Eleven Elders, a Tea House Reading Conference: Control of the Church of the Holy Covenant is sinking to the smallest gathering unit

In a Tea House reading party with only ten people in the Wuh District of Chengdu, 11 Christians were eventually brought into the Red Card Building.China Aid Association Declaration on September 14In the afternoon of September 11th, members of the Charity Society of the Holy Covenant Church of Autumn were taken away by police during a reading gathering in Chengdu, most of whom were over 60 years old, some of whom were over 70 years old.73-year-old Ho Fuo Tao had removed some lung tissue due to lung cancer, and had recently been sent to the doctor.

From large worship week to more than ten people reading book meetings, law enforcement objects have been narrowed to daily gatherings

The most notable thing about the event was not the number of participants, but the very small number. After the mass capture of the Church of the Holy Testament in 2018, the public large-scale gathering space continued to shrink, and believers turned to families, groups, online and temporary places to maintain religious life. September 11 was taken away not by a public worship of hundreds of people, but by a small reading event in the tea hall.

China Aid Association said that the police told family cases involved in the "cult" investigation, but did not further explain. The Holy Covenant Church of Autumn Hour belongs to the Chinese Protestant family church system, long refused to join the official three-self-patriotic movement.

When regulators shift from fixed churches to tea halls, houses and group activities, religious management changes are clear: governance focuses not only on controlling a public organization or a place, but on blocking the ability to continue to form a community between members. Places can be closed and the leaders can be caught, but as long as members can meet, read and pray, organizational relationships remain.

Elderly and chronic patients are taken away, making “short-term control” itself a health risk

According to reports, most of the abducted are elderly and have chronic illnesses. 73-year-old Ho Futao had previously undergone lung surgery and had recently sought emergency medical care due to his physical condition. Priests saw an ambulance enter while waiting outside the station, raising concerns about the health of the detainees.

This detail shows that even if the police ultimately did not take long-term criminal measures against everyone, the control of hours and even a day and night is not without cost for the elderly and chronically ill. The safety of the law enforcement process is directly affected by whether the drugs can be taken on time, whether the family is allowed to deliver clothes and medical supplies, and whether physical abnormalities can be addressed on time.

The Holy Covenant faces no longer a raids, but an eight-year chain of pressure.

In December 2018, the Church of the Holy Covenant was massively arrested; Chief Priest Wang Yi was later sentenced to nine years for incitement to subversion of the state regime and illegal business crimes. Since then, members of the Church have continued to report surveillance, expulsion, power outages, short-term detention and gatherings were shocked. In January 2026, Elder Lee Yongzhi, the preacher Di Cheng and others were again taken away, and Lee Yongzhi and Di Cheng were formally arrested for alleged incitement to subversion of the state regime.

During the Sunday gathering held on June 14 this year in Sichuan River Oil, the church said 60 to 70 police, special police, national security and religious affairs personnel had entered the scene.Thirty-three believers were taken.The elders Wu and Yuan were detained on 15 and 14 respectively, and by September, the law enforcement scene was further narrowed from the hotel conference room to the Tea House reading book.

Combining these events together, we can see a continuous way of governance: core pastors face criminal charges, larger gatherings are centrally enforced, and small gatherings face calls and short-term controls. Measures of different intensities work together, resulting in a continuous increase in the personal cost of membersining religious communities.

* The boundaries of religious freedom are ultimately reflected in whether people can live together without state approval.

The Chinese Constitution stipulates that citizens have freedom of religious belief, and the government also requires religious activities to be carried out within the law-registered and state-recognised religious management system. At the heart of the long-standing conflict between the family church and officials is whether religious communities can choose pastors, organize gatherings, spread doctrine and manage internal affairs without joining official organizations.

This conflict is presented in a very specific way: more than a dozen members, a book, a temporary space, can also enter the scope of police investigation. When a religious group can not escape the police intervention even if it reduces its activity to reading gatherings among the elderly, the dispute has gone beyond the question of whether a particular gathering is registered, and touches the state regulation can enter the boundaries of private association and religious life.