Police in China have detained dozens of pastors from one of the country’s largest underground Christian congregations over the weekend, church representatives and family members told Reuters, marking the most sweeping religious crackdown in seven years.
According to a church spokesperson, Sean Long, and relatives of those detained, Pastor Jin Mingri — the 56-year-old founder of Zion Church — was taken from his home in the southern city of Beihai on Friday evening. Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin, confirmed the arrest and expressed growing concern over her father’s health, saying he suffers from diabetes and has been denied legal counsel.
“What just happened is part of a new wave of religious persecution this year,” Long told Reuters from his home in the United States. He said that police had interrogated more than 150 worshippers in recent months and intensified their monitoring of in-person Sunday services. Long added that around 30 pastors and church members were initially detained nationwide, though five have since been released.
Official documents reviewed by Reuters indicate that Jin is being held at Beihai City No. 2 Detention Centre on charges of “illegal use of information networks,” a crime that carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. Supporters fear the government could escalate the case by accusing Jin and other pastors of spreading religious content online without state approval.
The detentions come amid rising China-U.S. tensions following Beijing’s move last week to expand restrictions on rare earth exports. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the arrests on Sunday, calling for the pastors’ “immediate and unconditional release.”
China’s Ministry of Public Security did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment, and police in Beihai could not be reached by phone.
The crackdown follows new regulations from China’s top religious authority banning online preaching, religious education, and any “foreign collusion.” President Xi Jinping last month reaffirmed his commitment to “strict law enforcement” and the “Sinicisation” of religion — an effort to align faith practices with Communist Party ideology.
Zion Church, founded by Jin in 2007 after he left a state-sanctioned Protestant congregation, has grown to more than 5,000 regular worshippers across nearly 50 cities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the church expanded rapidly through online sermons and small in-person gatherings.
In 2018, authorities closed Zion Church’s main building in Beijing as part of a nationwide campaign against unsanctioned “house churches.” That same year, Jin was banned from traveling abroad, separating him from his wife and three children who had resettled in the United States.
Christian NGO ChinaAid’s founder Bob Fu told Reuters that Jin was stopped by police last month while attempting to board a U.S.-bound flight from Shanghai. “The key underlying reason is that Zion Church has grown explosively into a well-organised network in recent years, which of course must scare the Communist Party leadership,” Fu said.
Official statistics suggest China has over 44 million Christians registered with state-approved churches, mostly Protestant. But experts estimate that tens of millions more worship in unofficial “house churches” like Zion, beyond the control of the government — a movement now facing its harshest test in years.
