For each of the past 20 years, Freddie Sun and his wife Dorothy have traveled more than 25,000 miles within China to help start and support 155 Bible schools in every province. On Aug. 22, Sun, 76, director of the China Division of Christian Aid Mission, died of brain tumors.
Through Sun's work, Bible school graduates are leading thousands of house churches in China. Those churches, most unregistered with China's communist government, face varying degrees of persecution: In some provinces government officials turn a blind eye to them, while in others they crack down, detaining pastors and confiscating property. Leaders can disappear in prison or "re-education through labor" camps.
And as the house church movement - and the size of house churches - has grown, so has enforcement. Earlier this year, authorities ordered closed a 1,500-member house church in Sichuan province. In the past month,...