The Chinese crackdown on religion continues.

When Chinese authorities demanded that Beijing’s Zion Church allow the government to install video cameras, the church’s leadership said “no,” because, as pastor Jin Ezra Mingri said, “Our services are a sacred time.”

So the government shut down the capital city’s largest house church and confiscated its religious materials.

As reported in Christianity Today, Zion church leaders now plan to hold services outdoors, since its worship hall is unavailable. Where all of this leads is anyone’s guess, given the communist government’s renewed crackdown on Christianity and anything it considers “foreign religions.”

And if anyone doubts how serious this government is, they only need to read reports about China’s “re-education facilities” for Muslims in Western China. Perhaps a million of whom are being detained in what most people would call concentration camps.

Nonetheless, Pastor Jin says, “Churches will continue to develop. Blocking the sites will only intensify conflicts.”

For more on faith and culture, and to find a link to the CT article on Beijing’s Zion Church, visit BreakPoint.org.