Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri (57) has been released from detention after diplomatic talks and arrived in Los Angeles on 4 July, the 250th anniversary of the United States’ Declaration of Independence.
The founder of Beijing-based Zion Church, one of China’s largest and most influential unregistered churches, Pastor Jin had spent nine months in detention and was released following what China Aid described as “high-level diplomatic engagement between the United States and China”. He arrived in Los Angeles in the early hours of 4 July and was reunited with his family after eight years of separation.
His release reportedly came about following a May summit between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping, during which President Trump raised Pastor Jin’s case – Chinese officials reportedly described it as a humanitarian gesture expected to positively influence bilateral relations. China Aid commented, “The timing of his departure, just ahead of the United States’ 250th Independence Day celebration, was viewed by those familiar with the negotiations as a significant diplomatic gesture by Beijing.”
When Chinese officials removed Pastor Jin from Beihai Detention Centre in Guangxi on 3 July he initially thought he was being transferred to another facility and was only informed that he would be travelling to the US at the airport, where officials gave him a new passport. His wife Anna Chunli Liu said she received confirmation from US officials on the morning of 3 July. She wrote on X, “It wasn’t until yesterday morning – July 3rd – when I finally received the definitive news that ‘Pastor Jin has boarded the plane to Los Angeles’ that my heart truly settled. Before that, I didn’t even dare believe that such a miracle had really become reality.”
Family members said Pastor Jin lost approximately 15 kilograms during his detention and appears noticeably thinner, but remains in good spirits.
His release followed months of advocacy by family members and religious freedom advocates, with his daughter Grace Jin Drexel helping to lead the campaign in the US while pregnant with her first child. She testified before Congress, participated in media interviews and met politicians to seek support for her father’s release.
Anna Chunli Liu praised her daughter’s work and thanked President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and 44 members of both houses of Congress who signed a joint letter appealing for Pastor Jin’s release. She also thanked President Xi and commended her husband’s “courageous lawyers”, stating: “In an atmosphere where many fled at the first sign of trouble and fear permeated the surroundings, they steadfastly fulfilled their duties.”
Eight Zion leaders remain in detention
While Pastor Jin is free, however, eight Zion Church leaders and co-workers (seven of whom are pictured) remain in Beihai Detention Centre. Pastors Yin Huibin, Gao Yingjia, Wang Lin, Liu Zhenbin, Lin Shucheng and Wang Cong, Preacher Wu Qiuyu and Elder Wang Zhong were part of a group of eighteen pastors and church workers detained in a crackdown on Zion Church in October 2025 – nine were released on bail on 18 June.
Rev Dr Bob Fu, Founder and President of China Aid, commented: “While we celebrate Pastor Jin’s freedom, our hearts remain with the countless pastors including eight other jailed pastors and co-workers from Zion Church, priests, bishops, house church Christians, Uyghur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, and other prisoners of conscience who remain unjustly imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party. We respectfully call on President Trump and his Administration to continue making religious freedom and the release of all prisoners of faith a top priority in every engagement with Beijing. True progress in US-China relations must include freedom for those imprisoned simply because they choose to believe. Freedom for Pastor Jin is a tremendous victory. But our work is not finished until every prisoner of faith is free.”
Zion Church commented in a newsletter posted on X on 6 July, “There are many other Chinese churches and Christians who continue to suffer persecution for righteousness and remain in bonds for their faith. Most of them do not receive the widespread attention that the Zion case has garnered; yet the Lord has not forgotten them. May we, too, not forget them, but continue to intercede and speak out for them.”
Background
Pastor Jin Mingri, who chooses to be called Ezra, is a graduate of Peking University and later earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in California. He founded Beijing Zion Church in 2007 and under his leadership it grew into one of China’s largest and most influential house-church networks, with five thousand members meeting in over forty cities and an estimated ten thousand attending online.
The church refused to register and in 2018 Chinese authorities closed down its Beijing worship facility after it refused government demands to install surveillance equipment inside its sanctuary. Pastor Jin was placed under an exit ban and could not visit his wife and daughter, who live in the US. Church members continued to meet in smaller gatherings and online.
On 9 October 2025 authorities launched a series of coordinated raids on churches in eleven cities across the network and detained eighteen pastors and church workers, transferring them to detention centres in Beihai, a coastal city in southern China’s Guangxi region. On 18 November they were charged with “illegally using information networks” and placed under official arrest.
On 18 June nine leaders and co-workers were released on bail pending trial and the cases of the remaining nine were transferred to the procuratorate, with charges against them reportedly changed to the more serious “illegal business operations” and “fraud” (common charges against leaders of unregistered churches) based on church offerings and tuition fees collected for seminary training.
Zion Church noted on X, “Since the Zion case was transferred to the procuratorate on June 18, 2026, entering the stage of review for prosecution, the lawyers for these eight individuals have applied to review the case files in accordance with the law, yet they have faced obstruction in the vast majority of instances. Therefore, please pray earnestly that our legal team may be fully granted permission to review the files as the law requires.”
(China Aid, Anna Chunli Liu via X, Zion Church via X)
Photo credits: Zion Church (Jin Mingri), Zion Church/China Aid (photo collage)