Underground church leader, staff arrested in China: NPR

A Christian pastor and father of American citizens along with dozens of staff and church members have been arrested in China amid a crackdown, according to his daughter and the church.

Ezra Jin, founder and pastor of Zion Church, a large “underground house church” with congregations across China, was arrested Friday while at his home in Beihai, Guangxi region, his daughter Grace Jin Drexel told NPR.

“This has been extremely shocking and…very scary for our family,” Jin Drexel said. “But we also have faith in the Lord and we know that he [Ezra Jin] it is doing God’s work.

More than 30 pastors and church staff members were arrested or made inaccessible to their families as of Thursday, said Sean Long, pastor and spokesman for the Zion Church. Some of them face criminal charges, he added, including for “illegal dissemination of religious information via the Internet.”

Witnesses said police had a “wanted list” and were violent during arrests, according to Long. A female pastor was forcibly separated from her newborn baby, he also said.

“We strongly call on the entire global church to hold the Chinese government accountable,” Long told NPR. “They can’t do what they want without people knowing. Let our ministers and staff be released as soon as possible. Stop arresting our members.”

This photograph provided by Pastor Sean Long of Zion Church shows Pastor Sun Cong of Zion Church standing in handcuffs after being arrested by police at his home in Beijing, China, on Friday.

AP/Sean Long

hide caption

toggle caption

AP/Sean Long

NPR reached out to the Chinese embassy for comment on Sunday but did not receive a response.

In recent years, China has arrested and detained Christian leaders of underground churches, which are neither registered with the government nor under its control. The Chinese government has also arrested and imprisoned Muslims.

The Chinese Communist Party views Christianity and Islam as “foreign” and subject to influence from outsiders.

Yet tens of millions of Chinese attend unregistered churches rather than state-sanctioned churches.

Zion Church was previously raided and closed in 2018, during a previous crackdown on independent churches. Since then, it has re-emerged with a mix of online and in-person meetings in various locations across China.

Church says it poses no threat to China

Police officers guard the main entrance gate of a building where Zion Church was located after authorities closed the church in Beijing in September 2018.

Andy Wong/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Andy Wong/AP

Before becoming a pastor, Jin was a student at Peking University during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and earned a doctorate in ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Both Long and Jin Drexel said Jin may have sensed arrest was imminent, telling both of them in recent weeks that persecution could lead to a new wave of revival within Christianity. Jin also discussed his heritage with his family and told them to prepare video footage of him so his grandchildren would know him in case something happened, his daughter also said.

“He had a very clear vision of what government was and what it did, so I think he became a pastor knowing that one day there was a possibility he could be imprisoned,” Jin Drexel said. “Before the [2018] closing of the church, he was in the United States and he could have stayed in the United States at that time and sought asylum…but he felt he had to go back with the church and be with the church while it suffered.

The recent arrests also took place in a context of tensions between the United States and China, particularly over trade. President Trump on Friday threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese imports.

Zion Church was founded in 2007 and its officials say it has grown rapidly in recent years, with services reaching about 5,000 to 10,000 people each week.

That growth, along with tensions between the United States and China, may be behind the recent crackdown, according to Long, who says the Chinese government wants to exert control over its citizens and views Zion Church as a threat.

But he said Zion Church does not pose a threat or opposition to the Chinese government.

“We are not criminals but Christians,” Long said. “We are not anti-CCP [Chinese Communist Party]we are not anti-China. We love our people, love our society, love our culture. We are not a Western political force. This is 100% false. We are a Chinese house church adhering to the historic Christian faith. We are believers in Jesus. We have nothing to do with tensions or competition between the United States and China. »

US authorities call for Jin’s release

US officials and lawmakers have denounced the arrests. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for the release of the pastors.

“This crackdown once again demonstrates how the CCP exercises its hostility toward Christians who reject the Party’s interference in their faith and choose to worship in unregistered house churches,” Rubio said in a statement Sunday. “We call on the CCP to immediately release detained religious leaders and allow all people of faith, including members of house churches, to engage in religious activities without fear of reprisal.”

Zion Church congregants are afraid and this is a very worrying time for its leaders, Long said. But these arrests will not deter Church members from practicing their faith.

“We will still have online service and we will not stop what we are doing,” Long said. “We will share the good news of Jesus Christ no matter what.”