Three leaders of an unregistered Christian house church in Xi’an, a city in central China, have been arrested by communist authorities and detained on fraud charges.
According to the Christian watchdog organization ChinaAid, Pastor Lian Xuliang, Pastor Lian Changnian, and church member Fu Juan were taken into custody last Sunday by the First Branch of the Xi’an Municipal Public Security Bureau.
The group reported that the Baqiao District Court approved the arrests, and the three Christians are now being held at the Weiyang District Detention Center.
This development marks the second time these individuals have faced similar charges. They were previously detained on Aug. 17, 2022, accused of fraud, and remained in custody for nearly three years before being released on bail in April 2025.
Pastor Lian Changnian, 71, had been hospitalized for declining health before authorities detained him again earlier this month.
“This case was tried on July 9, 2025, and no verdict has yet been issued,” the Church of Abundance said in a statement last week. “What is shocking is that while awaiting the verdict, the authorities took the three individuals away again and detained them.”
The Church of Abundance, also known as Fengsheng Church, was founded about 30 years ago but was officially banned in August 2022 by the Xi’an Civil Affairs Bureau, which labeled it an “illegal social organization,” according to ChinaAid. The church is among many unregistered Protestant congregations that have faced intensified government crackdowns following President Xi Jinping’s December 2021 directive calling for greater control over religious groups.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has reported that the 2022 arrests were part of a broader campaign targeting unregistered churches across China. In addition to the fraud charges, authorities also accused the three believers of “endangering national security.”
During six months of residential surveillance following their initial detention, Pastor Lian was allegedly tortured before being moved to a detention facility and formally charged with fraud in March 2023, according to USCIRF.
ChinaAid explained that many house churches sustain their ministry through voluntary tithes and offerings, a common practice that authorities have exploited to justify fraud accusations.
In 2022, local officials further accused the Church of Abundance of collecting “illegal donations” and labeled it a cult, Morning Star News reported.
Members of the congregation have also spoken of physical abuse by police. Pastor Lian’s wife told ChinaAid that her husband showed visible injuries after his arrest. “His eyes were bloodshot, and there was dried blood in the corner of his eyes,” she said. “His arms and hands were bruised and swollen.”
The Italian-based religious freedom watchdog Bitter Winter reported that the closure of the church was part of a broader national campaign aimed at forcing Protestant congregations to join the state-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
Last month, prominent underground pastor Jin Mingri—whose children are American citizens and who graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary in California—was also detained at his home in Beihai, Guangxi Province. Around the same time, nearly 30 other leaders and members of Zion Church were arrested or reported missing in multiple cities.
