• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS GLOBAL
    • TESTIMONIES GLOBAL
    • OP-EDS GLOBAL
    • FEATURED GLOBAL
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
    • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / China / News China

Believers Coerced Into Leaving Zion Church

09/22/2018Feng Gang |

Decision and Notice of Ban
Decision and Notice of Ban

Before the shutdown of Beijing’s Zion Church earlier this month, authorities made numerous attempts at coercing believers to leave the church.

Recently, Bitter Winter reported about the timeline of events that eventually led to shutting down of the largest house church in Beijing, the Zion Church.

We have now accessed details that describe the behind-the-scenes coercion that was going on since past few months.

The church has a total of six branches, in Beijing. In June this year, authorities ambushed small congregations of believers twice at one of those branches, True Light. Believers would be made to register their personal details and IDs, after which the police would order everyone to go home.

A schoolteacher, who is also a Party member as well as a believer at the church’s branch in Xueqing, was threatened that she would be fired if did not stop going to the church and sign a guarantee stating the same.

A woman who had attended a Zion church congregation only once was harassed by police on the phone several times and was told that she wasn’t “allowed to attend” gatherings at the church again.

At another branch in Wangjing, a female church leader found her housing agreement being terminated abruptly. Later, it turned out that the landlord was working on the directives of her village’s Party committee. The village cadres soon called her in for a meeting, where they demanded that she sign a guarantee that she wouldn’t attend Zion Church congregations if she wanted to keep living at her place.

As per our sources, nearly 300 believers were questioned or interrogated between April and August. Several more members of the church were targeted similarly and forced to sign such guarantees. Believers who were university students were interrogated by campus secretaries and guidance counselors about their religious beliefs. They further emphasized that attending the Zion church was akin to participating in an illegal religious activity.

To dismantle the church as soon as possible, the local government had issued orders to personnel in various departments that they must question a certain number of members every day and force them to sign the guarantees. The officials were warned too; their performance on this task would be reflected in their yearly assessments.

As per the latest developments, the head pastor, Jin Mingri, was taken away to a resort, where he was held for several hours. Six others, including pastors ministers too were taken away, were held at separate locations for hours. Authorities also confiscated their cell phones during this period.

Reported by Feng Gang

Notice of Illegal Activity
Notice of Illegal Activity

Tagged With: House Churches

Feng Gang profile picture
Feng Gang

Uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • Shaanxi: Persecution of the Church of Abundance Continues

    Shaanxi: Persecution of the Church of Abundance Continues

  • Church of the Rock: Pastor Geng Zejun Sentenced to 1 Year and 3 Months in Prison

    Church of the Rock: Pastor Geng Zejun Sentenced to 1 Year and 3 Months in Prison

  • Sola Fide Golden Lampstand Church Leaders Arrested Again in Shanxi

    Sola Fide Golden Lampstand Church Leaders Arrested Again in Shanxi

  • The Small Church That Disturbed the CCP: Preacher Chang Hao Detained in Yunnan

    The Small Church That Disturbed the CCP: Preacher Chang Hao Detained in Yunnan

Keep Reading

  • House Churches Suppressed Across China
    House Churches Suppressed Across China

    Numerous venues were shut down, believers arrested and dispersed in August across Henan, Guizhou, and Fujian provinces.

  • House Churches Closed as ‘Illegal Venues,’ Believers Punished
    House Churches Closed as ‘Illegal Venues,’ Believers Punished

    The CCP eradicates unregistered Protestant venues, harassing and arresting believers, imposing hefty fines on them.

  • Bengbu Dissident Christian Pastor Arrested  
    Bengbu Dissident Christian Pastor Arrested  

    Pastor Wan Changchun was one of the signatories of  the 2018 statement of protest against the new Religious Affairs Regulation.

  • Henan Preacher Arrested for Purchasing Christian Books Online
    Henan Preacher Arrested for Purchasing Christian Books Online

    Chen Lijun was detained in August. His wife reports he is still in jail, and his family is in desperate conditions.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • There Are Christian Uyghurs, Too: New Organization Launched in London by Ruth Ingram
  • Hui Muslims Clash with Police Over Mosque’s “Sinicization” by Ma Guangyao
  • Russia: Lunatic Theory that Yellowstone Volcano Caused the War in Ukraine Gains Momentum by Massimo Introvigne
  • Xi Jinping: Beijing’ National Art Museum Is Not Socialist Enough by Hu Zimo
  • Occupied Ukraine: Anti-Cult “Experts” Target Moscow Patriarchate Dissident Priest by Massimo Introvigne
  • Chinese Agents Tried to Bribe U.S. Tax Officer in Anti-Falun-Gong Plot by Massimo Introvigne
  • Hong-Kong-Style National Security Law Comes to Macau by Gladys Kwok

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY