MEET JINYI’S SECRET HOUSE CHURCH

Imagine you’re in a house church with more than 100 people. You’re all crowded into a room together. Most of the people are young and all are keen to learn more about Jesus and worship Him together. Bibles lie open around the room. There are HAPPY faces surrounding you. You are in the middle of a familiar WORSHIP SONG – and then the door suddenly slams open. 

This isn’t a normal house church. There’s a reason that the windows are closed and the floor-to-ceiling curtains are drawn. The church worships in the dark, in secret, because it is not allowed to exist. And now it’s been discovered by the police. 

“Everything fell apart” 

Jinyi* vividly remembers the terrifying day that this happened to her. She and her husband, Zhang*, had planted a church in central China a couple of years earlier, and the numbers steadily grew as more and more young people joined the church. But leading the church was always dangerous. Jinyi and Zhang knew this day could come. Because their church was illegal. 

In China, Christians are only allowed to attend registered churches in the Three-Self Patriotic Movement or the Catholic Patriotic Association. These denominations are heavily monitored, with the Chinese authorities determining who can lead services, what can be preached and sometimes even filming the congregation. Many Christians start underground house churches, so they can preach the gospel and learn about Jesus without the Chinese Communist Party intervening. Sometimes the house churches are left alone. But, increasingly, they are targeted by the authorities. 

Sometimes that means being invited for ‘tea’ with a local official – a seemingly innocuous message, which in reality comes with the threat of interrogation and a warning that the church leaders are being closely watched. Sometimes there is no warning at all. 

“Everything fell apart quicky,” Jinyi remembers. When her church was raided the community was immediately shut down and the police detained the assembled believers. Most of those arrested were released after 24 hours, but some were kept for a full week. Zhang was singled out. As often happens with raids, the church leader bears the brunt of the punishment. He was fined 60,000 renminbi (£6,500, about six months’ average salary in China) and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. 

Jinyi found that, when her church was targeted, other churches were too fearful to offer support. They knew they might get in trouble for helping her. “With surveillance everywhere, even a visit or a message to me can bring danger,” she explains. Jinyi understood their reasoning, but it was still hard to experience. “In my heart, I felt betrayed, hurt, disappointed,” she says. “I felt isolated. I was struggling with my faith and found myself sinking into silence.” 

“The calling I once received… came alive again.”

In the midst of this isolation, Open Doors local partners stepped in to support and spend time with Jinyi. Open Doors partners see time and again the transformative power of simply being present with those who are persecuted. They began to see this transformation in Jinyi. 

“I began to think about the young adults who once attended our gatherings,” she says, “how these young people, driven by fear, were scattered like lost sheep without a shepherd.” Jinyi became a Christian at university, and has long had a passion for seeing young people encounter Jesus. She and Zhang served in student ministry for years, and Jinyi knew that this was her purpose. Encouraged by continuing fellowship with Open Doors partners, and despite the significant risks, Jinyi determined to be there for those whom God had entrusted to her and her husband.  

“The calling I once received from God came alive again,” she says. “I knew I must help these young people stand firm in the Lord once again.” 

Over meals, Jinyi met one-on-one with several young people to encourage them. Inspired by Jinyi’s faith, several of those young people stepped up to lead small groups, eventually followed by youth gatherings held in different homes. The house church ministry has begun, once more, to flourish. There are now ten underground small groups with a total of more than 70 young people who are growing in faith and extraordinary courage. They look to Jinyi as their guide. 

“He has not forgotten me” 

Open Doors partners continue to spend time with Jinyi, and she is clear that these visits are crucial in her ministry. “Thank you for your prayers,” she says. “There have been countless moments when I wanted to give up. I felt like I really couldn’t carry the burden of leading these young people, but God’s calling was always there, and He upheld me. Your visits help me realise that the Lord has not forgotten me. He still loves me. He must have a good purpose for my husband and me.” 

Open Doors is walking with church leaders in China and in other countries where the church must meet underground. These believers are under constant pressure as they face the threat of being watched, exposed and persecuted. With your prayers and support, Open Doors partners can keep providing training and keep making the encouraging visits to underground Christians that are so vital. Without them, courageous leaders like Jinyi feel isolated and disconnected from the body of Christ.  

*Names changed for security reasons