Source: www.csw.org.uk
Date: October 17, 2025
This past week has seen a shocking crackdown on Zion Church in China.
At least 30 people were detained across seven different cities, in raids that began on 10 October.
As far as we know, around 20 people are still in custody.
One of them is Ezra Jin Mingri, the church’s senior pastor. His home was raided throughout the night, and he was taken away in handcuffs the following morning.
Please pray:
- For the immediate release of Pastor Jin and the other unjustly detained members of Zion Church.
- That the Lord will strengthen, encourage and protect them, and all Christians across China. Drawing on Romans 15:13: ‘May the God of hope fill them with all joy and peace as they trust in him, so that they may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’
- Giving thanks for the many house church leaders who openly expressed support for Zion Church – despite facing significant pressures themselves. Ask the Lord to keep them safe and make a way for the weight of oppression to be lifted.
Zion Church is one of the largest unregistered churches in China. The Protestant ‘house’ church has an estimated 5,000 members across the country, and this is not the first time they’ve been targeted by the Chinese authorities.
In April 2018, the church leaders bravely refused to install 24 CCTV cameras. What came next was months of harassment, with hundreds of churchgoers being visited and pressured by police. Some even had the authorities show up at their workplaces to question and harass them.
Eventually, in September 2018, officials in Beijing shut down the church’s main building – stating it was now 'legally banned’.
The case of Zion Church is sadly not unique. Other churches have faced similar campaigns of targeted oppression, especially those that are unregistered. Here are a few you can pray for today:
- Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu.
- Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen.
- Linfen Covenant Home Church.
- Love (Ren’ai) Reformed Church in Guiyang.
- Green Pastures (‘Qingcaodi’) Church in Deyang.
- Church of Abundance in Xi’an.
As a member of our prayer community, we know that you are praying all year round for churches and pastors like these. Thank you for your faithfulness!
We’d love to invite you to dedicate a special time to pray on Sunday 2 November, as part of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP). To help you and your church, we’ve created a short film with prayers from Christians who have been directly targeted for their beliefs.
It is a privilege to be led in prayer by Pastor Lorenzo from Cuba, Helen Berhane from Eritrea, human rights lawyer Daniel Fang from China, and others around the world – remembering that we are not only praying for the persecuted Church, but with them.
Sign up and we’ll send it to you as soon as it’s released.