The American-Chinese pastor, who lived with his family in North Carolina, had made regular trips into Myanmar to visit the 16 schools he had set up there since 2014. Pastor John has also helped establish more than a dozen schools in China – and regularly brought volunteers from these institutions over to his schools in Myanmar. Yet, on 5 March 2017, Chinese officials in Yunnan province detained John and his co-worker, Jing Ruxia – and later charged them both with ‘organising illegal border crossings’. This charge is more usually made against human traffickers. Pastor John’s family say this was to be his last visit to China before he retired. His relatives also say that John made no attempt to hide his border crossings, taking a raft across a river in broad daylight and sometimes with support from Chinese officials. ‘My father claims that the authorities were aware of their operation in Myanmar and even helped them cross the border on occasion,’ John’s son Ben told the media. Pastor John was held for a year before he was charged in February 2018 and later sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. He was also fined 20,000 yuan (about £2,250).
Teacher Jing Ruxia was given a one-year sentence and a lesser fine: she has since been released. The US State Department has expressed concern that Pastor John’s health has deteriorated in jail, but his family say they are confident he will stand strong in his faith. Religious rights campaigners see Pastor John’s arrest as part of a Chinese Government crackdown on house churches and their members. In February 2018, new Regulations for Religious Affairs were introduced, further curtailing religious freedoms and limiting Chinese nationals’ opportunities to make faith-related trips outside the country without prior permission. It appears the Government is trying to restrict Chinese Christians’ ability to have contact with Western believers.
Pastor John, now 58, became a Christian in his 20s through an American family whom he met in China. He studied for the ministry in New York and later married an American, Jamie; they have two sons, Ben and Amos. John ministered to Chinese congregations in North Carolina before he felt God calling him to serve in his homeland. He went on to found more than a dozen schools in central and southern China. Then, in 2014, he became involved in humanitarian aid work in neighbouring Myanmar focusing on ethnic minority groups in mountainous parts of the Wa region. He also set up schools serving 2,000 children, in an area where educational opportunities were severely limited. PLEASE PRAY: 1. That Pastor John and his family will experience God’s presence and His peace in new ways, and grow in wisdom and faith through their ordeal. 2. For opportunities for Pastor John to show God’s unconditional love to his fellow inmates and his prison guards. 3. That the Chinese Government will respond to international pressure to free Pastor John.
SIGN A PETITION: Please also sign our petition calling on the Chinese Government to repeal its restrictive 2018 Regulations for Religious Affairs and uphold people’s constitutional right to religious freedom. Visit our website: www.releaseinternational.org/china-petition/ POST THIS PRISONER PROFILE ON THE BULLETIN BOARD IN YOUR CHURCH: Post this Prisoner Profile on the bulletin board in your church, Sunday school class or youth group. Share a copy with your pastor, members of your prayer group and other Christian friends. To read about other Christian Prisoners of Faith, please visit releaseinternational.org and click on email sign-up. Last updated 13/08/2018 Through our international network of missions, Release International serves persecuted Christians in more than 30 countries around the world by supporting pastors and Christian prisoners, and their families; supplying Christian literature and Bibles; and working for justice. www.releaseinternational.org/prisoners © Release International 2018 ‘WHEN A CHRISTIAN GOES TO PRISON – AND OFTEN TO TORTURE OR DEATH – THE SUFFERING ONLY BEGINS. THE FAMILY SUFFERS ENDLESSLY. WE CAN AND MUST HELP THEM.’ - RICHARD WURMBRAND
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