by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News)—A house church pastor was sentenced to five years in prison, according to a magazine covering religious liberty and human rights in China.
Pastor Wan Changchun, a well-known dissident and leader of Living Stone Reformed Church in Bengbu, Anhui, was arrested in 2023 along with several co-workers, as reported by Bitter Winter.
In 2023, the charge against Pastor Wan was changed from “illegal business operations” to the more severe “fraud.” Although all finances at Living Stone Reformed Church are transparently managed and approved by members, authorities increasingly use the “fraud” charge to target churches outside the state-sanctioned Three-Self Church, claiming they are unauthorized to collect funds.
On March 27, 2025, he was sentenced to five years in prison. Three co-workers received suspended sentences of two to two and a half years, while Pastor Wan remains behind bars.
In 2017, China’s State Council revised the Regulations on Religious Affairs to tighten control over religious practices. The amendments required religious organizations to register with government authorities, restricted unauthorized religious activities, and promoted the alignment of religious beliefs with “core socialist values,” a process known as “Sinicization.” Additionally, the regulations prohibited the construction of large religious statues outside temples and church grounds and imposed stricter oversight on religious education and international religious exchanges.
In 2018, Pastor Wan signed a statement opposing China’s restrictive 2017 Religious Affairs regulations, drafted by Pastor Wang Yi of Early Rain Covenant Church. That same year, authorities raided Wang’s church, detaining over 100 members. He was later charged with “inciting subversion” and “illegal business operations” and sentenced in 2019 to nine years in prison—one of the harshest punishments for a house church leader in recent years.
The Chinese Communist Party views independent religion as a threat and harshly persecutes churches that operate outside state control, using state-approved churches to promote government propaganda.
In the 2025 World Watch List by Open Doors, China is ranked 15th out of 50 for severe Christian persecution, up four spots from the previous year. This rise is due to stricter regulatory enforcement, resulting in the shutdown of unregistered churches and heightened scrutiny of official ones. Open Doors estimates there are about 96.7 million Christians in China.
Since the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, Christianity has seen explosive growth from 4 million Christians to an estimated 58 million Protestants and 9 million Catholics by 2010.
Despite ongoing intense persecution and strict government controls, current estimates suggest that there are between 80 to 100 million Christians in China, including both officially registered members and those in unregistered house church communities.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.