Oct. 13 (UPI) — Leaders of an underground Christian church in China have been arrested, and the U.S. Department of State has demanded their release.
Pastor Mingri “Ezra” Jin and more than 30 other pastors and staff of the Zion Church were arrested Friday in Beihai in the Guangxi region, his daughter Grace Jin Drexel told NPR. Beihei is in the south, near Vietnam.
“This crackdown further demonstrates how the [Chinese Communist Party] exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “We call on the CCP to immediately release the detained church leaders and to allow all people of faith, including members of house churches, to engage in religious activities without fear of retribution.”
The arrests began Thursday for “illegal dissemination of religious information via the Internet,” said Sean Long, a pastor and spokesperson for Zion Church. Witnesses said there was a “wanted list” and that police were violent in the arrests. One woman pastor was pulled away from her newborn baby forcefully, he said.
“We strongly appeal to the global church society to hold the Chinese government accountable,” Long told NPR. “They cannot do whatever they want without letting people know. Let our ministers and staff members be released as soon as possible. Stop arresting our members.”
The Chinese Communist Party tightly controls religion and encourages Christians to join state-sanctioned churches, which follow the party-line.
Long said the church isn’t a threat to China and doesn’t align itself with western countries.
“We are not criminals but Christians,” Long told NPR. “We are not anti-CCP, we are not anti-China. We love our people, love our society, love our culture. We are not a western political force. That is 100% wrong. We are a Chinese house church adhering to historic Christian faith. We are believers of Jesus. We have nothing to do with the U.S.-China tension or competition.”
Jin started Zion Church in 2007 with 20 people. It’s now one of the largest underground churches in China with about 10,000 congregants in 40 Chinese cities.
The CCP officially banned the church in 2018. The government had pressured the church to install security cameras at its property in Beijing, and the church resisted. Jin and other church leaders were arrested and held for a short time. Since then, several congregations have been shut down. Jin’s family moved to the United States for safety.
Jin Drexel said her father had to be in China to be with his church.
“He was very clear-eyed about what the government is and what he is doing. So, I think he became a pastor knowing that one day it is possible that he will be imprisoned,” she told NPR. “Prior to the [2018] shutdown of the church, he was in the U.S. and he could have stayed in the U.S. at that point and applied for asylum … but he felt that he had to go back with the church and be with the church while it was suffering.”
The church meets in small groups and in homes and shares online sermons.
Jin was prepared for possible detention, Long said.
In a video call weeks ago, Long asked Jin what would happen if he and other church leaders were put in prison.
“Hallelujah! For a new wave of revival will follow then!” Jin said.