Less than a year after Chinese authorities arrested dozens of leaders from one of the country’s largest underground churches, the pastor at the center of the crackdown is finally free.
Pastor Jin Mingri, who also goes by “Ezra,” founder of Zion Church in Beijing, has been released from prison and arrived in Los Angeles, according to religious freedom watchdog ChinaAid.
Jin was arrested last October alongside 30 other church leaders during what observers described as one of China’s largest crackdowns on a single congregation in decades. The arrests drew international attention after President Donald Trump said in May that he personally raised Jin’s case with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to Beijing.
“I think he’s giving very serious consideration to the pastor,” Trump told reporters after the meeting.
According to Jin’s family, his release came soon afterward. In a statement, they thanked the Trump administration “for their tremendous leadership,” saying they believe the outcome would not have happened without Xi’s direct intervention.
“We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations,” the family said.
Still, advocates say the story is far from over.
While celebrating Jin’s release, organizations including ChinaAid and Freedom House noted that many Zion Church leaders and members remain imprisoned or continue to face criminal charges. ChinaAid founder Bob Fu called on U.S. leaders to keep religious freedom “a top priority in every engagement with Beijing.”
Jin founded Zion Church in 2007 with around 20 people. Over the next decade, it grew into one of China’s largest independent Protestant churches, operating outside the government’s state-approved religious system. Chinese officials banned the church in 2018 as Beijing intensified its campaign to bring independent religious groups under tighter government control.
After authorities first shut down Zion Church, Jin moved his family to the United States for their safety. He later made the decision to return to China, knowing he could be arrested.
His daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, told a congressional committee last year that her father returned because he believed the Church in China was worth the risk.
“He could have stayed in the U.S. in 2018 and applied for asylum,” she said. “But he felt he had to go back and be with the church while it was suffering.”
