China has detained the founder of a major unregistered church along with more than 20 of its members in a nationwide crackdown, according to his daughter and church pastors.
Jin Mingri, also known as Ezra, who founded the Zion Church in Beijing, was arrested at his home in Guangxi on Friday.
Local reports insisted that several other pastors were taken into custody in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Zhejiang.
Authorities detained Jin on "suspicion of the illegal use of information networks" and at least seven pastors may face criminal charges for "illegal dissemination of religious information via the internet," as police reportedly searched homes and confiscated computers and cell phones.
Grace Jin, Jin’s daughter, described the crackdown as "a blatant attack on religious freedom."
Police have barred lawyers from meeting detained members in Beihai, Guangxi, and it remains unclear if they have had legal access since their arrest.
Sean Long, a Zion Church pastor based in the United States (US), said: "We are not criminals, we are just Christians. We pray for the best, but we have to prepare for the worst."
Founded in 2007, Zion Church grew to about 1,500 members in Beijing before authorities shut it down in 2018.
Despite the closure, the church expanded online, hosting Zoom services and small offline gatherings across 40 Chinese cities.
The reports disclosed that church leaders suspect the current arrests were authorised by high-level officials.
Notably, the crackdown is the latest targeting unregistered "house" churches in China. Earlier this year, pastor Gao Quanfu of Light of Zion Church was detained on charges of "using superstitious activities to undermine the implementation of justice," while Golden Lampstand Church members were jailed for fraud, with its pastor sentenced to 15 years.
Although China’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, authorities strictly monitor and regulate religious activity. In 2022, the government banned all online religious services without official licences and, last month, introduced new rules restricting religious activity on social media platforms such as WeChat.
The United States condemned the arrests, calling for the "immediate release" of church members. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the crackdown shows the Chinese Communist Party’s hostility toward Christians who refuse Party interference.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman responded that he was "not familiar with the situation" and opposed US interference in China’s "internal affairs under the pretext of so-called religious issue."
Grace Jin and her mother, both in the US, have not been able to contact Jin since Friday. She said her family is "worried and scared but not surprised," saying that "being a Christian in China, you just know that something like this could happen," the reports added.
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