China Detains Pastors From Large Unregistered Beijing Church
Chinese authorities detained several pastors and church workers from Beijing Jiaquan Church around September 21, according to ChinaAid, an advocacy group tracking the case. Jiaquan is an unregistered house church that has operated for more than twenty years and serves over 1,000 believers. Its leaders also run Noah Music School in Beijing, which has trained worship leaders and musicians for house churches across the country for more than a decade. ChinaAid says it remains unclear how many people were detained, where they are being held, or what charges they face, and that authorities have not released a confirmed list of those taken.
ChinaAid founder Bob Fu publicly called on Chinese authorities to identify everyone detained, disclose their location, explain the legal basis for holding them, and allow access to independent lawyers. The detentions came three days before a September 24 summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Trump, though ChinaAid said it has no evidence linking the two events. The case follows the continued detention of eighteen leaders of Beijing's Zion Church, held since a coordinated series of arrests in October 2025.
