China expands crackdown on Christian churches not controlled by CCP

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities have carried out armed raids and arrests against Christian worshippers in early January, detaining leaders and members of independent churches. 

Religious freedom advocates describe the arrests as a renewed campaign to crush Christianity, which the CCP believes poses a threat to the central government. 

Police in the city of Chengdu seized at least six members of the Early Rain Covenant Church, including its acting pastor, during coordinated home raids on Jan. 6, Reuters reported. 

Families of those taken reported no formal arrest notices, no charges and no access to legal counsel, according to accounts of the detentions shared with Christianity Today (CT). 

“What we’re seeing is more effort from the central government to curb these larger churches that also meet online,” Corey Jackson of the persecution ministry Luke Alliance told CT. 

Early Rain is one of China’s best-known Protestant congregations that refuse to submit its doctrine, leadership and preaching to the CCP’s state-run religious system. 

Government supervision 

Under Chinese law, all Christian churches must operate under supervision through government-controlled bodies. 

Churches that refuse are treated as criminal organizations. 

“We are not arrested for ordinary reasons, but because of our faith – and even in these circumstances, we seek to bear witness to Christ not only to the world, but also, when possible, to police officers and government officials,” a source close to Early Rain told CT. 

The arrests follow years of pressure against Early Rain, whose founding pastor Wang Yi was sentenced in 2019 to nine years in prison for “subversion of state power” after publicly criticizing Communist interference in Christian worship. 

Since the Wang Yi arrest, the church has operated in small groups, private homes and online to avoid police crackdowns, according to CT. 

Human rights organizations say the latest arrests are part of a broader escalation by the Chinese Communist Party against independent Christianity. 

CCP Chairman Xi Jinping’s government has tightened control over religion as part of its ideological campaign to eliminate rival sources of authority and belief. 

According to Open Doors, a Christian advocacy organization that tracks persecution worldwide, China has sharply increased surveillance, raids and arrests of Christians since 2018. 

Authorities are closely monitoring minors, university professors and student fellowship groups, placing them under increasing pressure and exposing them to serious punishment, the religious rights group said. 

Authorities have banned online preaching, installed facial recognition cameras in churches, collected biometric information – including blood samples, voice recordings and fingerprints – to help track unauthorized Bible study groups, which the government classifies as criminal. 

While the Communist regime allows a limited number of churches to operate under its control, including Catholic churches, which signed an agreement with the CCP under Pope Francis, sermons, leadership appointments and doctrine must align with party ideology. 

Zion Church, an independent church similar to Early Rain, was raided in October, with around 30 members arrested, Open Doors said. 

Zion Church says it established more than 100 congregational meeting sites in just six to seven years. 

Reuters notes tens of millions of Christians in China worship outside the government system, making them vulnerable to arrest at any time. 

While official figures claim more than 44 million Christians belong to state-approved churches, rights groups estimate the real number of believers is far higher. 

Intimidation campaign 

Church representatives say the January arrests were designed to intimidate believers and dismantle remaining networks of independent worship. 

One Chinese source told Open Doors the CCP tactic followed the idiom “killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.” 

The Chinese government has offered no public justification for the raids. 

International condemnation followed the arrests, with rights advocates calling on Beijing to release those taken and respect basic freedoms of belief. 

The House Select Committee on China also condemned the “forced submission to Party ideology” against Christians who refuse “to bow to the CCP.” 

“We call for China to release people of faith from prison and end its policy of religious persecution,” the committee said via social media. 

In October 2023, North Carolina Republican Senators Ted Budd and Thom Tillis introduced a bill aimed at pushing the U.S. government to respond more forcefully to China’s persecution of religious believers. 

The bill calls on Washington to take concrete actions to defend religious freedom, pointing specifically to the imprisonment of Pastor Wang Yi as evidence of the Chinese government’s crackdown on Christians. 

For Christian communities inside China, the message is unmistakable: worship of Christ must be mediated by the Communist Party or Christians will be treated as criminals. 

“Persecution in China is continually rising, in both subtle and obvious ways, making the church invisible in the public domain,” one Christian told Open Doors.