Prominent Beijing Pastor Detained as China Intensifies Crackdown on Unregistered Churches
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Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, founder of Beijing Zion Church, is suddenly facing an intense crackdown from Chinese leaders. Zion Church, an influential Chinese house church network, has been around since 2007, but recent arrests have Christians in China fearing for their lives. With over 10,000 people spread across 40 cities, it’s suspected that the government has targeted Zion due to its growth.
According to ChinaAid, more than 10 officers broke into Mingri’s apartment in Beihai, Guangxi province, on Friday, investigating his home and then taking him away in handcuffs. Not only that, but his detention by Chinese authorities is just one amid renewed arrests of house church leaders nationwide. Christianity Today remarks that so far, these arrests have taken place in six cities across China.
While threats originally began in August of 2018 when Mingri refused to install security cameras in the church sanctuary (and this caused the church to be shut down temporarily), these threats have reached another level. As one of China’s most prominent unregistered pastors, U.S. officials and international Christian groups have boldly called for his release:
“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.”
Today, Mingri is facing imprisonment for his refusal to register under the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Christian Today explains that Chinese authorities will continue to target these unregistered churches because they’re seen as a threat to social order. The CCP’s tightening religious control has existed since 2018, requiring churches to display loyalty to the party, but Bob Fu, founder of the U.S.-based group ChinaAid Association, remarks that Mingri’s detentions represent “the most extensive and coordinated wave of persecution” against underground churches in China in more than 40 years.”