Boli Zhang Calls on Believers to Pray for Detained Pastors: Beijing Jiaquan Church's Zhou Zixun Formally Arrested, Seven Coworkers Released on Bail
According to a video posted on October 30 on his YouTube channel program "Boli Zhang's Talks," U.S.-based pastor Boli Zhang discussed the arrest of Beijing Jiaquan Church pastor Zhou Zixun and publicly called on believers to pray for Zhou and other detained pastors. According to information published by ChinaAid and other organizations, Zhou Zixun (legal name Cui Xianfeng), senior pastor of the Beijing house church Jiaquan Church, was formally arrested on the evening of October 23, 2026, on suspicion of "fraud," and is being held at the Shijingshan District Detention Center in Beijing; seven church coworkers detained in the same case were released on bail the same evening.
According to public information from the organizing churches, Zhang is the founder of Harvest Chinese Christian Church and one of the initiators of the "Monthly 9th Fasting Prayer for Persecuted Churches in China," a prayer meeting jointly launched by Zion Church, Harvest Chinese Christian Church, Early Rain Covenant Church, North American Baptist Friendship Church and other churches and organizations, which meets on the 9th of each month to fast and pray for Chinese house churches under persecution, detained pastors and coworkers, and their families.
According to a September 29 report by ChinaAid, at about 5:50 p.m. on September 4, roughly 50 members of Jiaquan Church were preparing a hotel conference room in Beijing for the church's 20th anniversary celebration the following day when more than 100 police officers, including plainclothes personnel, surrounded the venue. Those present were required to register their identification numbers, home addresses and telephone numbers; most were then allowed to go home, while seven church coworkers were taken away on the spot.
At the same time, Zhou, who was out visiting members, was called to a police station and then detained. According to ChinaAid, two of the coworkers initially taken away were released several days later, while two other church leaders were detained, leaving Zhou and seven coworkers — eight people in total — in criminal detention on suspicion of fraud.
In a public prayer letter published in late September, Zhou's wife, Cui Jinyoung, a South Korean Christian who also uses the English name Rebecca, said the allegations were connected to the church's unregistered status and official scrutiny of church offerings. She said some of the detained coworkers have chronic medical conditions and were taken away without their medication. ChinaAid reported that no official detention notice or the factual basis for the allegation had been made public at that time.
According to an October 29 report by the Rights Defense Network and an interview Cui gave to Radio Free Asia in South Korea the same day, Zhou was formally arrested on the evening of October 23, still on suspicion of fraud; the family had not yet received the arrest notice, which she said had to be mailed to the pastor's hometown and was likely still in transit. She said the seven released coworkers reported that questioning had focused mainly on finances — how much they had given in offerings and whether they knew how the money was used — and that many congregants told police their offerings were voluntary and the use of funds transparent, generally covering the venue and meals after services.
Cui said she has not seen her husband or spoken with him by phone since September 4 and that the couple has communicated only through lawyers; according to a lawyer, Zhou's condition is currently fair. She said all eight detainees have retained lawyers, that the lawyers have met with them at least two or three times, and that the defense team will plead not guilty on their behalf.
In a public statement issued on October 27, Cui said Jiaquan Church would continue on the path of an independent house church; that the church follows biblical teaching and historical tradition, has no political demands and is not hostile to secular authority, and hopes only to bear witness to its faith in society. She also called for attention and prayer. According to the statement, Zhou sent word from the detention center encouraging church members to "hold fast to faith; hope does not die."
Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, said publicly in connection with the case that he was concerned that more than 100 police officers were deployed as the church prepared to celebrate its 20th anniversary. He said he was especially concerned by the use of the criminal charge of "fraud" in connection with church offerings, saying similar economic-crime accusations have increasingly been brought against house church pastors and coworkers in recent years in connection with ordinary ministry, church offerings and other church activities. He called on authorities to reveal where the eight detainees were being held and to allow them access to family members, legal counsel and proper medical care.
According to ChinaAid, Jiaquan Church was founded in Beijing in 2006 by Zhou and Cui. The couple returned to Beijing at the end of 2005 after studying at a seminary in the United States. ChinaAid cited people familiar with the church describing Jiaquan as an urban house-church network with congregations and gathering points in several places, serving more than 1,000 believers, with ministries including discipleship and Christian music training. Cui holds South Korean citizenship; according to ChinaAid, her application to renew her Chinese visa was denied without explanation in 2023, she was later blacklisted and has been unable to enter China, and she is currently outside the country.
Public reporting shows several other recent cases involving detained house church members. According to ChinaAid, 18 members of Beijing Zion Church were formally arrested following coordinated operations in October 2025; its founding pastor, Ezra Jin, was released this July, while eight leaders remain detained in Beihai, Guangxi. On September 16–17 this year, a gathering site of an underground church in Jinzhai County, Anhui Province, was raided on two consecutive days, and two women preachers were taken to a police station for questioning. On October 27, ChinaAid reported that police in Jiangxi had taken 27 Christians away in raids, with two house church leaders remaining in criminal detention.
As of publication, no public notice on the Jiaquan Church case had been issued by Chinese authorities, and further developments await updates from public sources.
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Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 信徒双手合十、按在圣经上祷告（资料图，与本案现场无关）。照片：James Chan 摄，CC0，经维基共享资源。 / File photo: Clasped hands resting on a Bible in prayer (stock image, not from the scene). Photo by James Chan, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
