(Beijing – August 26, 2025) On Friday (August 22), Beijing police raided a house church Bible study gathering, forcing their activities to stop. Christians described the operation as part of the authorities’ crackdown on unofficial religious groups.
Police Interrupt Bible Study and Register Attendees
According to several Christians present at the site, the raid occurred at around 10 a.m. that morning, at the Beijing Sheng’ai Fellowship house church. Christians said that shortly after the meeting began, police officers entered the venue, demanded identification from all participants, and registered their information on site.
Confrontation Between Police and Church Members
The gathering was thus interrupted. An audio recording shows that a verbal confrontation occurred between police and church members. One member told the police, “You won’t earn merit for this,” to which an officer who identified himself by the last name Wang replied, “You’re giving me trouble. You’re really something.”
Beijing police have not yet issued a public statement on the incident.
Sheng’ai Fellowship’s History of Surveillance
Sheng’ai Fellowship, founded in 1989, is one of the most well-known house churches in China’s capital region. Because several of its church members have participated in rights defense activities, the church has long been under the watch of the authorities.
According to public information, multiple members of the church have previously been sentenced for involvement in religious or rights defense activities, including Xu Caihong (four years), He Bin (four and a half years), and church elder Hu Shigen (seven and a half years), who was released in March 2023.
Legal Grey Area for Unregistered Churches
Although China’s Constitution stipulates that citizens enjoy freedom of religious belief, unregistered religious groups often face surveillance and interference in practice. The government typically brings charges such as “disturbing social order” or “illegal business operations” to prosecute house church members to circumvent international criticism of religious persecution.
Rising International Concern Over Religious Crackdowns
This incident comes as observers of the outside world continue to pay attention to the Chinese government’s tightening surveillance of religious activities, particularly those of house churches without the approval of authorities.
Reported by Gao Zhensai, Special Correspondent for ChinaAid