The churches say they will sponsor the exiled members of Shenzhen Holy Reformed house church, which came to be known as Mayflower Church after some 60 Chinese Christians, including 32 children, arrived in South Korea in 2019.
Sixteen families are now in Thailand awaiting responses to their refugee applications first submitted to the U.N in 2022.
The name Mayflower comes from the English ship that carried passengers — some of whom were Protestant separatists seeking religious freedom from the Church of England — who traveled to the colonies in the 17th century.
Deana Brown, the founder and CEO of Freedom Seekers International, and Bob Fu of ChinaAid have been collaborating to help resettle the Chinese Christians who fear repatriation to China after South Korea’s High Court rejected their final asylum appeal.
The Midland, Texas-based ChinaAid, which monitors human rights violations inside China, said 10 more families still need resettlement sponsors.
The Wall Street Journal reported in June 2021 that the Chinese Christian families wanted to resettle in the U.S. A couple of church members who had returned to China after fleeing to South Korea faced retribution. Their homes were raided by police who confiscated Christian books and electronic devices and monitored and restricted their movements.