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Pastor of a prominent underground church in China He was detained, according to his daughter, a church pastor and a group that tracks religion in the East Asian country.
Zion Church Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri was detained at his home in Beihai, in China’s southeast guangxi Province on Friday evening, along with dozens of other church leaders Beijing and at least five other provinces across China. According to Shawn Long, a Chinese Zion Church pastor who is currently studying, he may face charges of “illegal dissemination of religious content via the Internet.” United States of America,
“This is a very disturbing and upsetting moment,” Long told The Associated Press by phone. “This is a cruel violation of religious freedom, which is written into the Chinese Constitution. We want our clergy to be released immediately.”
Long said he learned of the arrests from dozens of church leaders based in China who posted photos and videos of police entering church locations in an online group chat.
Zion Church is one of the largest so-called underground or house churches that are unregistered with Chinese authorities. They disregard Chinese government restrictions that require believers to worship only in registered congregations.
China’s Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Public Security, Religious Affairs Department and Beihai police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
under the Chinese leader Xi JinpingBeijing has cracked down on independent Christian congregations over the past decade, destroying crosses, burning Bibles, closing churches and ordering followers to sign papers renouncing their faith. Chinese authorities have placed an emphasis on “Sinicizing” the religion by imposing loyalty to the officially atheist Communist Party and seeking to eliminate any challenges to its power over people’s lives.
Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin, who lives in the United States, is not sure what is behind this recent action, but she believes it may be due to the growing influence of the Zion Church and the challenge to Communist Party rule.
“Zion exploded after Covid, which troubled the government,” he said.
During a nationwide crackdown in 2018, several underground churches were targeted and the main sanctuary of Zion Church was closed. But during the coronavirus pandemic, Zion Church’s membership surged after it held online prayer sessions, attracting believers who were unable to attend worship at government-sanctioned churches, which often closed their doors due to pandemic restrictions.
The church’s membership has grown from about 1,500 in 2018 to perhaps 5,000 or more members today, Long said, with more than 100 worship spaces in apartments, restaurants and even karaoke bars in about 40 cities across China.
Other underground churches in China have also come under pressure in recent months.
In May, the pastor of Zion Light Church in Xi’an, eastern China, was detained. In June, ten members of the Golden Lampstand Church in the western province of Shanxi were sentenced to prison after being arrested four years earlier.
“We are seeing the most widespread and coordinated wave of persecution against urban independent house churches in China in four decades,” said Bob Fu, founder of the US-based religious group China Aid.
Grace said her father, Pastor Jin, brought his family to the United States after Zion Church was targeted by authorities in 2018. But he decided to go back despite the risks. He has not seen his father for six years, he said.
“He realized that as a pastor he had to live with the flock,” she said, fighting back tears. “He was always up for something like this.”