Chinese authorities recently released Zion Church Pastor Ezra Jin, who had been detained in southern China for the past eight months. Jin arrived in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday and was welcomed by ChinaAid.
Authorities arrested Jin and 17 other leaders of Zion Church last fall, charging them with “illegally using information networks” — a charge likely stemming from the church’s use of the internet to tell others about Jesus.
“While we celebrate Pastor Jin’s freedom, our hearts remain with the countless pastors, including eight other jailed pastors, and coworkers 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,” said the Rev. Dr. Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid. “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 U.S.-China relations must include freedom for those imprisoned simply because they choose to believe.”
Chinese authorities forced the closure of Zion Church’s buildings in 2018 after the church refused to allow facial recognition cameras to be installed within its facility. At the time, Pastor Jin was also prohibited from exiting China. Despite the setback, the church continued its ministry, “reaching as many as 10,000 people a day,” according to the Associated Press. According to religious freedom watchdog CSW, Zion Church “is one of the largest unregistered churches in China.”
In recent years, China has instituted the practice of Sinicization of Religion, in which the state controls churches and requires them to allow the state to dictate what is said during sermons. Authorities of the communist regime often require churches to include pro-communist rhetoric in their sermons, leaving many churches with a difficult decision: allow Chinese authorities to control their sermons and activities or go “unregistered” and risk arrest for illegally worshipping Christ and following the Bible.
Jin’s wife and daughter live in the United States. While he was in prison, Jin’s family communicated with Jin through his attorneys. Jin’s wife, Anna Liu, stated that her husband has remained faithful to Christ while behind bars and has tried to encourage his family by sending messages through his lawyers.
“He told me that the Holy Spirit encourages him,” Liu told CBN in December 2025, “and he feels honored to join in the suffering of Jesus.”
