Ministry / Surveillance increases

Lying low

“Barnabas is lying low for two months,” Mark Wagner, 316NOW’s executive director, reports.

Barnabas is 316NOW’s liaison with our students in Mainland China. He is a Confessional Lutheran pastor. He is Chinese and he lives in China.

Wagner’s report continues, “During their last police interrogation, our brother and sisters in [a Chinese city] were told that the next time they are detained, they would be fined $10,000. Due to those serious threats,

every pastor and lay leader is on alert.”

Additional precautious

Barnabas says, “I won’t take any cell phone call unless I know it is a delivery person. Rumor has it that if the police can’t reach you, they’ll stop trying to call you. They’re fishing for information about relationships, who you know and interact with. So we are keeping quiet except in our closest circles.”

“Security is even more important now,” Wagner adds. “We must be careful how we use our secure online teaching platform. We must avoid the less secure platforms, like Zoom or Skype, because the Chinese government can monitor what is said there.”

“We must also be cautious of inquiries from new students. They may be informants or spies who

want to learn who 316NOW has connections with in China.”

Security in God’s promises

Now. more than ever, 316NOW, along with our brothers and sisters in China, is claiming God’s promise, The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1).