Release Prayer Shields, Central Asia and China
Central Asia
Pray for Tajik pastor Bakhrom Kholmatov who is serving a three-year sentence after secret police found ‘extremist’ literature during a raid on the Good News of Grace Protestant Church in Khujand. All religious literature undergoes state censorship.
China
Pray for officials at the Chinese Embassy in London who received Release’s petition this summer. It called on President Xi Jinping to repeal the 2018 religious ordinance which has prompted growing repression against Christians.
China
Ask God to grant His peace to Zhang Xinyue, wife of imprisoned Early Rain Covenant Church elder Li Yingqiang, who has been visited more than 20 times by officials in China pressuring her to stop home-schooling her daughter.
China
Pastor Wang Yi of the Early Rain Covenant Church in China, and four other leaders have been detained since December. Pray they will all be allowed a full legal defense. More charges have been brought against Pastor Wang recently.
China
Please continue to pray for members of Early Rain Covenant Church in China who face intense persecution. Officials have forced church members to make false accusations against Pastor Wang Yi; those who refused to comply were reportedly shackled for days.
China
Pray for an unnamed Chinese Christian in Zhengzhou, Henan province, who was beaten by more than ten people when he tried in vain to stop officials from forcibly demolishing a house church. His hand was badly injured.
China
Chinese officials in Xiamen have said they intend to shut down all house churches over the next two years, as part of a nationwide crackdown. Pray this will only reignite fresh passion for the gospel.