In October 2025, Chinese authorities carried out a coordinated crackdown on Zion Church, once one of Beijing’s largest independent Protestant congregations. Nearly 30 pastors, preachers, staff members, and church members were detained across at least seven cities. Eighteen were formally arrested the following month.
Zion Church was not accused of violence. Its leaders were not arrested for harming their neighbors, inciting unrest, or plotting against the state. Their alleged offense was connected to the church’s online ministry.
After authorities shut down Zion Church’s Beijing meeting space in 2018, the congregation continued gathering in smaller groups and through digital platforms. Its pastors preached, prayed, taught Scripture, and cared for members online. China’s government has increasingly required religious teaching and activity to remain under Communist Party supervision. In 2025, new rules further restricted unauthorized religious content online.
The first charge against many Zion leaders was “illegal use of information networks,” a broad provision in Chinese criminal law. Human-rights groups reported that the accusation centered on broadcasting sermons online without state approval. Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, Zion’s founder, was among those detained.
Pastor Jin was released on July 3, 2026, after almost nine months in detention and was permitted to travel to the United States, where he reunited with his family. Reports indicate that U.S. diplomatic pressure played a role in his release. Nine detained believers had been released on bail in June, after the maximum investigative detention period expired.
But the story is not over.
At least eight Zion Church leaders remain in detention. They include Pastor Gao Yingjia, Pastor Wang Lin, Pastor Yin Huibin, Pastor Lin Shucheng, Pastor Liu Zhenbin, Pastor Wang Cong, Elder Wang Zhong, and one woman identified by rights groups as Preacher Wu Qiuyu.
The allegations have also changed. Initially, 18 leaders were formally arrested on suspicion of “illegal use of information networks.” By June 2026, reports indicated that prosecutors had moved cases against remaining leaders forward using allegations of “illegal business operations” and “fraud.” The final charges andevidence remain unclear, and the trial is reportedly set for August 14 to 18, 2026, following a pre-trial hearing on August 10. Without a clear public timetable — separated from family and fellowship — the waiting adds another burden.
It has been nearly a year since the crackdown began. News cycles move quickly. New wars, elections, disasters, scandals, and crises displace yesterday’s outrage. But those still detained have not moved on. They remain where they were, waiting for justice, access to counsel, release, or trial.
The church should remember them.
Remember as Fellow Prisoners
Hebrews gives a command that is easy to quote and difficult to practice:
“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”
Hebrews 13:3, ESV
The verse does not command passing concern. It calls believers into identification.
“Remember” means more than briefly noticing a headline. It means carrying the needs of suffering Christians before God. It means refusing to let distance make their suffering unreal. It means asking what it would feel like if the detained pastor were your own pastor, if the imprisoned church member were your spouse, parent, child, or close friend.
The author gives the reason: “since you also are in the body.”
Christians are joined to one another in the body of Christ. Paul writes:
“If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”
1 Corinthians 12:26, ESV
This is not sentiment. It is Christian reality.
A believer detained in Beihai is not a distant case file. He or she is part of Christ’s body. The church in China and the church in America do not belong to separate kingdoms. We share one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one hope.
When believers gather in a comfortable sanctuary, stream a sermon freely, open their Bibles without fear, or sing without state permission, they should remember brothers and sisters for whom those ordinary acts can bring surveillance, interrogation, and imprisonment.
The Cost of an Unapproved Church
The persecution of Zion Church is not only about one congregation. It reflects a larger conflict over who has authority to define, supervise, and limit Christian worship.
The Chinese government recognizes certain state-sanctioned religious bodies, including the Protestant Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Unregistered churches, commonly called house churches, operate outside this official system. Many do so because they believe Christ, not the state, is the head of the church.
Scripture says:
“And he is the head of the body, the church.”
Colossians 1:18, ESV
Christians are called to respect governing authorities, pray for rulers, seek peace, and honor those in public office (Romans 13:1–7; 1 Timothy 2:1–2). Faithfulness does not mean contempt for a nation or hatred toward its people.
But the state has limits.
When authorities command what God forbids, or forbid what God commands, believers face a painful but clear obligation. After being ordered not to teach in Jesus’ name, Peter and the apostles replied:
“We must obey God rather than men.”
Acts 5:29, ESV
That is the issue beneath the charges against Zion Church. Its leaders sought to gather believers, preach Christ, teach Scripture, and maintain a church outside the Party’s control. These are not crimes in the moral sense. They are ordinary acts of Christian discipleship.
The church has always faced this tension. The earliest Christians were not persecuted because they were generally bad citizens. They were persecuted because they confessed a higher allegiance.
“Jesus is Lord” is a spiritual confession, but it is never merely private. It means no government, party, ruler, ideology, or institution can claim ultimate authority over conscience and worship.
The Church Does Not Need Pity
The persecuted church does not need our condescension.
Chinese Christians are not passive victims waiting for Western Christians to rescue them. The church in China has endured, grown, prayed, evangelized, served, and worshiped through decades of immense pressure. Its believers have often displayed courage and faith that should humble Christians living with far greater freedom.
What they need is faithful attention.
They need prayer that is specific and persevering. They need churches willing to speak their names. They need advocates who can press governments and institutions to defend religious freedom. They need the global body of Christ to refuse silence when officials use vague charges to criminalize ordinary ministry.
Paul asked the churches to pray for him while he was imprisoned:
“At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison.”
Colossians 4:3, ESV
Notice what Paul requests. He does not ask only for release. He asks that the Word would continue to advance.
We should pray for the eight detained Zion leaders: for protection, courage, health, legal access, comfort for their families, and release. We should pray that they would know Christ’s presence in confinement. We should pray for their church members, who may be afraid, scattered, watched, and grieving.
We should also pray for Chinese officials. Jesus commands, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Christian prayer does not excuse injustice, but it refuses hatred. We ask God to restrain evil, soften hearts, protect the vulnerable, and bring those in authority to repentance and faith.
Keep Saying Their Names
There is a quiet cruelty in forgetting.
Prison is designed to isolate people. It removes them from ordinary rhythms of friendship, work, worship, family, and speech. Public attention cannot replace freedom, but it can resist the lie that a prisoner has disappeared.
The church can remember Zion Church in simple and concrete ways:
Pray for the remaining detainees by name in Sunday services and small groups.
Include their families and congregation in intercessory prayer.
Share verified updates from reliable religious-freedom organizations.
Contact elected representatives and urge attention to religious-freedom abuses.
Support ministries that provide legal, practical, and pastoral care for persecuted Christians.
Use your freedom to gather, read Scripture, and sing with gratitude rather than complacency.
The command of Hebrews is not only for people close to persecution. It is for all of us.
“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them.”
Hebrews 13:3, ESV
Pastor Ezra Jin’s release is worth celebrating. It is also a reminder that public advocacy and diplomatic pressure can matter. But joy for one man’s freedom must not become permission to forget those who remain.wsj+1
Eight leaders are still detained.
Their families are still waiting.
Their church is still carrying the weight of uncertainty.
So let us keep saying their names. Let us keep praying. Let us keep asking God to strengthen his people, expose injustice, and build his church in China.
Jesus promised:
“I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Matthew 16:18, ESV
Prisons can close a door. Governments can restrict a gathering. Officials can silence a livestream.
But they cannot silence the body of risen Christ.
~ Sunny
All Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV).