[01.23.08] Chinese police arrested a highly prominent house-church leader, along with his colleague and a co-worker, recently while the three were conducting church services near Jiuquan City in the Christian hotbed of Henan Province, China Aid Association (CAA) reported.

Fifteen days later the co-worker, Wang Hongliang, was released while the two renowned and aging house church leaders—Su Dean and Tian Min-ge, also known as Tian Jin—had their charges elevated to criminal detention in earlier this month.

Tian, whom believers affectionately call “Uncle Jin,” is known for his decades of work in uniting underground believers. He worked with the famed Zhang Rongliang (currently imprisoned as well), onetime leader of the large Fangcheng Mother Church network, during the late 1990s, when many underground networks of house-church leaders began to assemble a counsel and centralize church activities and doctrines.

Su Dean is a longtime friend and co-worker of Tian’s. The 71-year-old Tian has been arrested many times for his Christian activities, including in 1994 while hosting Hong Kong-based pastor Dennis Balcombe.

At the time this article was posted, the two men had been transferred from Jiuquan Detention Center to Fangcheng County Public Security Bureau of Henan.