Authorities in China detained Protestant Pastor An Yankui at his home on suspicion of “organizing illegal religious activities” amid an ongoing crackdown on unregistered churches. Officers from the Taiyuan Public Security Bureau took An into custody Tuesday morning and presented a police record stating the allegation, the U.S.-based advocacy group International Christian Concern reports.
The record cited Article 96 of the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, which requires police to tell anyone they summon the reason and legal basis for the summons. An leads Taiyuan Xuncheng Reformed Church, an unregistered Protestant congregation. In 2020, the pastor was detained for 15 days and fined over the same allegation. Since then, police have held him several more times on various grounds, including an accusation that he gave false reasons for traveling abroad.
Authorities have raided the church repeatedly, including during a service in October 2025. Unregistered congregations, often called house churches, operate outside the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the government-approved Protestant body. On Sept. 16 in southern China, officials confiscated biblical materials from members of another unregistered house church, Guangfu Church in Guangzhou, and accused them of “promoting a cult,” according to the U.S.-based group ChinaAid.
Authorities warned one member called in for questioning that they would investigate the member’s children if the member did not cooperate. Police also forced the congregation out of its rented meeting place. Ezra Jin, a Chinese pastor recently released from detention, told the 2026 Global Religious Freedom Gathering at Dallas Baptist University that China still holds more than 150 church leaders and pastors. He credited advocacy and prayer for his release.
In an interview with The Christian Post at the Museum of the Bible, Jin said eight leaders of his Zion Church in Beijing remain in detention.