Matt Bush, FISM News
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In November 2019, more than 60 members of China’s Mayflower Church, including 32 children, fled to South Korea after facing threats and interrogations from Chinese police.
On Good Friday, more than three years later, almost every member of the church landed in Dallas, Texas where they will be able to live and worship God in freedom. One family remained in Thailand because the mother is pregnant and unable to travel until she gives birth.
“It is a very Good Friday indeed, and a perfect Easter gift to see these persecuted Chinese Christians arrive and be allowed to practice their faith freely in the United States,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
Had they been forcibly repatriated to China, they would have been jailed and severely persecuted. After years of fleeing persecution suffered at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, these men and women of great faith can finally enjoy religious freedom in America.
U.S.-based nonprofits, ChinaAid and Freedom Seekers International (FSI), have worked with the group over the past three years providing aid, financial resources, and legal help to get them to America. These groups, along with the U.S. government, worked together to keep the church members safe from Chinese persecution and ultimately bring them to America for asylum.
After fleeing to Jeju Island in South Korea, it became clear that their prospects of refuge in the country were dim. After almost three years in South Korea, the group left for Thailand where they hoped to obtain refugee status from the U.N. and eventually asylum in America.
While in Thailand, however, 32 adult members of the church were arrested and detained for overstaying their visas while one adult and all of the children were not charged. The group eventually paid a fine and was released.
While detained, according to the Christian Post, “the members faced imminent danger of international kidnapping and repatriation, which could have led to retaliation, abuse, and imprisonment by the Chinese Communist Party.”
Rather than shrinking in fear while in captivity, the group “seized the opportunity of evangelism.”
Messages from Pastor Pan Yongguang’s Shenzhen sent to FSI and ChinaAid show that the “group held daily worship services and shared the gospel with other Chinese and Burmese detainees.” Two young Chinese men professed faith in Jesus while detained, and Pastor Pan was trying to figure out how to baptize another.
Pastor Pan said in those messages that being detained was “difficult and joyful” and that they were “very, very thankful for bearing fruit in prison.”
According to the Christian Post, this is the first known instance of a Chinese church fleeing persecution en masse, and it was a harrowing three years for the church members. They faced uncertainty and potential retribution from the Chinese government throughout the process.
In its annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom said, “Both registered and unregistered religious groups and individuals who run afoul of the CCP face harassment, detention, arrest, imprisonment, and other abuses.” That threat has been present for the Mayflower Church for years, until now.