This paper examines the governance of Protestantism, which has gone from discouragement then outright suppression, to acceptance and mild cooperation. From 2009 it progressed to tightened control and targeted persecution, especially of popular urban unregistered churches and including toppling hundreds of church crosses and razing some churches in Zhejiang. Governance has been hampered by the vagueness of regulations, their inconsistent application and seemingly capricious policy implementation. Protestantism’s rapid growth over the past forty years—some say it now outnumbers membership of the Chinese Communist Party—bodes ill for social stability.