by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Authorities in China once again raided the Zion Church in Beijing last month, arresting 12 people and taking down the details of everyone in attendance as part of a crackdown on Christianity in the country, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
China is ruled by the paranoid, authoritarian Chinese Communist Party which has banned Zion Church and other evangelical churches that refuse to register with the government and promote an anti-Christian ideology that glorifies the CCP and its leader. China currently ranks 19 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
The Beijing Zion Church was raided during services held at four separate locations on October 20, ICC reports. The church was banned in 2018 after it refused to install government-monitored CCTV cameras but continued to meet as a church in different places. Among those arrested on October 20 was Elder Qin Guoliang, who was given a 14-day detention sentence.
In a 2024 website report about the situation facing evangelical churches in China, the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization states: “The Chinese Communist Party’s goal is to make sure churches don’t fall out of line with official viewpoints. In the case of official churches, this means they are encouraged to praise and pledge allegiance to the Communist Party and its ideology.”
Noting that persecution and discrimination against Christians is spreading across China, Open Doors adds: “Churches that claim Christ as King are viewed with suspicion, especially since Christianity is seen as a primarily Western influence. Most churches are monitored and can be shut down without warning.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
The world awoke Friday to a new geopolitical reality after U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, concluded high-stakes talks in Beijing that highlighted China’s emergence as a near-equal superpower to the United States amid tensions over Taiwan, Iran, trade, technology, and military rivalry.
Pakistan’s hardline Islamist party and movement, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), has been accused of involvement in a massive “blasphemy business” scheme targeting Christians and other Pakistanis charged under the country’s controversial blasphemy laws, despite being banned by the government.
Malaysian authorities confirmed Friday that at least 12 people were killed after a boat carrying undocumented migrants sank off the country’s western coast, while neighboring Indonesia was struck by a strong earthquake.
Christians and rights campaigners in Pakistan have demanded “a transparent investigation” into the death of a Christian brick kiln worker allegedly poisoned by a Muslim resident in the country’s east, while another Christian laborer was killed in a separate case.
Latvia’s government collapsed Thursday after Prime Minister Evika Siliņa resigned amid a political crisis triggered by Ukrainian drones crashing inside Latvian territory near the Russian border.
Hungary’s new center-right government has pledged to restore the church status of the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship (MET), headed by 74-year-old Pastor Gábor Iványi, a longtime critic — and former ally — of ex-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The Trump administration is widening its campaign against waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government after investigators reportedly uncovered sweeping schemes involving Medicaid-funded home health businesses, food benefit theft, student visa exploitation, and immigration fraud across the United States.