Anhui Fuyang Seed Reformed Church Case Adjudicated: Pastor Zhang Sen Sentenced to 1 Year and 7 Months, Pastor Chang Shun to 1 Year and 6 Months, Elder Ma Tao to 1 Year and 4 Months

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report): On August 14, 2026, this outlet learned that on August 10, 2026, the Anhui Fuyang Seed Reformed Church case was adjudicated. Three people were sentenced for the “crime of organizing illegal gatherings”:

Pastor Zhang Sen: 1 year and 7 months, sentence ending on January 24, 2027; Pastor Chang Shun: 1 year and 6 months, sentence ending on November 18, 2026; Elder Ma Tao: 1 year and 4 months, sentence ending on October 28, 2026.

Because the Anhui Fuyang Seed Reformed Church has insisted on a house-church position and refused to join the Three-Self Church, it has repeatedly been suppressed by the authorities since 2021.

Attached: Zhang Sen’s profile: A native of Anhui Province, Christian, pastor of the “Seed Reformed Church” in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Fuyang City, Anhui Province, victim of religious persecution, and Chinese prisoner of conscience.

A devout believer in Jesus Christ; because the church where he serves is a Presbyterian church, he upholds the house-church position in his faith and has publicly refused to join the “Three-Self” churches controlled by the Chinese Communist government, and therefore has been subjected to stability-maintenance surveillance;

In 2018, he participated in signing the “Pastors’ Joint Declaration: Declaration of Christian Faith” initiated by Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church;

In August 2021, the church where he serves was raided for the first time by police from Yingzhou District, Fuyang City. It was thereafter repeatedly suppressed. During this period, he was beaten, became a key target of stability maintenance, was frequently summoned by police to “drink tea,” and was subjected to long-term surveillance;

In 2023, as persecution faced by his church escalated, some Christians willing to join together to provide home education attracted the close attention of the local government. As a result, many Christian families were harassed; some were even forced to relocate; some had their homes illegally entered or were followed, and tracking devices and surveillance equipment were installed, among other measures. Soon afterward, the Seed Reformed Church was formally banned by the government, and nearly 20 people were arrested and detained;

On March 24, 2024, after eight church Christians were permitted to be released, he and other believers went to the entrance of the detention center to welcome them and prayed together nearby. He was consequently summoned for questioning and was later placed under administrative detention for 15 days by police from the local police station on March 28, on the grounds that the “prayer had not been reported”;

On June 29, 2025, while his church was worshipping, it was again raided by police. Pastor Chang Shun and Elder Ma Tao in the church were taken away and criminally detained on suspicion of “illegal assembly.” Although he was not present at the church’s worship service at the time, on July 9 of the same year he was likewise arrested and criminally detained by Fuyang police across provincial lines at a friend’s home in Xuzhou, Jiangsu. The specific alleged offense was unclear, but it was certain to be related to his faith. In an interview on May 28, 2025, with the “China 5 P.M.” online prayer program of a house church, he stated that his previous signing of the “Pastors’ Joint Declaration” initiated by Pastor Wang Yi was the main reason the Seed Reformed Church had repeatedly suffered persecution. Since he was one of the signatories, the possibility that he would be subjected to severe suppression was extremely high. He has remained detained to this day without release. He is currently being held at the Fuyang City Detention Center (Lukan Road, Yingquan District, Fuyang City, Anhui Province, postal code: 236050).

On August 10, 2026, the Anhui Fuyang Seed Reformed Church case was adjudicated. Three people were sentenced for the “crime of organizing illegal gatherings”: Pastor Zhang Sen: 1 year and 7 months, sentence ending on January 24, 2027; Pastor Chang Shun: 1 year and 6 months, sentence ending on November 18, 2026; Elder Ma Tao: 1 year and 4 months, sentence ending on October 28, 2026.

Chang Shun’s profile: A native of Anhui Province, Christian, pastor of the “Seed Reformed Church” in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Fuyang City, Anhui Province, and Chinese prisoner of conscience.

A devout believer in Jesus Christ, he became involved in ministry at the Seed Reformed house church in Fuyang City, Anhui Province at an early age and later successively became a preacher and pastor; in 2018, he and other church pastors participated in signing the “Pastors’ Joint Signature: A Declaration for the Christian Faith” initiated that year by Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church, expressing their adherence to the house-church position and publicly refusing to join the Chinese Communist Party’s “Three-Self” churches; as a result, however, the church where he served was ultimately banned by the government. The believers and pastors including him nevertheless continued to hold gatherings discreetly and with difficulty, while enduring repeated raids and suppression;

On October 21, 2023, after local authorities learned that he and six or seven Christians from the church were studying the Bible in an office building, multiple departments, including the local police station, the residential community, and the Religious Affairs Bureau, jointly raided the site. They illegally confiscated the books and computers they were using and took away several male Christians, including him, for questioning; two weeks later, on November 4, he and church coworkers Han Xuri and Han Meng were each placed under administrative detention for 10 days by police from the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Fuyang City for “illegal assembly activities,” and each was fined 500 yuan;

On March 10, 2024, while the church where he serves was worshipping, it was again raided by the authorities. Eighteen Christians were taken away, nine pastors and coworkers were placed under administrative detention, and he was placed under administrative detention for 15 days (reportedly, this was his third detention within half a year);

On June 29, 2025, just as the Fuyang Seed Reformed Church and Covenant Hall, its preaching station, were holding worship services, local police again raided them. Multiple church groups were forced to stop meeting, and he, Elder Ma Tao, and 19 other pastors and believers (including four children) were all taken away on the grounds of suspected involvement in illegal assembly; the following day (June 30), most people were gradually released, but he and Elder Ma Tao were criminally detained on suspicion of the “crime of organizing illegal gatherings.” They have remained detained to this day without release. It is reported that the Christians who had been released and returned home continued to be monitored and harassed, and were forcibly made to move. He is currently being held at the Fuyang City Detention Center (Lukan Road, Yingquan District, Fuyang City, Anhui Province, postal code: 236050).

On August 10, 2026, the Anhui Fuyang Seed Reformed Church case was adjudicated. Three people were sentenced for the “crime of organizing illegal gatherings”: Pastor Zhang Sen: 1 year and 7 months, sentence ending on January 24, 2027; Pastor Chang Shun: 1 year and 6 months, sentence ending on November 18, 2026; Elder Ma Tao: 1 year and 4 months, sentence ending on October 28, 2026.

Ma Tao’s profile: Born on July 20, 1984, originally named Ma Shutao, a native of Yingshang County, Anhui Province, a resident of Nanzhao Town, Yingshang County, Christian, elder of the “Seed Reformed Church” in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Fuyang City, Anhui Province, victim of religious persecution, and Chinese prisoner of conscience.

Kind and friendly, he became involved in ministry at the Seed Reformed house church in Fuyang City, Anhui Province at an early age because of his devout faith in Jesus Christ, and became a preacher; because the church where he served upheld the house-church position in its faith and publicly refused to join the “Three-Self” churches controlled by the Chinese Communist government, he was subjected to stability-maintenance surveillance by the authorities; at the end of August 2021, the church where he served was raided for the first time by police from Yingzhou District, Fuyang City, and was later banned by the local Civil Affairs Bureau on the grounds that it had “engaged in activities in the name of a social organization without registration.” He and the church’s other pastors and believers nevertheless continued to hold gatherings discreetly and with difficulty despite the risks; however, precisely because of this, the church’s pastors, several coworkers, and key believers, including him, were frequently arrested and suppressed by the authorities;

On June 29, 2025, just as his church and Covenant Hall, its preaching station, were holding worship activities, local police again raided them. Multiple church groups were forced to stop meeting, and he, Pastor Chang Shun, and 19 other pastors and believers (including four children) were all taken away on suspicion of “illegal assembly”; the following day (June 30), most people were gradually released, but he and Pastor Chang Shun were criminally detained on suspicion of the “crime of organizing illegal gatherings”; on August 6 of the same year, the two were formally arrested by the Fuyang City Procuratorate on the same charge, while Pastor Zhang Sen of their church was also arrested and the cases were consolidated; by October 22, it was learned that the police had transferred the case of the three men to the Yingzhou District People’s Procuratorate of Fuyang City for review and prosecution on the charge of “organizing illegal gatherings”; on March 21, 2026, the Yingzhou District People’s Procuratorate of Fuyang City formally indicted them; it alleged that the three men, in their respective capacities as elder and pastors, had repeatedly held “illegal assemblies” and allowed children to participate in worship activities, particularly that on October 16, 2021, October 21, 2023, January 2024, and from March to June 2025, they had repeatedly organized “illegal assembly” activities under the name of the “Seed Reformed Church” in Yingzhou District of Bengbu City and Yingshang County, involving numerous minors; it further alleged that the pastors had allowed their respective children to receive religiously oriented teaching and education, and that their conduct constituted “disturbing social order” and was serious in nature, violated relevant provisions of the Criminal Law, and therefore warranted public prosecution; from June 9 to 12, 2026, the case of the three men was formally heard at that court, but no verdict had been announced to date. He is currently being held at the Fuyang City Detention Center (Lukan Road, Yingquan District, Fuyang City, Anhui Province, postal code: 236050).

On August 10, 2026, the Anhui Fuyang Seed Reformed Church case was adjudicated. Three people were sentenced for the “crime of organizing illegal gatherings”: Pastor Zhang Sen: 1 year and 7 months, sentence ending on January 24, 2027; Pastor Chang Shun: 1 year and 6 months, sentence ending on November 18, 2026; Elder Ma Tao: 1 year and 4 months, sentence ending on October 28, 2026.