[1][3] According to a pastoral letter from Elder Li Yingqiang, the native name of the church, "Autumn Rain", comes from Psalm 84:6: "When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs.

[6][7] In 2005, three years before the establishment of what would become Early Rain Blessings Church, a Bible study group was received at Wang Yi's home in Chengdu.

[8][9] In late May 2008, the Fellowship invited Peng Qiang, pastor of Chengdu Enfu Reformed Gospel Church, to ordain Wang Yi, Zhou Maojian and Chen Zhongdong as elders.

[10] On July 14, 2009, 63 church members were forbidden to enter Early Rain's leased apartment by the subdistrict office at West Wenmiao Street.

A second obstruction of their worship occurred the next Sunday, the service had to be moved into a nearby hotel conference room, where fifty church members voted to elect Chen, Wang and Zhou as their first board of three elders, and several deacons.

[13] In December 2019, Wang Yi, who challenged the government's sinicization of the gospel in his 95 Thesis,[15] was sentenced to nine years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power" and "illegal business activity".

[16] On August 14, 2022, Chengdu police raided a 50-member Early Rain Sunday gathering inside a teahouse in the district of Wuhou, and detained the leader.