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
President Donald Trump abruptly canceled planned U.S. strikes against Iran on Thursday, saying a multinational agreement to end the conflict had been approved by top Iranian leadership and was awaiting final documents and a formal signing.
Federal authorities said Thursday they have accounted for 146,000 unaccompanied migrant children who entered the United States during former President Joe Biden’s administration, while roughly 300,000 minors remain unaccounted for, amid allegations that many vulnerable children were placed with fraudulent sponsors and exposed to abuse, labor exploitation, and sex trafficking.
Congress left Washington without renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, allowing a key foreign surveillance authority used to track foreign terrorists and national security threats to expire Friday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 11 temporarily allowed President Donald Trump’s 10 percent global tariffs to remain in effect, extending a pause on a lower court ruling that had struck down the duties as unlawful.
Dutch police detained a young man l man after four people, including three children, were killed when a car struck a group of cyclists during a school outing near the Belgian border on Thursday, officials said.
The leaders of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia are expected to meet this month amid growing debate within the European Union over how future member states should be admitted and monitored.
China has condemned the European Union’s ban on public funding for Chinese-made solar inverters, a move that analysts say could affect more than a fifth of new solar capacity and complicate efforts to meet the bloc’s self-imposed “climate targets.”