Beijing/Washington — The United States has urged China to release 30 Christian leaders reportedly detained in a sweeping crackdown against one of the country’s largest unregistered church networks, as religious freedom once again becomes a flashpoint between the world’s two biggest powers.
According to US-based non-profit ChinaAid, dozens of pastors and church members from the Zion Church network were arrested in coordinated overnight raids across several Chinese cities over the weekend. Among those detained was Jin Mingri, founder of Zion Church and one of China’s most prominent unregistered Christian pastors, who was taken from his Beijing home after ten police officers conducted a pre-dawn search.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which officially promotes atheism, strictly controls all forms of religious activity through state-sanctioned organizations. Christianity is permitted only through government-approved institutions, and believers who gather outside these structures risk detention and surveillance.
A Sweeping Crackdown
ChinaAid described the weekend operation as “the most extensive and coordinated wave of persecution against Christians in over four decades.”
“Such systematic persecution is not only an affront to the Church of God but also a public challenge to the international community,” Zion Church said in a statement.
Founded in 2007, Zion Church grew from a small congregation of 20 into a network serving more than 10,000 worshippers across 40 cities. Authorities banned the church in September 2018, after it refused to install government surveillance cameras on its property — a move viewed by leaders as an infringement on religious freedom.
Mr. Jin was detained briefly that year and has since been barred from leaving China, even as his family relocated to the United States for safety. Despite pressure from authorities, Zion Church continued to hold small gatherings and livestream services online.
According to eyewitnesses cited by ChinaAid, this weekend’s detentions targeted key leaders and pastors who continued organizing house church meetings in defiance of official orders.
US Condemnation
The crackdown drew swift condemnation from Washington. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement on Sunday calling for the immediate release of all detained pastors and congregants.
“This crackdown further demonstrates how the CCP exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches,” Rubio said.
Former US officials Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo also condemned the arrests in posts on social media, framing the detentions as part of a wider pattern of human rights abuses under President Xi Jinping.
“Religious persecution in China continues unabated. The world must not look away,” Pence wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian, however, dismissed US criticism, telling reporters he was “not aware of the case.”
“The Chinese government governs religious affairs in accordance with the law, and protects the religious freedom of citizens and normal religious activities,” Lin said during a press briefing in Beijing. “We firmly oppose the US interfering in China’s internal affairs with so-called religious issues.”
Beijing’s Longstanding Control Over Faith
Religious freedom in China has long been tightly circumscribed. All Protestant and Catholic churches must register under state-approved bodies, and clergy are required to align their teachings with “socialist values.”
Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, controls have intensified. At a national conference on religion in 2016, Xi urged officials to “guide those who are religious to love their country, protect the unification of their motherland, and serve the overall interests of the Chinese nation.”
Analysts say the government views independent faith movements as a potential challenge to Communist Party authority — especially networks that attract large followings outside official oversight.
In recent years, authorities have raided underground churches, detained priests and pastors, and removed crosses or religious symbols from buildings across provinces such as Henan, Zhejiang, and Anhui.
A Family’s Appeal
In a letter seeking prayers published by ChinaAid, Liu Chunli, the wife of Pastor Jin, expressed anguish over her husband’s detention.
“My heart is filled with a mix of shock, grief, sorrow, worry, and righteous anger,” she wrote. “He simply did what any faithful pastor would do. He is innocent!”
She added that her family’s hope of reuniting after seven years of separation had been shattered once again.
Other house churches across China have since issued statements calling for the release of the detained pastors and reaffirming their commitment to continue worship despite government pressure.
Sean Long, a Zion Church pastor based in the United States, told ChinaAid that Jin had been preparing for such an outcome.
“In a Zoom call weeks ago, I asked him what would happen if he were imprisoned,” Long recalled. “He said, ‘Hallelujah! For a new wave of revival will follow then.’”
Human Rights and Diplomatic Fallout
The arrests have added another layer of friction to an already fraught US–China relationship, which is strained by trade disputes, technology restrictions, and geopolitical competition.
The Biden administration — and now the Trump administration, under the new term — has repeatedly criticized Beijing’s treatment of religious minorities, including Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang and Christian groups nationwide.
Observers say the timing of the crackdown could further complicate diplomatic engagement. A summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, expected to take place later this month in South Korea, is now uncertain amid rising tensions over tariffs and export controls.
“China’s renewed crackdown on religious groups is a signal of tightening ideological control,” said Sarah Cook, a senior analyst at Freedom House. “It also highlights how the government’s domestic security policies are intertwined with its broader geopolitical posture.”
Echoes of Past Persecution
ChinaAid founder Bob Fu compared the current campaign to the Cultural Revolution, when Christian worship was banned outright and clergy were imprisoned or executed.
“This new nationwide campaign echoes the darkest days of the 1980s, when urban churches first re-emerged from the Cultural Revolution,” Fu said. “What we are seeing now is a return to that era of mass repression.”
He added that this latest round of detentions marks a systematic effort to dismantle the network of independent churches that have flourished despite years of state pressure.
The Underground Church Movement
Despite government crackdowns, underground or “house churches” continue to thrive across China, often meeting secretly in homes, offices, or rented spaces. Scholars estimate that tens of millions of Chinese Christians — possibly more than those in official churches — belong to such unregistered congregations.
These communities have increasingly embraced digital technology to share sermons and hold prayer meetings, though authorities have expanded online surveillance and censorship to target them.
For many believers, the latest crackdown underscores both the risk and the resilience of their faith.
As one church member in Henan told ChinaAid anonymously, “They can arrest our pastors, but they cannot arrest the church. The church is not a building — it’s the people.
