— More Than 19,000 CAG Christians Arrested and Persecuted in 2025

On February 13, 2026, The Church of Almighty God (CAG) officially released its Annual Report Exposing the CCP’s Persecution of The Church of Almighty God (2025) (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”). The Report publicly discloses statistical data and detailed information on the arrests and persecution of CAG Christians in mainland China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2025.

2025 was the second year of the CCP’s “Three-Year Tough Battle” (January 2024–December 2026) to suppress and persecute The Church of Almighty God. Attempting to completely “zero out” and eradicate CAG Christians, the CCP continuously launched a nationwide “people’s war” of searches, reports, and arrests, with persecution escalating throughout the year. According to statistics in the Report, in 2025 at least 55,640 CAG Christians suffered direct persecution by the CCP for engaging in normal religious activities. Among them, at least 36,458 were subjected to intimidation, threats, summonses, home raids, forced collection of biometric information, and coercion to sign the “Three Statements” renouncing their faith, as well as restrictions on travel and deprivation of employment and rights to social security and other benefits; at least 19,191 were arrested, of whom 8,996 suffered various forms of torture or violent brainwashing; at least 2,291 were sentenced; and at least 23 were persecuted to death. In addition, church funds and Christians’ personal assets illegally plundered and seized by the CCP totaled at least 330 million RMB (approx. USD 47 million).

Number of Arrests and Persecution Reaches Highest Since Annual Reporting Began in 2017

The Report selects more than 80 cases of the CCP’s arrests of CAG Christians nationwide in 2025, organized by month, exposing the fact that the CCP’s evil acts of arresting and persecuting CAG Christians have never ceased. From the beginning of the year to the end, arrests occurred nearly every day, month after month, characterized by large-scale operations, high frequency, and a broad scope of impact. According to incomplete statistics, at least 19,191 CAG Christians were arrested and persecuted throughout the year, marking the highest annual figure since annual reporting began in 2017.

Figure 1: Number of CAG Christians Arrested, 2017–2025

Figure 2: Number of CAG Christians Arrested, January–December 2025

The Report indicates that Shandong, Anhui, and Jiangsu were the three provinces most severely affected by persecution in 2025. According to incomplete statistics, the total number of arrests in these three provinces was at least 10,850, accounting for 56.5% of the national total of 19,191. In Shandong Province alone, at least 4,201 CAG Christians were arrested, an increase of 1,753 compared with 2,448 in 2024, representing a year-on-year rise of approximately 72%, with an average of more than 350 arrests per month; among them, 5 CAG Christians were persecuted to death.

Torture and Violent Brainwashing Continue to Intensify

The Report also discloses that the CCP systematically subjects arrested and imprisoned CAG Christians to torture and violent brainwashing. It not only uses torture to extract church information, but also carries out forced ideological transformation, coercing CAG Christians to sign the “Three Statements” (Statement of Guarantee, Statement of Repentance, and Statement of Severance) or the “Five Statements” (adding the Statement of Confession and Statement of Denunciation to the existing “Three Statements”) to renounce their faith. If CAG Christians refuse to sign the “Three Statements” or the “Five Statements,” the CCP employs a series of torture or violent “transformation” methods, such as prolonged forced standing, forced squatting, tiger bench, starvation, water torture, reverse back-handcuffing, suspension handcuffing, smoke suffocation, scalding with boiling water, the “bar-through-limbs suspension” torture, beatings, electric shocks, sleep deprivation (exhausting the eagle), and sexual abuse, causing severe physical and psychological harm, with some even tortured to disability or death. Even those who are released continue to face strict long-term surveillance. Police regularly call or visit to harass and intimidate them, continuing to coerce them to sign the “Three Statements.” Once CAG Christians are found to persist in their faith, they are re-arrested. According to incomplete statistics, in 2025 at least 1,644 CAG Christians were subjected to torture, at least 7,352 to violent brainwashing, and at least 23 were persecuted to death.

Number of Sentenced CAG Christians Reaches a Recent High; Sentencing Most Severe in Shandong, Guangdong, and Jiangsu

According to statistics in the Report, at least 2,291 CAG Christians were sentenced in 2025. Merely for normal faith activities or possessing faith-related materials, they were illegally charged by the CCP with “using a cult organization to undermine the implementation of the law” and subjected to sentencing and imprisonment. Among them, 973 were sentenced to three years or more, and 110 to seven years or more; the youngest was 21 years old, the longest sentence was ten years and six months, and the highest fine reached 100,000 RMB (approx. USD 14,000). Specifically, at least 683 CAG Christians were sentenced in Shandong, 257 in Guangdong, and 222 in Jiangsu. The total number of sentenced CAG Christians in these three provinces was 1,162, accounting for approximately 50.7% of the total number sentenced in 2025.

Figure 3: Shares of National CAG Christian Arrests in Shandong, Anhui, and Jiangsu Provinces

Elderly CAG Christians Suffer Large-Scale Arrests and Persecution; Oldest Aged 93

The Report specifically points out that to completely “zero out” and eradicate CAG Christians, the CCP adopted various measures, including directly linking quotas for searching and arresting CAG Christians to the performance-based salary assessments of grassroots personnel, while implementing a reward-based reporting mechanism. Driven by high rewards and incentives, members of the public, grassroots personnel, and police widely participated, further intensifying a “people’s war” of investigation and arrest targeting CAG Christians. Regardless of age, frailty, illness, or disability, anyone who believes in Almighty God is a target of the CCP’s “zero-out” eradication campaign. Against this backdrop, elderly CAG Christians nationwide were subjected to large-scale arrests and persecution. In 10 provinces and municipalities—Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Zhejiang, Chongqing, Shaanxi, Hunan, Sichuan, and Guangdong—at least 6,952 CAG Christians over 60 were arrested and persecuted, accounting for 42.6% of the total arrests in these 10 provinces and municipalities (16,337) and 36.2% of the nationwide total arrests (19,191).

The Report shows that the arrest of CAG Christians aged over 60 has become routine, with the oldest reaching 93. Elderly CAG Christians in their 70s and 80s were sentenced to imprisonment even while suffering from serious illnesses. The Report selects multiple representative cases of elderly CAG Christians who were subjected to torture, violent brainwashing, and abuse during detention.

In addition, the Report selects representative typical cases of CAG Christians who were arrested and persecuted after applying for passports or completing exit procedures, exposing the CCP’s strict control over CAG Christians’ departure from China and its attempt to keep them firmly under its grip to persecute them at will.

Since taking power, the CCP has relentlessly suppressed and persecuted Christians, never once relenting—and the repression has only intensified over time. The Report was compiled from nearly 60,000 authentic cases and materials documenting the persecution of CAG Christians by the CCP, serving as important evidence of the CCP’s persecution of religious belief. The CCP’s brutal suppression of The Church of Almighty God is not an isolated case. Rather, it is a typical example of its long-standing, systematic persecution of religious belief and a concentrated manifestation of its grave violations of fundamental human rights and crimes against humanity. The Report calls on the international community and governments worldwide to continue paying attention to the state of religious freedom in China, to the severe human rights crisis faced by The Church of Almighty God, and to provide protection and assistance to persecuted Christians.