A leading Christian non-profit has warned that the official persecution of believers is intensifying in China after major raids and arrests of church leaders and congregants in recent months.
Last week, Open Doors International, a Christian missionary organisation, named China among the worst countries to be a Christian in its annual World Watch List.
China was ranked just below Afghanistan, India and Saudi Arabia.
"Our church struggles to find a safe venue without fear of being reported," said Judy Yang, a representative of an unregistered church who answered questions from the ABC under a pseudonym for fear of arrest.
"Along with the possible risk of being monitored … parents are also [forced] to exclude … children under 18 years old from attending any religious activities."
In early January, Chinese authorities raided the homes and offices of people associated with the Early Rain Covenant Church and arrested nine people.
One of those detained was "suspected of national security–related crimes", according to an update from the church to its members.
Citing lawyers for the detained Christians, US-based organisation China Aid said "in most cases the authorities have not presented formal legal documents to the families".
"The specific charges and detention locations remain unclear," it said.
The raids came after Chinese authorities arrested dozens of Zion Church network pastors and church leaders in October.
"What is being suppressed is not just one congregation or one group of people — it is the church in China as a whole, standing at a historic crossroads," a statement from Zion Church leaders said at the time.
The 2026 World Watch List report said members of unregistered churches were particularly vulnerable to "surveillance, harassment, imprisonment, abduction, and physical abuse".
"This targeting often achieves another stated aim of the authorities: intimidating entire congregations," it said.
Chinese Christians living in fear
Freedom of religious belief is ostensibly guaranteed by China's constitution, but the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is officially atheist and only recognises two Christian bodies.
Those are the heavily controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement for Protestants and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which operates independently of the Vatican.
"Any time there is global political churn … it does seem like there's increased focus on those registered churches," Australia's Open Doors leader, Adam Holland, said.
"But often the real crackdown shifts to house churches or underground churches.
"Generally, there's suspicion that Chinese Christians are connected to Christian communities around the world, and some indirect or direct criticism finds its way out like that."
Under President Xi Jinping, the government has sought to "Sinicise religion" and force faiths with their cultural centres outside China — such as Christianity and Islam — to adopt "Chinese characteristics".
University of Westminster Chinese studies professor Gerda Wielander said Mr Xi had "severely tightened control of all religions, reducing the previously available 'grey' spaces in which much religious activity was tolerated".
Since 2017, the Chinese government has also targeted ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslims under the guise of preventing terrorism.
The Chinese embassy in Australia did not respond to the ABC's request for comment.
Christian numbers likely comparable to CCP membership
US President Donald Trump has heavily criticised the alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria, launching air strikes against Islamic State–affiliated groups in north-west Nigeria last Christmas.
Some Christian groups in China had links to the American right wing, Professor Wielander said.
She said this could be motivating China's renewed crackdown as Mr Trump goes after countries friendly with China, such as Venezuela and Iran.
Grace Jin Drexel, the daughter of arrested Zion Church founder Jin Mingri, works for a US senator, CNN has reported.
Her husband, Bill Drexel, is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington-based think tank.
"[But] the vast majority of Chinese Christians do not have a political agenda — they just want to practice their faith and will look for ways to do so," Professor Wielander said.
"They are not just going to give it up in the face of repression.
"More severe repression is often a time when the number of believers grows, or the existing ones affirm their faith rather than drop it."
In 2018, the Chinese government reported that there were 6 million Catholics and 38 million Protestants in the country, although the numbers did not include congregants of unregistered churches.
Scholars generally accept that the number of Christians in China is about 90 million — roughly the same number of people who are members of the CCP — Professor Wielander said.
'Our church will not stop'
Mr Holland said there was scope for Australia to do more to pressure China, such as at the United Nations Human Rights Council and in bilateral negotiations.
The group hopes to meet with Foreign Minister Penny Wong to convey its concerns, including that Chinese Christians in Australia are also subject to surveillance by the Chinese state.
"There are concerns that church leaders have here in Australia because there is evidence of active monitoring," Mr Holland said.
Australia issued a joint statement at the UN with other Western nations in November 2025 to express concern over the plight of ethnic and religious minority groups such as Uyghurs, Christians and Tibetans in China.
These groups "faced targeted repression, including through separation of children from families in boarding schools, torture, and the destruction of cultural heritage", the statement said.
Ms Yang was not optimistic about the Chinese state relaxing its restrictions anytime soon, but she said, "God has faithfully preserved and led the church in China through severe persecution" throughout history.
"Our church will not stop doing what it ought to do as a church," she said.
