Members of a house church in central China deemed to be illegal are continuing to risk arrest by defying a government order that they stop meeting.

Emmanuel Church in Henan province was told on 24th August 2016 to close by 25th September 2016 because it didn't have the correct paperwork.

Zhao, the leader of the church, told China Aid: "If we don't move, they said they will throw away our materials, seats, and quite a lot of our other things."

Zhao and other members are still meeting on a daily basis, sometimes coming together at night or going out into the country to pray and study the Bible.

Emmanuel Church has resisted pressure for it to join the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, a church network controlled by the ruling Communist Party.

Open Doors UK estimates there are 97 million Christians living in China and says foreign influence in the rapidly growing Chinese Church is considered a threat to the country's government.

The Christian organisation, which serves persecuted believers, says Christian lawyers have been jailed for trying to stop crosses being forcibly removed from church buildings.