China Charges Beijing House Church Pastor With Fraud Over Offerings, Reports Say

A Beijing house church pastor has been charged with fraud in a case his family links to his refusal to register the congregation with a government-sanctioned church body, according to reports published this week. Pastor Xianfeng Edward Cui, 57, who founded Beijing Jiaquan Church in 2006, was formally charged on October 23, with the case centering on the collection of offerings from church members.

Cui was detained on September 4 when police officers raided the congregation, his wife Jin Young Gu told the Associated Press from outside China. She said the operation was connected to the offerings made by church members. Under Chinese law, fraud charges can carry custodial sentences.

According to the account, Cui had declined to register his church with the Three Self Patriotic Movement, a state-recognised Protestant body overseen by the United Front Work Department. His wife said authorities had earlier restricted the congregation's activities, including preventing it from using its worship space in 2019 on the grounds that it was too large, after which members met in smaller groups at various locations. In 2023, she said, he was told he could lead only one church with fewer than 100 people.

The case follows the detention of Pastor Ezra Jin and eight other leaders of the Zion megachurch, who were arrested after reportedly refusing the installation of government surveillance cameras and for preaching online. Jin was later released and left China, while the other eight remain detained on fraud charges. Grace Jin, Pastor Jin's daughter, said in comments cited in the report that charging a pastor over his congregation's offerings effectively criminalises tithing.

China's religious policy framework, often described officially as the "sinicization" of religion, requires religious groups to align with national laws and socialist values. Authorities say the rules apply equally to all faiths and are intended to maintain social order. The reported detention of Cui has drawn attention from international religious-freedom monitors, who argue that registration requirements give officials broad control over unregistered congregations.

The reports could not be independently verified. Chinese officials have not commented publicly on the specifics of Cui's case. The episode adds to a longer-running debate over the treatment of house churches in China, where Protestant congregations that meet outside the state-approved framework have faced increased scrutiny in recent years.