China Detains Pastor, Church Workers Amid Crackdown On Christians

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

BEIJING (Worthy News) – China has detained a prominent house-church pastor and seven fellow Christians on “suspicion of fraud,” while elsewhere police confiscated believers’ mobile phones and ordered Christians to replace worship hymns with songs praising the Chinese Communist Party, Worthy News learned.

Pastor Zhou Zixun, also known as Cui Xianfeng, and seven coworkers of Beijing Jiaquan Church remain detained following a massive police operation against the congregation, Christian rights group ChinaAid confirmed.

The crackdown began September 4 as about 50 church members prepared a hotel conference room for the congregation’s 20th anniversary celebration scheduled for the following day, Christians told Worthy News.

More than 100 uniformed and plainclothes police officers surrounded those preparing the venue, according to Zhou’s wife, Cui Jinyoung. Officials recorded participants’ identification numbers, home addresses and telephone numbers for possible further questioning, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Pastor Zhou and seven other believers were initially detained. Two were later released, but police subsequently detained two other church leaders, leaving eight Christians in custody, Christians said.

CHRISTIANS FACE FRAUD CHARGES

They are being investigated on suspicion of fraud, although details of the authorities’ case against them have not been made public.

Cui said the allegations are connected to Jiaquan’s status as an unregistered church and authorities’ scrutiny of church offerings. ChinaAid noted that similar economic-crime allegations have increasingly been brought against leaders of independent churches over their activities and donations.

Jiaquan Church, founded in 2006, has grown into an influential urban house-church network with congregations and gathering places in several parts of China, serving more than 1,000 believers, according to people familiar with the church cited by ChinaAid.

The detentions came shortly before another reported crackdown hundreds of kilometers (miles) away in central China, where authorities carried out a two-day operation against an underground Christian congregation on September 16 and 17.

About 30 police officers and local officials raided the church gathering in Jinzhai County of Anhui province on the first day, restricting the movements of Christians and taking two female preachers to a police station for questioning, according to ChinaAid. One woman reportedly suffered a hand injury while being transported.

POLICE RAID ANHUI CHURCH

Authorities also confiscated mobile phones and deleted footage of the operation. Their questioning reportedly focused partly on two relatives of the preachers, including Pastor Zhang Yuanlai, who leads a church in New Jersey. Police repeatedly sought information about his activities in the United States and his contact details, Christian sources added.

Officials reportedly returned the following day and encountered several young Christians practicing music for future worship services.

The believers were told they could not sing songs containing the words “Jesus,” “God” or “Lord,” according to sources cited by ChinaAid. Instead, officials reportedly instructed them to use music praising the Chinese Communist Party.

“When government officials begin deciding whom Christians may worship and what they may sing, so-called ‘Chinafication of religion’ has already become a political tool for forcing churches to submit to Communist Party ideology,” ChinaAid founder Bob Fu said.

Floyd Brobbel, the CEO of Voice of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC), told Worthy News that his advocacy group remains concerned about what he called “persistent restrictions” imposed on Christians in China.

CHRISTIANS FACE RESTRICTIONS

“Freedom of religion includes the ability to assemble and worship freely, without mandatory registration as a precondition for exercising this fundamental right,” Brobbel added.

The incidents come amid mounting pressure on Protestant congregations operating outside China’s state-controlled religious system. Human Rights Watch, an international rights group, says police have repeatedly detained and harassed members of such churches.

China’s government officially recognizes Protestant Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam and Taoism but requires religious organizations to operate within state-approved structures and under extensive government oversight.

Independent Protestant congregations, widely known as “house churches,” have faced raids, surveillance, detentions and pressure to join state-sanctioned denominations, Worthy News documented. Human Rights Watch reported that officials have intensified efforts to bring religious belief and practice under Communist Party control.

The campaign has included prominent Protestant networks such as Beijing’s Zion Church and Chengdu’s Early Rain Covenant Church, according to investigators. Members of Early Rain were detained again this year.

CHURCHES FACE GROWING PRESSURE

Rights group Freedom House says the Communist Party maintains extensive control over religious practice and that unregistered Christian house churches are among religious communities facing persecution.

The September incidents underscore the continuing challenges facing these congregations, from criminal investigations of church leaders in Beijing to government intervention in Christian worship in Anhui.

Activists have urged China to release believers detained over their Christian activities and allow churches to worship without compulsory government registration.

Brobbel urged Christians worldwide to remember those affected. “Please join us in praying that believers in China will be strengthened by the Lord, enabling them to follow Christ faithfully with humility, courage and enduring faith,” the VOMC leader told Worthy News.

Despite the crackdown, Christianity remains widespread in China. Christian aid and advocacy group Open Doors estimates the country has about 96.7 million Christians, representing nearly 7 percent of its population of more than 1.4 billion people. Other sources put the figure even higher.

Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.

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