Jona Home, a Christian website, closed down permanently in April, as regulations tighten concerning internet religious content.
As a nonprofit personal website, Jona Home (www.jonahome.net) was created by Christians to share Christianity-related books, worship music, books, and Bible study guides in China. It also served as an online forum for people to discuss faith-related topics and make friends.
The website is not accessible now. Nothing but a notice, dated 12th April, can be found on the home page, “Due to reasons known to all, from now on our site can no longer serve brothers and sisters in Christ. Thanks to all for your company and support in the past 21 years!”
“The disappearance of a website is nothing more than the disappearance of the website. It does not mean anything. Except that the website link can no longer be opened, nothing else stopped at that moment. So need not to be concerned, and just keep going forward,” it added.
Since March 1, unauthorized religious content providers were made illegal as the Administrative Measures for Internet Religious Information Services came into force. In terms of Christian groups, only TSPM (Three-Self Patriotic Movement) churches can operate online after they have obtained a license, which is valid for three years.
Apart from Jona Home, various websites and WeChat accounts have seen rectification warnings, blockage by server providers, accessibility limitations, and closure due to similar reasons.
