Last Christmas, Zion — one of China’s biggest and most influential unregistered house churches — held a concert featuring professional dancers, rock bands and a short drama about an elderly Chinese atheist whose suspicion of Christianity transformed into belief while she was visiting her son in the United States.
Since October, Chinese authorities have moved aggressively to dismantle Zion and a network of related churches across the country.
In a coordinated sweep, police detained Ezra Jin, Zion’s 56-year-old founding pastor, and nearly 30 other church leaders and members in eight cities including Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Chengdu. At least 18 people have been charged on suspicion of “illegal use of information networks,” fraud and other crimes.
