An official statement is expected to be issued Sunday about the Chinese ban on the evangelical leaders.

According to National Public Radio, Church elder Abraham Liu Guan was turned back at Beijing airport customs and blocked from attending the global evangelical gathering.

Christianity in China is flourishing, with tens of millions of Christians openly worshiping. Many gather in private assemblies, or house churches, rather than in the official government church, known as the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. The authorities have largely turned a blind eye in the past.

But when a grouping of house churches decided to send some 200 delegates to attend the Lausanne Congress, the government stepped in.

Abraham Liu Guan is a church elder who tried to leave Sunday for the meeting with six others. Authorities warned him not to meet with NPR. In a phone interview he explained what happened at Beijing airport customs. "The border defense people said they'd received a notice from the State Administration for Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security. It said our participation in this meeting threatened state security, and they should not let us pass customs," Guan said.

Some of those who were turned back had their passports confiscated. One delegate has been placed in detention. Several others have been prevented from leaving their homes.

For months, across China, officials have been warning almost all the invited pastors not to attend, telling them the meeting was anti-China. For some, there have already been consequences.

"I think Lausanne could play a positive role for Chinese Christians. For a short time, there might be pressure or there might be a price to pay. But that will pass quickly," said Ezra Jin, pastor at Zion Church in Beijing. "Even if he's blocked from going to Cape Town, it won't affect the larger trend."

"Let our blood and sweat drive China's Christian revival," he prays with a visitor.

The Rev. Xing Jingfu from Changsha, in Hunan, said authorities have stopped his church from meeting and from preaching. The government openly said it was because of the Lausanne Congress. "If we meet again, they'll arrest us," he said.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ma Zhaoxu, issued a statement to NPR. It accuses the Lausanne organizers of not issuing an official invitation to China's state-controlled church and of having secret communications with Christians from private assemblies.

"This act has openly challenged China's principle of an independent, autonomous, self-governing church. It is a flagrant interference in China's religious affairs," the statement said.

Lausanne organizers, however, say there's been a misunderstanding as they did invite the official church as an observer. "We very much regret that our intentions and invitations to our Chinese brothers and sisters have been wrongly perceived. We have a profound set of disappointment and incompleteness in knowing that our friends from China are not able to be with us," the statement said.

Before the weekend, Lausanne Chairman Doug Birdsall said how Chinese pastors react to warnings would be up to them.

"There are times when there are matters of conscience for which people take a stand. Most any right that we have, someone has worked for, or battled for, at some time. The apostle Paul gave advice and encouragement to followers of Christ to be faithful to Christ, and faithful to their nations," Birdsall noted.

According to a Baptist Press release, Chinese Christians in Washington are protesting the actions of the Chinese Government.

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