He moved to Beijing and, in 2005, he and others established the House Church Alliance. The alliance is the first of its kind, said Bob Fu, president of China Aid Association, a Texas-based advocacy group for Christians.
“They are the first group willing to stand up and operate aboveground,” Fu said. “Traditionally, they would have been underground. But they took a public role, educating churches and pastors on how to protect themselves with existing laws, and to use lawyers to protect their rights.”
The alliance claims followers in provinces across the country, representing 300,000 Christians, but those figures are impossible to verify. Still, it was enough to draw the concern of the government. When Zhang tried to get official approval, his application for registration was denied.
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