be made to Elder Zhang and his family for the years of injustice they have been subjected to already.
- For Elder Zhang’s health and wellbeing. Elder Zhang spent over a month in hospital towards the end of 2023 and was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. In May this year, Elder Zhang’s lawyer visited him and reported that he appeared slightly thin.
- For the countless others who have been imprisoned or detained in China, in relation to the peaceful practice of their religion or belief.