GUANGDONG, CHINA (ANS) -- For more than two years, the Guangzhou police have harassed the house church believers of Liangren Church for their faith.

Pastor Wang Dao

Now, www.ChinaAid.org says that in the boldest strike since last September, a mixed band of plain-clothed and uniformed Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers barged into the local restaurant at 3:20 PM on March 4, 2010, where Liangren Church Head Pastor Wang Dao was meeting with twelve brothers and sisters for a meal.

ChinaAid says that according to eye-witnesses in the restaurant, the policemen threw Pastor Wang violently to the ground, without showing their ID badges or any official documentation.

"They seized Pastor Wang and rushed him outside to a waiting vehicle, shoving him into the back seat as they tore off down the street. Pastor Wang's whereabouts are still unknown, and no one has been able to contact him since his forced departure," says a news release from ChinaAid.

ChinaAid goes on to say that Pastor Wang Dao has weathered severe persecution with fellow believers in Guangzhou since the church was founded in 2005.

In 2008, the government banned Liangren Church, indicting them for holding "illegal religious organizations."

Pastor Dao filed several appeals against the government ban and persisted in holding meetings with believers despite two rejections, several delays on appeal decisions and numerous other official attempts to disband the church permanently. He was last interrogated for more than three hours on September 3, 2009, when officers questioned him about his involvement with the Chinese Christian Charter, a proclamation of faith signed and released on June 4, 2009, the 20th anniversary date of Tiananmen Square massacre.

ChinaAid states: "Pastor Wang Dao has been interrogated repeatedly by PSB officers looking for ways to discredit him and his faith.

"ChinaAid urges the Guangzhou PSB officials to release Wang Dao back to his family and end their unjust persecution of peaceful Liangren Church. We call on the international community to pray for Wang's safe return."

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Please contact: Annee@ChinaAid.org  for further information.

ChinaAid Contacts:
Media Coordinator: Annee Kahler (267) 210-8278 or Annee@ChinaAid.org
Directory of Advocacy (Washington, DC): Jenny McCloy (202) 213-0506 or Jenny@ChinaAid.org
Websites: www.ChinaAid.org and  www.MonitorChina.org
Fax: (432) 686-8355

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649,at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can donate online to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Chief Reporter