I woke up two Fridays ago to a text from my father, who lives in Beihai, China.
He sent me a link to an announcement from his church—Zion Church, one of the most prominent underground churches in China—asking for prayers for one of the pastors, Wang Lin, who had been detained overnight by Chinese police.
I kept Pastor Wang in my prayers as I went about my morning, waking up my three-and-half and one-and-a-half-year-old kids and getting ready to head to work in Washington, D.C.
I felt an uneasiness in my stomach, but then again, growing up as the daughter of a prominent pastor in China, I carried that feeling with me almost every day. I knew that the Chinese government always tried to harass Christians, intimidate them into giving up their faith, and accept the doctrine of the Chinese Communist Party instead.
Around 8 a.m., my mom called me. She hadn’t heard from Dad in a few hours. She didn’t know where he was. By the end of the day, we had confirmation that my dad had been spotted inside a Chinese prison in a temporary holding facility, sitting by himself on a hard concrete bench, wearing prison garb. Dozens of other pastors from across China were detained alongside him.
