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
Conservative politician Keiko Fujimori was officially declared the winner of Peru’s presidential election Friday, nearly a month after the June 7 runoff, ending weeks of uncertainty in the deeply polarized South American nation of about 34 million people.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump was to address a crowd on the National Mall, the tree-lined national park in downtown Washington seen as “America’s front yard,” to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday amid political controversy and a searing heat wave.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Friday that Russian forces had completed the capture of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, marking what Moscow described as a major milestone in the war, although Ukraine had not confirmed the claim and independent verification was not immediately possible.
Government delegations from China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Iraq arrived in Tehran on Friday, where the body of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lay in state.
Moldovan Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu announced Friday that he was stepping down, triggering the resignation of his government in the strategically located nation sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania that has been a European Union candidate country since November 2025.
At least 40 people were killed and eight others injured early Friday after a speeding, overcrowded passenger bus plunged about 20 meters (70 feet) into a rocky ravine in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.
Authorities say the main suspect in a Monaco bomb attack this week that seriously injured a Ukraine-born business tycoon, his partner, and their 13-year-old son is a Ukrainian woman living in Germany who disguised herself as a man.