Leaders of a prominent underground church have been detained in south-west China, according to a church statement, the latest blow in what appears to be a sweeping crackdown on unregistered Christian groups in the country.

On Tuesday, Li Yingqiang, the leader of the Early Rain Covenant Church, was taken by police from his home in Deyang, a small city in Sichuan province, according to the statement. Li’s wife, Zhang Xinyue, has also been detained, along with two other church members: Dai Zhichao, a pastor; and Ye Fenghua, a lay member. At least a further four members were taken and later released, while some others remain out of contact.

The crackdown followed the arrest of 18 senior members of Zion Church, another prominent underground church, in a nationwide sweep in October. In December, there were also reports of approximately 100 members of another unofficial church in Zhejiang province being detained after protests against the demolition of a church, according to Human Rights Watch.

Yalkun Uluyol, the China researcher at the rights NGO, said: “The recent detention of Early Rain members appears to be part of the Chinese government’s blatant attack on house churches in China. As Beijing tightens its ideological control, unofficial churches are seen as ‘disobedient’ to the Communist party ideology and, therefore, pay a heavy price.”

One Early Rain member was summoned on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a catch-all offence used to target anyone the government considers to be a troublemaker. It is not clear whether the people who remain in detention have been formally charged. The public security bureaus in Deyang and Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital, declined to comment.

Early Rain members were not available to be interviewed, but in a statement the church called on members “to hold fast to the faith, to love one another, and to remain united amid persecution”.

The US Congress select committee on China said in a post on X that Early Rain was targeted because it refused” “to bow” to the Chinese Communist party (CCP).

Early Rain is one of China’s most well-known unofficial “house churches” – so-called because worshippers meet in private gatherings rather than in state-sanctioned venues. The church’s founder, Wang Yi, a prominent legal scholar and human rights activist, was jailed for nine years in 2019 for inciting subversion of state power.

Although the CCP promotes atheism, China’s constitution guarantees religious freedom and the government formally recognises five religions: Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Taoism and Buddhism.

But under the rule of President Xi Jinping, the space for religious freedom has been squeezed, with fears that any kind of religious activity outside of state-sanctioned venues is being snuffed out.

The last big crackdown on unofficial churches was in 2018. That year, Wang, was arrested along with about 100 other members of Early Rain. Zion’s physical premises in Beijing was forced to close down. The two churches moved to online sermons and continued to gather in small, private meetings.

Early Rain members have had to be “much more clandestine about their meetings and much more creative over the last seven years”,” said Corey Jackson, a former missionary in China and the founder of the Luke Alliance, a non-profit organisation that advocates for Chinese Christians. Jackson said pastors were warned by police last year that there would be no leeway for unlicensed churches in 2026.

In September, China introduced new rules banning unlicensed religious groups from holding online sermons. Xi chaired a meeting of senior CCP members during which he urged for the “sinicization of religions”. Christians have reported months of increasing pressure and interrogations from the authorities.

Ian Johnson, the author of The Souls of China: the Return of Religion After Mao, said: “The message is that the big organised churches will be completely crushed. Some of them, including Early Rain and Zion, had afterlives as online communities. That is now completely ending.”

Some experts believe China’s Christian community will continue to grow, despite the repression. About 3% of the country’s population identify as Christian, according to official estimates. But the true figure may be higher.

“It is impossible to eradicate house churches,” said Yang Fenggang, a professor at Purdue University in the US who studies the sociology of religion. “The most the authorities can do is to punish the few outspoken and most prominent churches’ leaders and break these large churches into smaller meeting groups.” Yang added that smaller groups were more effective at recruiting new members.

Last year, Li, who remained active after the Zion crackdown, was quoted in Women我们, a newsletter that covers sensitive issues in China, as saying: “Chinese civil society is almost barren today. The church, as an organic and vital component, is crucial in its continued activity, vitality, and growth amidst hardship.”

China’s Public Security Bureau did not respond to a request for comment.

Additional research by Lillian Yang and Jason Tzu Kuan Lu