Protestant pastor and six Christians disappear after police raid in China

Protestant pastor preaching in China. Photo: ChinaAid

On August 5, 2026, police in China detained a Protestant pastor and six other Christians. Contact with them was subsequently lost, while authorities have not disclosed their whereabouts or the reasons for their detention, ChinaAid reports.

Those detained include the pastor of an unregistered Protestant congregation, its financial officer, and five church workers from Shanghai. All seven remain unreachable.

The congregation had previously refused to join a state-controlled religious body and undergo official registration. Authorities subsequently shut down the church, but believers continued to gather unofficially.

Human rights advocates view the incident as part of growing pressure on independent Christian communities in China. ChinaAid called on the authorities to disclose the detainees’ whereabouts and grant them access to lawyers and family members.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Christians in Afghanistan were facing the threat of genocide.

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