Corey Jackson of the Luke Alliance — an advocacy group focused on supporting China’s unregistered churches — described China as “one of the worst abusers of human rights in the world,” and recent events added fresh evidence. On Tuesday, a new wave of arrests shined a glaring spotlight on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) growing hostility toward people of faith — persecution that seems to escalate by the day.
Chinese authorities launched a coordinated sweep against members of the prominent underground Early Rain Covenant Church in the southwestern city of Chengdu, detaining at least half a dozen key leaders and members. The church, a Reformed Presbyterian congregation founded as an independent church in 2008, has long refused to give in to state control. This stance, however, has made it a repeated target of the CCP since a major 2018 raid that saw over 100 members detained and lead pastor Wang Yi sentenced to nine years in prison the following year on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business activities.”
This week’s arrests began around 11 a.m. on January 6, with police raiding the home of the church’s current leader, Elder Li Yingqiang, in nearby Deyang and taking him into custody. Other detained members include preachers Dai Zhichao and Wu Wuqing, elders Yan Hong and Ye Fenghua, deacon Zeng Qingtao, and others. One woman, Shu Qiong, was detained on the grounds of “suspected provocation and police disturbance,” a vague accusation often used to silence dissent. Reportedly, at least one individual was released with a warning against “being involved in the case.” The church reports that several remain unreachable or in detention centers.
The church’s Early Rain Academy, being another one of the CCP’s targets, was also forced to evacuate. In a release, the church explained how “the academy immediately organized teachers and students to evacuate and leave the site. Subsequently, the owner of the teaching site was summoned to the police station and pressured, and was informed that all items must be removed from the site by Friday.”
As the church seeks lawyers for those detained and continues scattered gatherings amid surveillance, Early Rain’s story remains a testament to unwavering faith in the face of mounting oppression. And yet, their testimony is one of many.
As Jackson told The Daily Wire, these arrests fit a broader pattern of intensifying control. “The government really wants to exert more control over the churches, and make them register any online services they have before meeting,” he said. Jackson noted increasing reports of pastors being summoned for “tea times” with police, where they are warned to register or face severe consequences, including potential outright bans on house churches and imprisonment without prior warnings or fines.
This latest crackdown follows a series of similar actions in late 2025, including the October arrest of nearly 30 leaders from Zion Church — another prominent underground network — and over 100 members of Yayang Church in Wenzhou. Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted how, “in mid-2025, courts in China convicted about a dozen people affiliated with the Linfen Golden Lampstand Church, an underground Protestant church in Shanxi province, for fraud. The church’s cofounder and pastor, Wang Xiaoguang, and his wife, Yang Rongli, were sentenced to 9 and 15 years in prison, respectively.”
Providing further context, the group detailed how “state control over religion has escalated since 2016, when President Xi Jinping pledged to ‘Sinicize’ religion, and tightened ideological control.” Consequently, “authorities have demolished hundreds of church buildings or the crosses atop them, prevented adherents from gathering in unofficial churches, restricted access to the Bible, confiscated religious materials not authorized by the government, and banned Bible and religious apps.”
And so, concerning the Early Rain operation, HRW described it as only part of a lengthy “string of arrests” and actions targeting prominent unofficial Christian groups.
Arielle Del Turco, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty, highlighted the church’s resilience in a statement to The Washington Stand. “The Chinese government has been harassing Early Rain Covenant Church for years, and increasingly so since its lead pastor, Wang Yi, was sentenced to nine years in prison,” she said. Shortly after Wang Yi’s sentencing, “the church released an open letter prepared by Wang Yi expressing the truth of the gospel and the pastor’s unwillingness to compromise or back down despite government pressure. Now, more elders and deacons from the church are being arrested and it’s unclear what will happen to them.”
Del Turco praised the congregation’s steadfastness. “The leadership and congregation of this church are a model of courage. They’ve counted the cost, and they continue to serve Christ in the way they think is best.” Even so, she warned, “these recent arrests are a sign that the Chinese government is ramping up, not backing down on its religious persecution.”
Jackson urged the Trump administration to address this intensifying persecution, stating, “We need to apply pressure on China with human rights” in a way that moves beyond a purely “transactional” approach. And echoing this call for action, Del Turco concluded, “The U.S. government should speak up for the Christians who have been wrongly arrested. And as Americans, we can be praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Bob Fu, who serves as the founder and president of ChinaAid and as a senior fellow for International Religious Freedom at FRC, emphasized that China’s communist regime will not be able to eradicate Christianity from the country despite its latest crackdown.
“The January 6 arrests of elders, deacons, and church leaders from Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu mark yet another grave escalation in the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign to eradicate independent Christian faith,” he told TWS. “These are not criminals or extremists — they are peaceful pastors and lay leaders whose only ‘crime’ is shepherding their congregations outside the control of the Party-state.”
Fu continued, “The impact on China’s Christian community is profound. When a faithful church like Early Rain is repeatedly targeted, the CCP is sending a chilling message to all believers: obedience to God will be punished, and conscience must bow to ideology. Yet history shows that persecution does not extinguish faith — it refines it.”
“The international community, and especially the United States, must respond with moral clarity,” he underscored. “I urge Christians worldwide to pray for the imprisoned leaders and their families, and for the courage of China’s underground churches. I also call on President Trump to reconsider any official visit to Beijing this April unless the Chinese government demonstrates concrete change — beginning with the immediate release of prisoners of conscience, including these church leaders. Engagement without accountability only emboldens repression.”
