Faith Under Pressure: Inside China's Widening Campaign Against House Churches, From Beijing to Xi'an

On a Sunday morning in America, millions of believers will walk into church without a second thought. They will sing, pray, drop an offering in the plate and go home. In much of China, every one of those acts can draw the attention of the police.

A column in the New York Post on Sunday argued that Beijing has unleashed a sweeping crackdown on Christians ^[1]. Strong words deserve a careful look at the record. Here is what the reporting from the past few weeks shows, case by case, and why it should matter to every American who values the freedom to worship.

A Trial Behind Closed Doors in Xi'an

On Thursday, a court in Xi'an, in northwestern China, put a house church pastor on trial. Police blocked Christians and human rights lawyers from observing the hearing and took several attorneys into custody as it ended without a verdict, according to ChinaAid, a U.S.-based group that tracks the persecution of Chinese Christians ^[3].

The pastor is Gao Quanfu, 69, who leads the Light of Zion Church. ChinaAid reported that he faces fraud charges tied to church offerings and that prosecutors are seeking a prison term of 12 to 13 years ^[3]. Authorities first took him from his home in May 2025 on a different accusation, using superstition to undermine law enforcement, before the charge was changed to fraud, the group reported ^[3]. The church says authorities pressed more than 200 members to give statements against its leaders ^[3].

ChinaAid is an advocacy organization, and Chinese authorities have not publicly answered most of these accounts. But the pattern it describes, a church leader charged with fraud over the money his own congregation gave freely, shows up again and again.

A Beijing Pastor and the Offering Plate

It shows up in the capital, too. Xianfeng Edward Cui, who founded Beijing Jiaquan Church, was arrested on Oct. 23 on fraud charges, his wife told the Associated Press ^[2]. She said the charges relate to the church's offerings, and the AP noted that such charges are likely tied to the fact that the congregation is not registered with the state ^[2]. Police did not respond to the AP's request for comment ^[2].

According to his wife's account, the arrest followed a September raid involving about 100 police officers ^[2]. It also followed years of warnings. In 2023, she told the AP, authorities interrupted a Sunday church class and told the couple the church had grown too large; Cui was told he should lead just one church of fewer than 100 people ^[2].

That detail tells you a great deal. The complaint was not that the church taught violence or broke any law Americans would recognize. The complaint was that it was growing.

Related Jordan Sentences Three Men to Death for the Karak Church Funeral Attack That Killed Nine

Zion Church: Raids, a Release and Eight Still Waiting

The best-known case is Beijing's Zion Church, one of the country's largest unregistered church networks. In October 2025, authorities detained pastors and staff in a series of raids, NPR reported at the time ^[5]. Its founder, Pastor Jin Mingri, known to many as Ezra Jin, was among those taken.

His story took a hopeful turn this summer. Jin was freed and flown to the United States less than two months after President Trump asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping to release him, the Associated Press reported in July ^[6]. American Christians who had prayed for him for months saw a prayer answered.

But the case is not closed. Chinese authorities this month lifted bail restrictions on four Zion Church members, while eight pastors and church workers remain detained and face trial, ChinaAid reported ^[4]. Their trial had been scheduled for August and was postponed with no new date set, according to the group ^[4].

Why Beijing Fears the House Church

Why would the most powerful government in Asia spend so much effort on congregations that meet in apartments and rented offices?

The answer lies in what a house church is. It is a community whose loyalty runs first to God, not to the state. Its members choose their own pastors, read Scripture for themselves and gather without asking permission. For a party that insists on supervising every part of public life, a fellowship that answers to a higher authority is a standing challenge.

The cases above share a method. Leaders are charged with ordinary crimes, most often fraud, rather than openly prosecuted for their faith ^[2][3]. Congregations are told to stay small ^[2]. Lawyers who try to defend them can find themselves detained ^[3]. The goal appears to be to make independent worship so costly that believers give it up.

Consider what a fraud charge over offerings really does. It takes the most ordinary act of Christian devotion, a believer giving to support the church, and recasts it as a crime committed by the pastor who received the gift ^[2][3]. Every member who has ever dropped money in the plate becomes a potential witness for the prosecution. It is a clever tactic precisely because it lets officials say, with a straight face, that no one is being punished for faith. The congregations themselves, and the families of the men on trial, see it differently ^[2][3].

The early church faced its own version of this pressure. When the authorities in Jerusalem ordered the apostles to stop preaching, Peter and the apostles answered that they ought to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). Chinese pastors who keep preaching under threat of prison stand in that same line.

What It Means for America

Religious liberty is the first freedom named in our Bill of Rights, and Americans have long believed it belongs to every person, not just to citizens of free countries. The release of Pastor Jin shows that American pressure, applied at the highest level, can change outcomes ^[6].

That lesson should not be lost as U.S. and Chinese leaders keep meeting on trade, technology and security. The names of the eight Zion Church workers still in detention ^[4], of Pastor Gao in Xi'an ^[3] and of Pastor Cui in Beijing ^[2] belong on the list of things America raises. A trade deal can be renegotiated. A pastor's years in prison cannot be given back.

It also matters for how we talk about China at home. Debates over chips, tariffs and spies tend to treat China as a rival economy. The treatment of its believers is a reminder that the deeper contest is about something more basic: whether a government may tell its people what they may believe and with whom they may pray.

What Believers Can Do

Scripture gives Christians a clear charge here: remember those in chains as if bound with them (Hebrews 13:3). That starts with prayer, by name, for the pastors and church members whose cases are public.

It continues with attention. Groups that document these cases depend on people who read their reports and share them, and lawmakers notice when constituents ask about persecuted believers. Churches can set aside time on a Sunday to pray for the house churches of China, many of which are meeting the same morning under far greater risk.

And it ends with gratitude. The freedom to walk into church, sing out loud and give without fear is a gift many believers around the world do not have. Pastor Gao is still waiting on a verdict ^[3], and eight Zion Church workers are still waiting on a trial date ^[4]. They are worth remembering when the offering plate comes around this morning.