China cracks down

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NICK EICHER, HOST: Up next… persecution in China.

Late on Friday, Communist authorities began detaining pastors and members of the prominent Zion Church.

The arrests mark China’s latest crackdown on underground or unregistered churches and Christians in the country.

WORLD’s Onize Oduah reports.

ONIZE ODUAH: Last week, Maryland resident Grace Jin got a call confirming her fears.

GRACE JIN: I received a call from my mom, who's also in the US, and she said that she has not been able to contact my dad or any of the people who … live close to him or around him.

At 8 p.m. on Friday, more than 10 police officers entered the home of pastor Jin Mingri, also known as Ezra Jin, in the Chinese city of Beihai. By the next morning, they took him away in handcuffs.

In a coordinated set of raids, officers seized other pastors and church workers across multiple cities.

Jin says at least 22 people are now detained … but the number could change as they make contact with more church members.

GRACE: Subsequently, we know that they froze the church assets. Everything, all the bank accounts that was associated with both the individuals and the church.

Jin says many of them are facing charges of illegal dissemination of materials online.

Zion Church is not new to government harassment. Back in 2018 … authorities raided and shut down the church’s meeting place over accusations that it held “illegal gatherings.”

They switched to a hybrid model … sharing mp3 files and later holding Church sessions over Zoom. The Church now has thousands of members meeting in apartments and restaurants across 40 Chinese cities.

That was before the recent government shakedown.

GRACE: Starting around, like, six months ago, we've known people been taken in for, like, for tea. Taken in for tea, as in, like, the police would take you in and, like, ask you a lot of questions.

Church members recounted how local police stopped them to ask questions about the church and Pastor Jin.

Police recently stopped Pastor Jin in Beijing on his way to a United States visa interview.

GRACE: At one point, my dad said maybe up to like 70 policemen who were on him and detained him and questioned where he was going and why he was going to the U.S. Embassy.

They kept him from the interview and forced him to return home. Jin says he was also kicked out of Shanghai a few weeks ago.

The renewed crackdown on underground churches isn’t limited to Zion Church. Back in May, authorities detained the pastor of Light of Zion Church. The following month, authorities sentenced 10 members of the Golden Lampstand Church in western China.

Jin worries about her 56-year-old diabetic father. She’s also heard stories of parents separated from young children … and people barred from visiting their family members.

But she says the battle is more than a geopolitical situation or government repression.

GRACE: It is ultimately a spiritual battle, and this is because we are proclaiming the true God.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Oduah.

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