Chinese authorities have detained half a dozen members of an underground Protestant church based in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Human Rights Watch says.
This is the latest in a string of arrests of members of prominent unofficial “house churches” in China in the past year.
The Early Rain Covenant Church, which is understood to be Calvinist, Reformed and Presbyterian, posted on social media that on 6 January 2026, police raided the home of its current leader, Li Yingqiang, in Deyang and took him away. It said that other key church members were similarly taken into custody.
