Thank you for adding your name to the online petition asking the Chinese government to free Pastor Bike. Your voice was heard! Pastor Bike is FREE! On Friday, August 29, prominent Chinese house church leader Zhang Mingxuan, affectionately known as "Pastor Bike," his wife and a co-worker were released from Chinese custody. Pastor Bike was arrested along with his wife and co-worker August 6, two days before the Olympic Games began in Beijing. An outspoken evangelist, Pastor Bike has travelled on his bike to many places in China, handing out Christian literature and Bibles and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Instead of being held at a prison or a detention center Pastor Bike and his wife, Xie Fenglan, and their co-worker were taken to resort hotels on a "forced vacation" designed to ensure that they couldn’t talk to any foreign media. Pastor Bike was scheduled to do an interview with the BBC the day of his arrest.
All three believers are in good health and spirits and praising God for their release, according to our co-laborers at China Aid Association. The detainees said during their confinement they had opportunities to witness to guards and even high-ranking government officials staying at the hotels where they were held.
On August 26, The Voice of the Martyrs and China Aid Association launched an international online petition drive advocating for Pastor Bike, his wife and co-worker to be released. On September 4, China Aid Association delivered the petition — which had more than 57,000 names printed on 619 pages — addressed to Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Washington, D.C. Included was a letter thanking the Chinese government for releasing these house-church Christians.
We are thankful to you and the thousands of others who logged on and signed the petition. Christians in free nations often wonder if we can really make a practical difference for Christians in persecuted countries. Pastor Bike’s release shows that WE CAN!
Continue to pray for Pastor Bike, his wife and their co-worker and for other believers in China.
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