Pastor jailed for leading flock
A pastor from a well-known underground church in China has been detained, as reported by his daughter, who is also a pastor, along with a group that keeps an eye on religious matters in the East Asian nation.
Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri of the Zion Church was taken into custody at his home in Beihai, located in the southeastern Guangxi province, on Friday evening. This incident occurred alongside the detention of numerous other church leaders in Beijing and at least five other provinces throughout China.
According to Sean Long, a pastor from the Chinese Zion Church who is currently studying in the United States, they might be facing charges for “illegally sharing religious content online.”
“This is a very disturbing and distressing moment,” Long told The Associated Press by phone. “This is a brutal violation of freedom of religion, which is written into the Chinese constitution. We want our pastors to be released immediately.”
Long mentioned that he found out about the arrests through numerous church leaders in China who shared photos and videos of police entering church premises in a group chat online.
Zion Church stands out as one of the largest underground or house churches that operate without registration from the Chinese government. These congregations openly defy the restrictions imposed by the authorities, which mandate that believers can only worship in officially registered churches.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Public Security, the religious affairs department, and Beihai police have yet to respond to requests for comments.
Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, Beijing has intensified its crackdown on independent Christian congregations over the last ten years, leading to the destruction of crosses, burning of Bibles, closure of churches, and pressuring followers to sign documents renouncing their faith.
Chinese authorities have been pushing to “Sinicize” religion, insisting on loyalty to the officially atheist Communist Party and eliminating any threats to its control over people’s lives.
Grace Jin, Jin’s daughter who resides in the United States, is unsure about what triggered this latest crackdown, but she suspects it might be linked to the increasing influence of Zion Church and its challenge to the Communist Party’s authority.
In 2018, many underground churches faced a crackdown, and Zion Church’s main sanctuary was forced to close its doors.
However, during the coronavirus pandemic, Zion Church saw its membership soar as it hosted online prayer sessions. This drew in believers who couldn’t attend government-approved churches, which often had to shut down due to pandemic restrictions.
According to Long, the church’s membership jumped from about 1,500 in 2018 to possibly over 5,000 today, with more than 100 worship sites popping up in apartments, restaurants, and even karaoke bars across roughly 40 cities in China.
Other underground churches in China have also faced increasing pressure in recent months.
In May, the pastor of Light of Zion Church in Xi’an, located in eastern China, was detained. Then in June, ten members of the Golden Lampstand Church in Shanxi province were sentenced to prison after being arrested four years earlier.
Bob Fu, the founder of the U.S.-based religious group China Aid, noted, “We are witnessing the most extensive and coordinated wave of persecution against urban independent house churches in China in over four decades,” which also included the arrests at Zion Church.
Grace shared that her father, Pastor Jin, brought their family to the United States after authorities targeted Zion Church in 2018. Yet, he chose to return despite the dangers. She hasn’t seen him in six years, she revealed.
“He felt that as a pastor, he needed to be with his flock,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion. “He had always been ready for something like this.”
Pastor jailed for leading flock
