A preacher with a Shenzhen-based house church filed an administrative lawsuit against local police Tuesday seeking to have an administrative punishment he served in December wiped from the record.

Cao Nan, a Christian preacher and head of a local charity center in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, told the Global Times that he filed the lawsuit at the Futian District People's Court against the district public security bureau, which ordered his detention for 12 days for disturbing social order by conducting unauthorized religious activities.

The court confirmed Tuesday that the complaint has been received.

Cao said he expects to know in seven business days if the court will accept his suit.

The district security bureau refused to comment on Cao's lawsuit on Tuesday.

Cao and several church members sang hymns and preached Christianity in the city's Lizhi Park on December 15. Local police stopped them and took them to the police station.

Cao received a detention order later that night, which ordered him held for "conducting activities in the name of religion that harm society." He refused to sign the order and was transferred to the detention center.

Cao claimed in his complaint his followers were conducting peaceful Christian activities, were not forcefully proselytizing and caused no harm to society.

 Cao said they had preached in public more than 100 times and were occasionally stopped and taken to police station and later released.

According to China's regulation governing religious activities, house churches are illegal and conducting religious activities outside authorized religious venues are also banned.

Only the Three Self Patriot Movement, the China Christian Council and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association are officially registered Christian groups in China.