Chinese underground church leaders arrested. What is Zion church, and is it a new flashpoint of tensions with the US?
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Chinese underground church leaders arrested. What is Zion church, and is it a new flashpoint of tensions with the US?")
China is home to several house churches like the one in picture, often operating undergound Photograph: (Others)
The Chinese crackdown on Zion Church has sparked US condemnation. The detention of 30 church leaders, including its founder, is likely to raise further tensions over human rights and freedom of faith
Spiritual movements have in the past become friction points in US-China relations, with the former often highlighting so-called human rights violations when seeking to criticise Beijing. Remember Falun Gong? An underground Christian church is now emerging as a fresh point of contention in this long-running saga of personal beliefs versus state control in China. The US has called for the release of around 30 detained leaders of Zion Church arrested over the weekend by China. But not many outside China have heard of this church. Here’s what you should know about the Zion church of China —and its leader, who was once a Tiananmen Square protester.
What happened to Zion Church leaders?
Recently, China reportedly detained around 30 leaders of Zion Church, including its founder Jin Mingri. drawing condemnation from the US and other countries. The arrests were carried out in coordinated raids on the unregistered Protestant network across Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangxi, and other provinces beginning on Friday (Oct 10).
Pastors who were detained include Sun Cong (Beijing), Wang Lin (Shenzhen), Gao Yingjia, and Yin Huibin. Those arrested face charges of “illegal dissemination of religious information.”
In a statement on Sunday, Zion Church said: “We are not criminals, just Christians.”
The global NGO ChinaAid described the raids as the most coordinated wave of persecution since the 1980s.
What is Zion Church of China?
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Zion Church was founded in 2007 by Pastor Jin Mingri, also known as Ezra Jin. Having started in a rented Beijing space, it grew from 20 initial members into an underground network of up to 10,000 believers in 40 cities. The Beijing venue was shut down by authorities in 2018 after the church refused to install state-issued surveillance cameras.
Since then, the church has moved mostly online, holding meetings via Zoom and sharing sermons through WeChat and YouTube. It remains a symbol of resilience for China’s estimated 60–100 million underground Christians.
Who is Ezra Jin, the founder of Zion Church of China?
Ezra Jin is a controversial figure, having once been a Tiananmen Square protester. A Peking University graduate, he later became a pastor. Jin, who holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in the US, was detained on Friday from Beihai in Guangxi province.
His wife and three children, all American citizens, have lived in Maryland since 2018. Jin has been barred from leaving China to join them.
Sean Long, a Zion Church pastor based in the US, said Jin had expected a crackdown and expressed hope that “a new wave of revival will follow.”
How the US has reacted to the Zion Church crackdown
The US State Department has demanded that China release the detainees immediately.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the arrests as evidence of the Chinese Communist Party’s “hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference.”
Former US Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also condemned the crackdown.
But China pushed back, with foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian warning against “interference under the pretext of religious issues.”
Officially, China is an atheist state as promoted by the Chinese Communist Party, which only recognises state-approved churches that align with its political ideology.
