Eighteen leaders of Zion Church, one of the largest ‘house’ churches in China, were formally arrested this Tuesday, pending trial and a potential prison sentence of up to three years.

The arrested leaders are among the nearly 30 pastors and staff of the Zion church network in at least seven cities, who have been held in criminal detention since the nationwide crackdown that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began on October 9, the biggest on Chinese Christians since 2018.

Five of them were released in October and a further four support staff were released on bail around November 10, informed news agency Reuters.

Christian rights group China Aid reported that, according to information from families and lawyers, the 18 church leaders have now “been placed under formal arrest on politically motivated charges after weeks of incommunicado detention, intense interrogation, and pressure on their families”.

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The founder of Zion Church, pastor Jin “Ezra” Mingri, is among those held in detention centres in the southern city of Beihai.

“By turning pastors into political prisoners, the CCP is not only persecuting these individuals and their families, it is sending a warning to every independent church in China: submit to Party control or face destruction”, warned Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, in a statement relased on X.

ChinaAid Statement on the Formal Arrest of 18 Zion Church Leaders After Nationwide October Crackdown

November 2025 | Washington, D.C.

ChinaAid strongly condemns the formal arrest of 18 pastors and co-workers of Beijing Zion Church, who have been held in criminal detention since… pic.twitter.com/WIDSQIEll5

— Bob Fu 傅希秋 (@BobFu4China) November 19, 2025

Restrictive measures

Zion Church, along with many other churches, has faced opposition from the government for many years, through closures, surveillance, violence, raids, and detentions for refusing to join the state-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement.

The crackdown on Zion Church came a month after China's top religion regulator presented the new “Regulations on the Online Behaviour of Religious Clergy”, which ban online preaching or teaching, except on platforms operated by registered religious organisations that hold an Internet Religious Information Services licence.

Religious instruction on personal social media accounts, livestreams, WeChat groups or informal forums is also forbbiden.

Furthermore, the Chinese government recently passed a revised version of the Public Security Administration Punishments Law of the People’s Republic of China, which for the first time explicitly included “illegal religious activities” within the scope of administrative punishments.

Anyone who “organizes, instigates, intimidates, induces, or coerces others into cult, sect, secret society, or illegal religious activities,” or “uses the name of religion to disrupt social order or harm others’ physical health” may be subjected to 5 to 15 days of detention.

Christians worldwide pray for China

Amidst the CCP crackdown, over 500 church leaders and Christians from 45 countries signed an online prayer petition in solidarity with the arrested leaders.

“We pray for all believers in China who face mounting pressure, restrictions, and persecution. May they know they that Christians around the world stand with them in spirit and in prayer, and that the world is bearing witness to their treatment”, reads the prayer petition.

They also pray for “China's leaders to recognize that religious freedom strengthens rather than threatens nations” and “for the immediate release of Pastor Jin and all detained church leaders, and a future where Christians in China can worship freely, serve their communities openly, and live out their faith without fear”.

The signatory countries have strong relations with China, because they are part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a Chinese strategy to invest in infrastructure around the world, or of BRICS, a bloc of emerging economies that includes China.

According to Bill Drexel, the son-in-law of pastor Jin Mingri, “this is the first time Christians around the world from countries with close ties to China have jointly spoken out for the persecuted church in China”.