(WSJ Houses of Worship) Gao Pu-Religious Persecution and Financial ‘Crimes’–China’s techniques against Christian pastors should be a warning to business

A court in China’s Shanxi province sentenced Yang Rongli to 15 years for fraud in June 2025. She was the leader of a house church called the Golden Lampstand, and her fraud, according to the prosecutors, was collecting offerings from her congregation.

That’s the way churches have funded themselves for 2,000 years, and the Golden Lampstand’s congregants weren’t deceived. They gave willingly and knew where their money went. But in its campaign against independent churches, Beijing has doubled down on a troubling method: Take an ordinary practice and prosecute it as a financial crime. Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu’s Early Rain Covenant Church is another example: sentenced to nine years in 2019, partly for “illegal business operations” tied to printing Christian books.

My parents are likely next. My father, Gao Quanfu, founded Light of Zion Church in Xi’an nearly four decades ago. He and my mother, Pang Yu, both 69, lived frugally and gave generously. The church’s money was handled by a finance team and overseen by its elders and deacons. My father drew a fixed salary for preaching, and my mother cooked meals as a volunteer.

But in May 2025, the police came to our home in Xi’an and took my father, returning three weeks later to take my mother. The original charge was “using superstition to undermine the implementation of the law,” but—with the method of using financial laws for religious oppression—they’ve now been charged with fraud instead. Prosecutors are seeking 12 to 13 years.

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In its campaign against independent churches, Beijing has doubled down on a troubling method: Take an ordinary practice and prosecute it as a financial crime, writes @GaoPu1231https://t.co/izxIujB28n

— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) October 2, 2026