A churchgoer takes photos of the clergy after Christmas Day mass at a Protestant church in downtown Shanghai on December 25, 2021.

Christianity in China remains under systematic pressure even after this week's release of Pastor Ezra Jin, a house church leader who spent more than 266 days in a Chinese prison for practicing his faith, according to a Washington-based nonpartisan policy institute.

Jin’s release came weeks after President Donald Trump raised his case with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The move was “a carefully calibrated political decision” rather than a change in Beijing’s underlying approach, according to Foundation for Defense of Democracies research analyst Mariam Wahba.

"China’s campaign against independent religious practice remains among the most systematic in the world," Wahba wrote in an analysis on Wednesday. "Protestant house churches continue to be shuttered, Catholic clergy loyal to the Vatican remain under surveillance or detention, and Sinicization — the state policy of forcing religion to conform to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ideology — presses ahead unchanged."

Jin was one of 30 church leaders arrested in October 2025, in one of China’s largest crackdowns on a single congregation in decades, the researcher noted, adding that eight remain in custody. China has 44 million registered Christians.

Registered believers belong to one of four official religious bodies overseen by the state. These are the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the China Christian Council for Protestants, and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China for Catholics.

Estimates that include underground house churches run as high as 160 million, Wahba notes.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has treated Christians as a source of concern since it took power in 1949 because of alleged links with Western powers, their involvement in 19th-century revolts, including the Taiping Rebellion, and the clash between their faith and the party’s atheism.

In 2004, China’s State Council passed the Regulations on Religious Affairs, which the analyst called the party’s "primary legal instrument" for governing faith and placing religious practice under state supervision. In 2018, Xi reversed the liberalizing momentum those regulations had created.

"Under Xi’s rule, the CCP has expanded efforts to ensure that all religious activity serves the interests of the state," she wrote.

At the core of the current policy is "sinicization," a policy that requires religious communities to conform to party ideology and national goals, which has resulted in state intervention in clergy appointments, religious education, places of worship and messaging.

For Protestants, the policy has brought demands that churches incorporate patriotic education and display symbols of state authority. For Catholics, Beijing has sought greater control over leadership and governance.

Tibetan Buddhists and Uyghur Muslims face similar oversight, overlaid with more overt political control, including genocide in the case of the Uighurs, the researcher noted.

Religious communities operating independently of state structures are treated as potential challenges to government authority.

The foundation believes that Beijing continues to meet the threshold for the State Department designation as a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act, which flags states responsible for severe violations of religious freedom for possible sanctions.

Registered churches in China fall under either the Three-Self Patriotic Movement for Protestants or the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association for Catholics, according to Open Doors, which monitors the persecution of Christians worldwide. Both are closely watched by the state, which controls what is preached and who is present, and people under 18 are barred from attending, according to the ministry.

Many congregations meet underground as house churches, a decision that can bring raids, fines, arrests, imprisonment and the confiscation of materials.

The 2018 revision of religion laws drives much of the pressure, alongside surveillance and rules governing internet use, Open Doors notes, adding that converts from Islam or Tibetan Buddhism can face threats and physical harm from their families and communities.

Little has changed for Chinese Christians in the past year, the ministry says, and the impact of laws restricting the involvement of children in church activities is increasingly coming to the fore.

The pressure was on view last month when CCP authorities detained two church leaders and dozens of members, including children, after raiding a Sunday service at an influential Protestant house church. Roughly 50 to 60 police and government personnel interrupted worship at Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC), in the southwestern city of Jiangyou.

Among those taken for questioning were Elder Yan Hong and Elder Wu Wuqing. The church said more than 30 members and leaders were forcibly taken away in several police vehicles.

Congregants who remained, including elderly people and children, were locked in the ballroom and subjected to identity checks. Those detained were released after refusing for hours to sign an affidavit whose contents were not disclosed to them.

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