China Detains Around 30 Christians as Zion Church Sweep Targets Online Ministry

Zion Church leaders detained across multiple cities

Around 30 pastors, preachers and members connected to China's unregistered Zion Church network were detained in a coordinated police operation centered on October 10 and 11, 2025. The church's founder, Pastor Jin Mingri, also known as Ezra Jin, is being held at Beihai City No. 2 Detention Center in the southern region of Guangxi. Official paperwork describes the suspected offense as "illegal use of information networks."

Family members, church colleagues and advocacy groups say some detainees have been released. As of October 16, many others remain in custody or have not been reachable since the operation began. Families have struggled to establish where some people are being held, obtain legal representation and check on their health.

The operation reached at least seven cities, with church representatives and activists putting its reach at more than ten. Police activity extended to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and several provinces. Those describing the raids said officers carried lists of wanted people, seized phones and warned relatives against speaking publicly. In one reported case, a female pastor was separated from her newborn baby during detention.

Church representatives and activists describe the sweep as the largest coordinated arrest of Christians in China in years. It comes after a September code of conduct further restricted religious activity online, putting pressure on the digital services that helped Zion continue worshipping after authorities closed its main Beijing meeting place in 2018.

The immediate consequences reach beyond the ministers detained. Congregations that had already moved from large public services to smaller gatherings and internet worship now face pressure on both ways of meeting. Relatives are seeking information about detainees while church members try to keep their communities connected.

How the October operation unfolded

Church sources and relatives say the first detentions began on Thursday, before police activity gathered pace on Friday and Saturday, October 10 and 11. Pastors, preachers and lay staff were among those targeted as officers moved against people connected to the same church network in different cities.

Witnesses described officers arriving with lists of names and taking away electronic devices. Police also reportedly questioned large numbers of ordinary worshippers in several cities. Those encounters followed months of increased police visits to Sunday services and private homes.

The sequence places the latest detentions within a longer period of pressure on Zion and other unregistered congregations:

• 2007: Jin Mingri founded Zion Church in Beijing.
• 2018: Revised religious regulations expanded official oversight, and authorities closed Zion's main meeting place after the church refused government surveillance cameras.
• 2022: China introduced internet rules requiring licenses for distributing religious content.
• September 2025: Authorities announced a new online code for religious personnel that further restricted unauthorized preaching and teaching.
• Thursday through Saturday, October 10 and 11: Detentions began and expanded across multiple cities.
• October 16: Some detainees had been released, while many remained in custody or unreachable.

Families and congregations face different immediate problems depending on whether a detainee's location is known. Some are trying to arrange a lawyer or check on medical needs; others are still seeking confirmation of where their relative or colleague has been taken.

A church rebuilt after its Beijing closure

Zion Church grew from its founding in 2007 into one of China's most prominent unregistered Protestant communities. Large Sunday services, small group meetings and an expanding network of congregations eventually reached thousands of people each week in dozens of cities.

The church operates outside the government's official Protestant system. Its decision to remain unregistered allows it to conduct ministry independently of state oversight, but has left its meetings and leadership exposed to repeated official intervention.

Beijing authorities closed Zion's main meeting place in 2018 after the church declined to install government surveillance cameras. Congregations then shifted into smaller venues and online services. Those changes spread worship across many locations and made the internet central to keeping the network together.

Church leaders have since reported monitoring around the clock, frequent police questioning and restrictions on travel. The October operation reached a community that had already spent years adjusting to surveillance and the loss of a large shared place of worship.

Zion's experience helps explain why restrictions on internet religion have such practical weight. Online services became a way for scattered congregations to pray, receive teaching and maintain contact after meeting openly became more difficult. Rules governing that activity now reach a central part of the church's daily work.

Who is Pastor Jin Mingri?

Jin studied at Peking University and lived through the 1989 movement for democracy. He and others have described that experience as an important influence on his eventual conversion to Christianity.

He later trained for ministry, including completing graduate study in theology in the United States. After returning to China, he built Zion into a network centered on worship and discipleship, the teaching and practice through which Christians develop their faith.

Jin's family moved to the United States several years ago, while he remained in China. He was later placed under a travel ban. Friends and colleagues say he anticipated that leading the church could result in arrest and had discussed contingency plans and questions about his legacy with his family.

His detention in Beihai has brought particular concern about his health. Relatives say he needs regular medication, adding urgency to their efforts to establish his condition and secure access to legal assistance.

Why online worship is central to the case

The suspected offense recorded in Jin's detention paperwork, "illegal use of information networks," directs attention to Zion's internet activity. Unregistered churches increasingly turned to digital worship as public gatherings came under pressure, making online preaching and teaching a key area of conflict with authorities.

China tightened its rules in stages. Revised regulations in 2018 expanded government oversight of religious clergy, financing, venues and education. Many congregations outside the official system responded by reducing their public presence or moving activities online.

The 2022 internet rules required licenses to distribute religious content. A code announced in September 2025 placed further restrictions on religious personnel online, limiting internet preaching and religious education to licensed groups. Measures also restrict livestreamed services and unauthorized online teaching.

For a church such as Zion, these rules narrow the space to operate both in person and over the internet. The October campaign appears to bring enforcement of those restrictions to a national scale, reaching ministers and staff across the network.

Rights advocates and church representatives also fear prosecutors could add accusations such as fraud or illegal business operations, which have featured in earlier cases against house churches. Economic charges can carry financial and reputational costs for congregations, while increasing pressure on church networks elsewhere in the country.

Beijing's rules and Zion's response

Chinese officials describe their approach as protecting religious belief while regulating religious activity. The Chinese embassy in London set out that position in a statement on religious policy, saying believers must comply with national law:

Citizens enjoy freedom of religious belief according to law, but all religious activities must comply with Chinese laws and regulations.

Authorities say unauthorized internet preaching, fundraising outside approved channels and connections with overseas organizations can violate the law. These areas have been particular targets of enforcement since 2018.

Under President Xi Jinping, religious policy has also centered on sinicisation. In this setting, the term describes a demand that religious doctrine and practice align with socialist values and national culture, with religious organizations operating firmly under official supervision.

Sean Long, a pastor and spokesperson for Zion, has said the church does not seek to oppose the government and has no alignment with a political movement inside or outside China. He has called for ministers and staff to be released and for their online religious activities not to be treated as crimes.

Zion's leaders describe their mission as worship, prayer and community support rather than political organizing. The dispute therefore reaches into ordinary pastoral work: who may teach, how congregations may gather and whether a church outside the official system can maintain an online ministry.

What registration means for religious communities

China recognizes five religions, including Protestantism and Catholicism, and requires legal religious activity to take place within registered bodies under government control. The official organizations include the Three Self Patriotic Movement for Protestants and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association for Catholics.

Registration brings supervision of clergy appointments, sermon content, places of worship and religious education. For independent churches, joining the official system therefore involves accepting oversight of both their organization and their religious practice.

Officials have ordered crosses removed from skylines, closed or demolished some church buildings and warned against unauthorized gatherings. Minors are often barred from taking part in religious activities. Party meetings have set out the governing principle that religion should remain compatible with official ideology and national priorities.

Unregistered communities are often called house churches because worship may take place in homes or other informal spaces. Zion's history shows that such a community can also become a large network, bringing together thousands of worshippers across many cities while remaining outside the official structure.

Other church prosecutions show the wider pattern

Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu faced a sweeping raid in late 2018. Its pastor, Wang Yi, later received a prison sentence of nine years after a court convicted him on charges that included inciting subversion and illegal business activity.

In Beijing, members of the unregistered Shouwang Church endured years of pressure and repeated detentions. Earlier in 2025, members of the Linfen Golden Lampstand Church received heavy sentences after authorities pursued a fraud case.

These cases have commonly involved offenses outside religious law. Church ministry, finances or organizational work become the subject of accusations under other parts of the criminal justice system. That history explains why Zion's representatives and rights advocates are concerned about possible economic charges alongside the internet accusation.

The effects extend beyond those sentenced or detained. Congregations may lose leaders, face uncertainty over money and meeting places, and find ordinary church work interrupted by questioning or surveillance. Zion's latest detentions bring those pressures to a network spread across the country.

How many Christians worship outside the official system?

Official tallies count tens of millions of Christians in registered Protestant and Catholic congregations. Scholars and rights groups estimate that tens of millions more worship in unregistered house churches.

Many believers meet in small fellowships that are difficult to count. Religious practice also becomes harder to track when congregations reduce their public presence or move between private spaces and online gatherings under official pressure.

The gap between official totals and independent estimates reflects the scale of religious life outside registered organizations. Zion belongs to that wider community, with its own network reaching thousands of people each week before the latest detentions.

Families seek lawyers and medical information

Relatives of those detained have struggled to secure legal representation, and some have been unable to confirm a detainee's whereabouts. Health concerns, including Jin's need for regular medication, make access to information especially urgent.

China's criminal procedure allows suspects to be held for extended periods during an investigation before prosecutors decide on formal charges. Families can therefore face a long wait between a detention and a decision about prosecution.

Lawyers can be denied access early in a case when authorities designate it as sensitive or cite public order concerns. Without access to counsel, relatives may have little information about conditions in custody or the next legal steps.

As of October 16, the full number still detained, the location of every person taken away and the eventual charges remained unresolved. The immediate needs for families are concrete: confirmation of custody, medical care where necessary and a way for lawyers to meet their clients.

International pressure and congregations' next steps

American officials condemned the arrests. The United States called for the release of pastors and church workers and urged China to respect religious freedom.

The detentions came during a tense period in relations between Washington and Beijing over trade, technology and export controls. Chinese leaders often view Christianity and Islam as vulnerable to outside influence and invoke national security concerns when restricting unregistered religious groups.

Zion's leaders maintain that their work is pastoral rather than political and that worship and teaching should not be criminalized. Their position places the needs of congregations, rather than a political campaign, at the center of their appeal for releases.

Inside China, congregations connected to Zion say they intend to continue meeting online and in small groups where possible. The September code makes digital ministry more precarious, while police visits and detentions place pressure on physical gatherings.

Zion has continued operating since the closure of its main Beijing venue in 2018 by spreading into smaller congregations and online services. Members describe communities that adapt, decentralize and move when places of worship close, even at personal cost. The October operation now tests those arrangements while families seek news of detained leaders and colleagues.

Key Points

• Around 30 people connected to Zion Church were detained in an operation centered on October 10 and 11, 2025, across at least seven cities, with some accounts putting the reach above ten.
• Founder Jin Mingri, also known as Ezra Jin, is held at Beihai City No. 2 Detention Center on suspicion of "illegal use of information networks."
• Some detainees have been released, while many remained in custody or unreachable as of October 16.
• The operation followed a September code further restricting online preaching and religious education by unauthorized groups.
• Zion moved into smaller venues and online worship after authorities closed its main Beijing meeting place in 2018.
• Families report difficulties obtaining lawyers and information, with particular concern about Jin's need for regular medication.
• The United States condemned the arrests and called for the release of pastors and church workers.
• Zion congregations say they plan to continue meeting online and in small groups where possible.