CCP Detains Pastors at Beijing Church as House Church Crackdown Expands
Chinese authorities have detained multiple pastors and church workers from Beijing Jiaquan Church, an independent house church that has operated in the capital for more than two decades.
ChinaAid founder and President Bob Fu said his organization is “urgently concerned for the safety, health and legal rights of every Jiaquan pastor and church co-worker who has been taken away.”
People familiar with the church said Jiaquan has about 1,000 members and has established churches and meeting sites in several parts of China. Its leaders have also operated Noah Music School in Beijing for more than 10 years, training worship leaders and musicians for house churches nationwide.
The detentions come amid a broader campaign against unregistered churches. In October 2025, authorities launched coordinated raids on Beijing Zion Church, one of China’s largest house-church networks, detaining members across several provinces and formally arresting 18 people.
ChinaAid reported Sept. 10 that eight Zion pastors and church workers remained in custody in Beihai, Guangxi, on charges of “fraud” and “illegal business operations.”
Authorities have also continued targeting Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu. On June 14, police disrupted a church gathering at a hotel in Jiangyou and detained more than 30 members.
On Sept. 10, police detained 11 Christians, most of them over 60, during a small reading group at a teahouse. Early Rain was banned following mass arrests in December 2018, and founding pastor Wang Yi was later sentenced to nine years in prison.
A lawyer representing Zion Church pastors has also fled China with her husband and two children after authorities pressured her law firm to dissolve. Ruth Wang, a partner at VDoor, has served on the legal team for Zion founder Pastor Ezra Jin and other detained church members since October 2025.
Taiwan has provided Wang’s family with temporary humanitarian housing, but officials said the island cannot grant asylum to mainland Chinese under current rules. Wang, who arrived earlier this month, is considering relocating to the U.S. or Canada as the family’s future remains uncertain.
Meanwhile, Chinese authorities released Lian Xuliang, pastor of the unregistered Xi’an Church of Abundance, more than four years after opening a national security case against him and two others. Rights groups said the three were held separately for six months and subjected to starvation, beatings, drugs and prolonged denial of bathroom access.
