Chinese court puts Early Rain pastor on trial

A Chinese court held a secret trial of Pastor Wang Yi of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu on Thursday, a government source confirmed to church leaders. Chinese authorities have detained Yi, a former legal scholar and outspoken critic of China’s persecution of Christians, for a year on suspicion of state subversion.

How did the church find out? The Pray for Early Rain Covenant Church Facebook page reported that a member of the congregation visited the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court to confirm rumors of the trial. According to the church, multiple plainclothes officers guarded the building and the individual “was attacked, thrown to the ground, stomped on, and interrogated.”

Dig deeper: Read June Cheng’s report on the state of Early Rain Covenant Church a year after the government crackdown on the influential congregation.