China is demolishing churches and turning others into factories and “cultural centers” used for propaganda in an effort to stop Christians from meeting and worshiping with each other.

The cultural centers are used to spread propaganda about President Xi Jinping’s communist ideals.

Bitter Winter, a media outlet that monitors religious liberty violations in China, found that the government took over an old church in the southeastern province of Jiangxi in April because the congregation was “organizing illegal gathering[s]” and refusing to join the Three-Self Church, a government-backed and endorsed version of the church.

The church was converted into a “Civilization Practice Station for a New Era,” a project launched by the Chinese Communist Party in July 2018 to encourage citizens to abandon their religious beliefs and follow the ways of the CCP.

“Party propaganda posters were posted everywhere in the venue,” a church member explained to Bitter Winter.

This is part of a growing trend. Over 70 churches in the Jiangsu Province’s prefecture-level cities of Lianyungang and Suqian were shut down in 2019.

Others have told Bitter Winter that “the government is eradicating churches” and that they “never had a chance to save our church”.

“People of faith outnumber Communist Party members, and the party is not winning people’s hearts,” said one village official. “The government fears that this will bring instability. Churches are eradicated to ensure that there are more CCP members than believers.”