Christians in China are committed to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the country. As the Good News spreads via underground house churches, many pastors and leaders are coming under attack. Recently, a group of pastors was jailed for expressing their faith in Jesus Christ.
This crackdown includes Pastor Ezra Jin, leader of Zion Church, who was arrested in October. Here in America, Jin’s wife and daughter are seeking help from the United States to secure his release and that of other Christians.
Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri founded the Zion Church network, one of China’s largest independent Protestant house churches. Its remarkable growth caught the attention of the Chinese Communist Party, leading to a crackdown on the church and Pastor Ezra Jin’s arrest.
Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, describes how her father was detained. “Thirty different police officers, many of them in plain clothes, came rushing into the house. They handcuffed my dad and dragged him out,” she says.
“I am sometimes indeed fearful—after all, I know that I am seeking to expose and hold to account the second most powerful country in the world. Yet as a Christian, I believe that we are asked to take courage and speak the truth, and that the God who created Heaven and Earth will… pic.twitter.com/l8xXrrGtGe
— China Commission (@CECCgov) November 20, 2025
For Jin’s wife, Anna Liu, the arrest is disheartening. “It’s still hard because, you know, China opened the door for Western society and then grew their economy. So I thought we weren’t going to be put in jail because of our Christianity or our faith.”
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Jin and 17 other pastors are charged with illegally using information networks, which could lead to three years in prison.
Drexel says the CCP enacted a new law to target the pastors. “It’s a very new charge, or it’s actually new—they recently rewrote some of the regulations. But basically, they’re pointing to my father’s sermons and worship online on Zoom. They are calling that illegal.”
Jin’s wife and daughter, who live in America, are reaching out to the Trump Administration, Congress, and churches. They hope to persuade China’s government to release Jin and other pastors from prison. During this Christmas season, they have launched a Christmas card campaign for people to send cards to the pastors being detained in China.
Jin founded Zion Church in 2007. It eventually grew to a congregation of more than a thousand members. In 2018, the government banned the church, which led Jin to help create an underground house church. Zion Church then grew to 10,000 members.
“I think we still need to have faith in God, even though I don’t know what God’s plan is in this moment. But I know that His plan for China and for that land is good, so I would ask for more prayer for 1.4 billion Chinese to have a chance to hear the Gospel,” says Liu.
The U.S. Senate recently passed a resolution condemning the arrests of Jin and other church leaders. The Trump Administration is also addressing the matter through the State Department. Anna and Grace hope President Trump will raise the religious liberty issue with China’s President Xi.
The family has been unable to speak directly to Pastor Jin. They have received messages only through his attorneys in China. Liu explains that each time the lawyers meet with her husband, he sends them an encouraging message. “He told me that the Holy Spirit encourages him, and he feels honored to join in the suffering of Jesus,” she says.
At this time, it remains unclear what influence the Trump Administration or Congress might have in obtaining the release of the Christian pastors from prison. Pastor Jin’s family is relying on their faith, trusting Jesus’ words in Luke 18:27—that what is impossible for man is possible with God.
