Trump Urged To Raise Christian Persecution In China During Xi Talks

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

BEIJING (Worthy News) – A former underground Chinese house church pastor who now leads a U.S.-based advocacy group has urged U.S. President Donald J. Trump to raise the issue of reportedly persecuted Christians during his talks Thursday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, following a fresh crackdown on independent churches in the Communist-led nation.

Bob Fu, the founder and president of ChinaAid, wrote Trump in a letter obtained by Worthy News that he will face “a defining moral test” to speak “boldly for those who cannot speak for themselves,” including “the imprisoned shepherds and faithful believers of China’s house churches.”

For decades, China’s “Communist regime has sought to crush the spiritual vitality of its citizens through surveillance, forced ‘sinicization,’ and imprisonment of Christian leaders. The latest wave of persecution has struck one of the most vibrant and influential congregations in the nation — the Zion House Church of Beijing,” Fu wrote.

He made the comments ahead of the APEC Summit in Seoul, South Korea, where the Trump-Xi talks were due to take place. The letter came after Chinese police launched a sweeping, coordinated operation across nine provinces and municipalities on October 9, Christians said.

More than 22 pastors, preachers, and church workers of Zion Church were reportedly arrested or disappeared into detention. Those taken include Senior Pastor Mingri “Ezra” Jin, Pastor Wang Cong, Pastor Yin Huibin, Pastor Liu Zhenbin, Pastor Sun Cong, Pastor Gao Yingjia, Pastor Lin Shucheng, Elder Wang Zhong, and many others, Fu said.

WIDESPREAD CRACKDOWN ACROSS CHINA

“Women pastors and pregnant wives were dragged from their homes. Children cried for their missing parents. Church offices were sealed; bank accounts were frozen; lawyers were blocked from contact. This operation — already dubbed the ‘10.9 Church Persecution Case’ — is the most severe suppression of a single Protestant network in China since the 2008 crackdown on the Beijing Shouwang Church.”

The Zion Church Pastoral Team released a heart-wrenching open prayer letter on October 16, calling upon the global body of Christ to intercede on their behalf. “Their words echo from a prison cell to the nations,” Fu recalled, citing Psalm 39:10: “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as King forever.”

Fu said he had “personally known Pastor Ezra Jin for many years. He is a brilliant theologian, a visionary leader, and a faithful shepherd who refused to bow to the idolatry of state-controlled religion. Zion Church, founded in Beijing in 2007, grew to over 1,500 members before the authorities banned it in 2018 for refusing to join the Communist-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement.”

Since then, despite “relentless harassment,” the church has reportedly multiplied through an underground network that now reaches more than 5,000 members across 40 cities and about 100 congregations nationwide, Fu recalled. “Each morning, over 10,000 Christians join Zion Church’s online devotional livestream, a powerful testimony to how persecution cannot silence faith but only spread it further.”

Yet “Today, Pastor Jin and his coworkers languish in detention centers in Beihai, Guangxi Province. Thirteen women are held in Beihai First Detention Center and nine men in Beihai Second Detention Center. Several others have been placed under house arrest or disappeared into the security apparatus. The families are exhausted and traumatized yet unbroken in faith,” Fu stressed.

FAMILIES IN DESPAIR, FAITH UNBROKEN

“One husband, Brother Ren Zhong — whose wife, Pastor Wang Cong, was taken — now cares alone for their three-year-old daughter, who cries night and day for her mother. His old ankle injury has flared from running between police stations and law offices. Another pastor’s wife is two months pregnant and pleads for her husband’s release while traveling long distances to petition authorities. Other wives have lost their homes to seizure and live under surveillance.”

The pastors of Zion have asked for seven specific prayers — from physical healing for the injured and pregnant to legal protection for Christian lawyers now targeted for helping them and financial support for families cut off from their livelihoods, Worthy News learned. They ask that believers around the world join in a “24-hour International Prayer Relay for Zion Church,” a chain of unceasing intercession until every pastor and believer is free.

In comments shared with Worthy News, detained Pastor Jin wrote that, “In such trials, our faith is refined, becoming pure as gold; our hope grows brighter, shining like the morning star. Now, amidst the persecution, I hope we will not lose the courage given to us by the Holy Spirit.”

He cited author C.S. Lewis as saying that courage “is the first virtue; without it, all other virtues cannot be maintained.”

“May this persecution, like the thorns that afflicted Paul, sharpen our courage and make our faith as solid as a rock. I believe that God is also testing us this time, like refining silver—painful but full of love. God will not abandon us.”

CALL FOR TRUMP TO ACT

Fu agrees. “President Trump has a unique and historic opportunity when he sits across from Xi Jinping in Seoul on October 30. He is the only Western leader who has ever commanded Beijing’s attention through direct moral and economic leverage. During his first term, the Trump administration made religious freedom a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy — launching the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom and declaring China’s actions against Uyghur Muslims a genocide,” Fu wrote in his open letter.

“As someone who escaped China after imprisonment for my faith, I know what it means to be voiceless behind bars and to hear that Christians around the world are praying. That knowledge gives courage to the soul and light to the darkest cell. I urge the global church: do not let this moment pass in silence,” Fu stressed.

He added, “Now is the time to extend that moral leadership again. When President Trump meets Xi, he should look him in the eye and say: ‘Release the pastors. Release the Christians. Release the prisoners of faith.’ He should make clear that a nation that jails its pastors and burns its churches cannot claim to be a responsible global power.”

The U.S. Congress has already spoken. Former Senator-turned-Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have led a bipartisan resolution in the Senate condemning the mass detentions of Zion Church leaders and calling for the release of all Christians imprisoned for their faith in China.

Besides Zion Church, several others have been targeted, Christians said. “Police raided Xuncheng Reformed Church during Sunday morning worship service. Several church co-workers and members were taken away. Eleven brothers and sisters have been placed under administrative detention for 15 days. The families of those detained have not yet received formal notification of their detention. The incident has had a profound impact on the congregation. The church is calling on Christians everywhere to pray,” ChinaAid said.

Those detained were named as “Pastor An Yankui, Sister Dong Wei, Brother Liu Baofu, Sister Song Xiaohong, Sister Wang Shufang, Brother Wang Yingjie, Sister Wang Ying, Sister Xu Cuili, Brother Zhang Chenghao, Brother Zhao Weikai, and Brother Zhang Fengbo.”

CHINA URGES CITIZENS TO REPORT CHRISTIANS

Amid “tightening religious regulation in China,” authorities in Shigunhe Town of Zhumadian City have issued a notice urging residents to actively report “privately established religious venues” and “illegal religious activities,” according to Christian rights investigators.

The local government reportedly called on citizens to collect and submit photos, videos, or audio recordings as evidence for reports. “Individuals providing information are typically offered a cash reward of 500 yuan (about $70). Such notices rarely receive media coverage. Christian house churches have continued to be subject to stricter control,” ChinaAid said.

Additionally, a house church in Shaoyang, Hunan Province, has recently come under “severe suppression,” ChinaAid told Worthy News. “The local government accused the church of ‘masquerading under the name of religion.’ Five brothers and sisters have been detained. Church members and families are under immense pressure. The legal clause of ‘masquerading under the name of religion’ has increasingly been used as a tool to suppress unregistered churches, characterizing ordinary religious activities as illegal.”

China ranks among the world’s worst nations for Christian persecution, according to Open Doors, a group monitoring the situation of believers worldwide.

Advocates warn that as Beijing tightens ideological control under Xi Jinping, the persecution of unregistered churches — including raids, imprisonment, and state surveillance — is expected to intensify unless sustained international pressure and prayer are maintained.

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