Chinese Police Raid Early Rain Covenant Church, Detain Elders and Members During Sunday Worship

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

(Worthy News) – Police and government officials raided a Sunday worship service of Early Rain Covenant Church in southwestern China, detaining elders, members, and children as Beijing continues its crackdown on unregistered Protestant congregations.

According to U.S.-based religious liberty group ChinaAid, about 50 to 60 officers and officials entered the gathering in Jiangyou on Sunday, June 14, taking into custody church elders Yan Hong and Wu Wuqing, along with at least four other members: Liu Yingxu, Nie Bo, Li Benli, and Ah-Xin. Authorities reportedly collected identification information from those attending before transporting believers by bus and police vehicles to local stations for questioning. The total number detained, their locations, and their legal status remained unclear.

Bitter Winter, which monitors religious liberty abuses, reported that some church members were injured during the raid.

Early Rain Covenant Church, one of China’s best-known unregistered house churches, has faced repeated police raids, surveillance, detentions, and pressure since the sweeping “129 Crackdown” in 2018. Its founding pastor, Wang Yi, was detained in December 2018 and sentenced in 2019 to nine years in prison on charges including “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operations.”

The latest raid follows renewed pressure on Early Rain earlier this year. Christianity Today reported in January that nine leaders and members of the church had been detained amid a broader campaign against independent Christian congregations in China.

In the 2026 World Watch List by Open Doors, China is ranked 17th out of 50 countries where Christians face the most severe persecution. Although China dropped two places from the previous year, Open Doors said hostility toward believers has increased marginally, with renewed pressure on house churches, tighter online religious restrictions, and continued enforcement of laws barring minors from church activities.

Open Doors estimates there are about 96.7 million Christians in China, representing roughly 6.7 percent of the country’s population. The group identifies the main sources of persecution as Communist and post-Communist oppression, along with dictatorial paranoia, as the ruling Chinese Communist Party continues to view independent Christian faith as a threat that must be tightly controlled.

Since the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, Christianity has seen remarkable growth. The number of Christians rose from roughly 4 million in the early Communist era to tens of millions by the early 21st century, including an estimated 58 million Protestants and 9 million Catholics by 2010.

Despite strict government controls, surveillance, church closures, arrests, and pressure on unregistered congregations, current estimates suggest there are between 80 million and 100 million Christians in China, including believers in both state-approved churches and unregistered house church communities. While some recent surveys suggest growth may have slowed or leveled off, China remains home to one of the largest Christian populations in the world — and one of the most closely monitored churches on earth.

Latest Worthy News