China Cracks Down on Underground Churches with the Arrest of Renowned Pastor Jin Mingri
China’s widespread crackdown on underground Christian networks has sparked international concern after detaining Pastor Jin Mingri, the founder of Zion Church.
Authorities have arrested Pastor Jin Mingri, the founder of the powerful Zion Church network, along with at least 30 other church officials and followers in what campaigners say is China’s largest Christian arrest in decades. The raid has taken place across several cities.
A significant step up in the Chinese government’s ongoing drive against unregistered “house churches,” the arrests occurred last weekend in Beijing, Shanghai, and a number of other places. A formal detention notification acquired states that Pastor Jin, who was abducted from Beihai city in Guangxi province, is currently being imprisoned at Beihai Number Two Prison. He is charged with using information networks in a “illegal” manner.
Grace Jin Drexel, Jin’s daughter who resides in the United States, stated that after her father sent a message requesting prayers for another pastor who had vanished in Shenzhen, the family realized something was off.
Her mother told her hours later that Jin himself was no longer reachable.
According to Christian advocacy groups and rights groups, the coordinated arrests mark a new stage of China’s religious repression.
The Luke Alliance’s Corey Jackson described the scope and organization of the raids as “unprecedented,” cautioning that other underground churches would see the same kind of treatment. He declared, “We expect this to be the start of a bigger crackdown.”
With more than 100 locations across the country, Zion Church, which was established in Beijing in 2007, has long been one of the most well-known independent congregations in China, attracting thousands of attendees. When the government insisted that the church install surveillance cameras on its grounds, the church was forced to close in 2018 because it refused to register under the state-sanctioned Protestant movement.
The church has since used a “hybrid model,” which combines online sermons with small in-person meetings. This approach is being more and more targeted by new legislation that tighten regulations on online religious activities. In September, a new code of conduct was implemented that basically forbids unregistered church activity on the internet and only permits licensed organizations to conduct online religious services.
Chinese authorities have justified the crackdown, stating that religious freedom is available to all citizens “in accordance with the law.” All religious groups and activities must adhere to Chinese rules and regulations, according to a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in London.
But according to human rights activists, the government’s definition of “lawful religion” is intended to subjugate all forms of worship to Communist Party rule. A Zion Church spokesperson currently stationed in the United States, Pastor Sean Long, called the most recent arrests a “systematic roundup” meant to scare other Christian communities. He used a Chinese proverb to say, “Zion is the chicken.” “They are frightening the monkeys by killing the chicken.”
The crackdown is the result of decades of struggle, according to Jin. Born in 1969 in Heilongjiang province, he became a Christian while attending university and saw the crackdown in Tiananmen Square. He rejected the state-run church system because of his faith, claiming that it “served two masters”—God and the Communist Party.
Those who support Zion say they will keep worshipping in spite of the recent spate of arrests. Pastor Long stated, “The church cannot be destroyed by persecution.” “Everywhere in history, there has been repression, but there has also been revival.”
