China Change, October 29, 2026
Pastor Wang Yi (王怡) is the founding pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church, a house church in Chengdu, China. On December 9, 2018, police raided the church and arrested dozens of pastors, elders, preachers, and workers, including Pastor Wang Yi. In December 2019, the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Pastor Wang Yi to nine years in prison on charges of “inciting subversion of state power.” He is currently serving his sentence at Chengdu Jintang Prison (成都金堂监狱).
Over the past nearly eight years, his family has been permitted to visit him only five times—an extraordinary anomaly that blatantly violates Chinese prison regulations, which grant inmates one family visit per month.
In late September this year, reports circulated overseas that Pastor Wang Yi was critically ill, though these claims could not be independently verified. Over the past month, his wife Jiang Rong (蒋蓉) has made numerous attempts to contact prison officials via letters and phone calls, and also traveled to the facility once to request visitation, but her request has been denied so far. She was told that her request is going through an “approval process.”
The family’s demands remain straightforward: Immediate visitation, and regular monthly visits going forward.
The last time Pastor Wang Yi’s wife and son were allowed to see him was in June 2026, and prior to that, March 2025.
In a public statement (see Chinese original) issued on October 3, Early Rain Covenant Church reiterated its position: “We expect that the prison administration lawfully guarantees Pastor Wang Yi’s right to receive family visits and exchange correspondence and phone calls with his family. The prison administration must provide the family with accurate health and medical information, ensure that Pastor Wang Yi receives timely and adequate medical care when needed, and keep the family informed in an open and transparent manner.”
Beyond his pastoral role, Pastor Wang Yi is a prominent scholar of constitutional law, an essayist, and a poet. He was the recipient of the National Endowment for Democracy’s Democracy Service Medal in 2025. The Democracy Service Medal honors distinguished individuals worldwide whose personal commitment and lifetime of service have left an indelible mark on the cause of freedom.
The Chinese government has intensified its nationwide crackdown on house churches and the detention of clergy in recent years as it has been widely reported. At least 76 churches spanning more than 20 provinces have been targeted, with the number continuing to rise.
From the perspective of religious freedom, this coordinated campaign is an ideological war at its core aimed at enforcing ideological uniformity and asserting absolute control over people’s minds. From the perspective of civil society, amidst relentless government suppression of independent civic organizations for well over a decade, the house church movement has demonstrated remarkable public presence and enduring resilience.
Following Pastor Wang Yi’s imprisonment, Elder Li Yingqiang (李英强) assumed leadership of Early Rain Covenant Church. Elder Li was previously detained for eight months during the late-2018 crackdown. Since then, the church has endured unceasing harassment and disruptions.
Elder Li is also the initiator of the “China 5:00 PM Kingdom Prayer Meeting.” The initiative originated from a covenant made between Li and his wife, Zhang Xinyue, during his 2019 detention: to pray together every afternoon at 5:00 PM, the standard dinner hour at detention centers. This personal practice has since expanded into a nationwide prayer movement participated by numerous house churches.
In a pastoral letter titled “How to Prepare for the Next Church Persecution Case,” issued in late November 2025, Elder Li wrote:
“Before China undergoes a further collapse of the rule of law, the further erosion of civil society and the market economy, and a deeper slide toward totalitarianism and Leninist control, no political agenda can completely erase the church as a community from public life. Though we do not know what tomorrow holds, we must conserve the church as an ecclesiological body. Otherwise, we stand to lose not only the outward form of the church as part of the public life, but will also witness society descend into deeper darkness and chaos.”
On January 9, 2026, Early Rain Covenant Church was raided once again. Elder Li Yingqiang, Preacher Dai Zhichao (戴志超), and Deacon Jia Xuewei (贾学伟) were detained and remain in custody. They face charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and “organizing illegal gatherings,” with their cases now transferred to the procuratorate for prosecution.
According to their defense attorneys, the church’s insistence on sustaining its public community life forms the central basis of the state’s allegations against them.
While all three detainees are currently permitted meetings with their defense counsel and written correspondence with family members, their repeated requests to receive a copy of the Holy Bible have been denied.
Our concern over Pastor Wang Yi grows by the day.
We hope to bring attention to Pastor Wang Yi’s situation. We urge the international community to join us in demanding the basic, lawful right of regular visitation for his family.
We further call on law enforcement and judicial authorities in Sichuan to grant Elder Li Yingqiang, Preacher Dai Zhichao, and Deacon Jia Xuewei immediate access to the Holy Bible.
“Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” (Hebrews 13:3)
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