Chinese authorities arrested 18 leaders of Zion Church in the Guangxi Province as the communist nation continues a pressure campaign against Christians.
The leaders of the unregistered Protestant house church were accused of “illegally using information networks,” according to a Thursday release from Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
Ezra Jin Mingri, the senior pastor of Zion Church, was among those detained.
The leaders can now be “held in pre-trial detention indefinitely” as they await prison sentences of as many as three years.
The move from the Chinese government marked the “largest crackdown of this nature on a single church since the Cultural Revolution,” according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
The group said in a statement that the 18 leaders from Zion Church were “targeted solely for the peaceful exercise of their religious beliefs.”
“We call on the Chinese Communist Party to release these individuals immediately and without condition, and to cease its harassment of churches and religious groups that choose not to register with the CCP in order to practise their religion or belief without undue interference and surveillance,” the group continued.
Zion Church is one of the largest unregistered churches in the nation and has over 5,000 members.
The Christian Post reported that the arrests are merely the latest part of a broader crackdown against Christianity in China.
There were 70 more Christians detained in September, with some arrested in the middle of worship services.
A local partner with Open Doors told the outlet that their “church has come to a standstill” amid the crackdown.
“More than 80 groups within the house church movement have ceased meeting. Of the original 14 churches, only a few remain,” the unnamed partner said.
The house church leaders face charges of fraud, organizing unlawful meetings, and running illegal businesses.
Some church members that collect offerings have even been accused by the government of financial misdeeds, despite no such claims from the churches or their members, according to The Christian Post.
Open Doors says on their website that “unregistered churches, even those once tolerated, are considered illegal and increasingly put under pressure.”
The churches that register with the Chinese government “come under strong ideological pressure, and smaller congregations are often forced to merge to make a larger church that is easier for the state to control.”
China bans children under 18 years old from attending services.
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