According to the report, underground churches like Zion have been affected by regulations since 2018 that required government approval for public worship services. Many have been forced to suspend their public activities and switch to online worship services or simply close.
For a few months now, there appear to be renewed efforts by the Chinese authorities to take action against these so-called house churches, which hold services at the home of parishioners. In May, Pastor Gao Quanfu of the Light of Zion Church in Xi’an was arrested for “undermining law enforcement through superstitious activities.” The following month, several members of the Linfen Golden Lampstand Church in Shanxi were sentenced to several years in prison for fraud, in what human rights groups criticized as miscarriages of justice. Last September, according to the BBC, there was an order that online sermons could only be held by licensed groups.
Grace Jin Drexel, Jin Mingri’s US-based daughter, told the BBC that many Zion Church members have been questioned by police in recent months. Many church members saw the increased pressure as a harbinger of a crackdown, but few expected it to be as big as it ended up being, she said.
Corey Jackson, founder of Christian advocacy group Luke Alliance, said the nationwide scale and coordination of arrests across China was unprecedented. “We believe this is just the beginning of a larger crackdown,” he said, adding that other underground churches in China were now preparing for arrests.
Open Doors called the arrests significant. “The Zion Church was very well known and outspoken. It may have reached a level of organization that made the authorities nervous, as they have no control over organized social institutions,” a spokesman said.
The Chinese government should immediately release the dozens of people imprisoned across China for their membership of Zion and other unofficial Protestant churches, human rights organization Human Rights Watch also said. “Pending their release, the authorities should provide information about the detainees to their families and ensure that they have access to lawyers of their choice,” it said in a statement.
