In China, a Protestant pastor and six Christians have disappeared after a police raid

In China, a Protestant pastor and six Christians have disappeared after a police raid

After a police raid in China, seven Protestants have disappeared. The authorities have not disclosed their whereabouts or the reasons for their detention.

On August 5, 2026, police in China detained a Protestant pastor and six other Christians. Since then, contact with them has been lost, and the authorities have not disclosed their whereabouts or the grounds for their detention, according to ChinaAid.

Among those detained are the pastor of an unregistered Protestant congregation, its financial officer, and five church ministers from Shanghai. All seven remain unreachable.

The congregation had previously refused to join the state-controlled religious structure and undergo official registration. Following this, the authorities shut down the church, but the believers continued to gather unofficially.

Human rights advocates consider the incident part of an intensifying crackdown on independent Christian communities in China. ChinaAid has called on the authorities to disclose the whereabouts of those detained and to grant them access to lawyers and family members.

The Union of Orthodox Journalists previously reported that Christians in Afghanistan are on the brink of genocide.