by Luke Booker, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Nine Chinese Christians have been sentenced to up to four years in prison and fined amounts up to a million yuan (more than $136,000), according to a religious liberty and human rights magazine.
The charges stem from 2021 arrests, when Christians bought legally published Bibles in Nanjing but were accused by the Chinese government of running a criminal evangelistic enterprise by purposely reselling them below cost, according to Bitter Winter.
The Christians were convicted of illegal business operations because, although the Bibles were legally published, they belonged to an unregistered house church that refused to join China’s government-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement, according to the International Christian Concern.
Earlier this year, the Chinese government boasted about its intensified crackdown on independent religious groups in 2024. “China’s public security authorities intensified efforts to dismantle cult organizations in 2024,” the state-run Global Times reported. “They have worked to curb the growth and spread of cult organizations, mitigating potential threats to national political security and maintaining social stability.”
In the 2025 World Watch List by Open Doors, China is ranked 15th out of 50 for severe Christian persecution, up four spots from the previous year. This rise is due to stricter regulatory enforcement, resulting in the shutdown of unregistered churches and heightened scrutiny of official ones. Open Doors estimates there are about 96.7 million Christians in China.
Since the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, Christianity has experienced significant growth, increasing from 4 million Christians to an estimated 58 million Protestants and 9 million Catholics by 2010.
Despite ongoing intense persecution and strict government controls, current estimates suggest that there are between 80 and 100 million Christians in China, including both officially registered members and those in unregistered house church communities.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
President Donald Trump scored another major victory in his effort to reshape the Republican Party Tuesday night as Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie lost his primary to Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein in the state’s 4th Congressional District.
Franklin Graham, the U.S. evangelist who leads the Christian humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse, has expressed concern about the plight of an American Christian doctor working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after he tested positive for the potentially deadly Ebola virus amid a growing outbreak there.
James Robison, the Texas-based televangelist who founded LIFE Outreach International, has died at the age of 82, ministry officials said. The cause of death was not immediately announced.
Several Christian groups held rallies in support of refugees in the Dutch town of Loosdrecht after protesters set off fireworks at a temporary asylum center there, frightening people inside the building.
Peter Magyar began a two-day visit to Poland on Tuesday, his first trip abroad since taking office, leaving behind a nation in political turmoil after his threat to oust the Hungarian president while reaching out to Brussels and Kyiv.
The U.S. Air Force launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California early Wednesday, saying the long-planned test was designed to verify the readiness of America’s land-based nuclear deterrent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing late Tuesday for high-level talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as Moscow and Beijing prepare to advance a joint statement promoting what they call a “multipolar” world order.