Jailed Chinese Christian Pastor Released, Family Says

The head pastor of the Zion church in Beijing Jin Mingri poses for picures in the congregation hall of the unofficial Protestant “house” church in Beijing on Aug. 28, 2018. Thomas Peter/ReutersJailed Christian leader Ezra Jin, also known as Jin Mingri, has been released from custody in China, his daughter confirmed in a statement to The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD on July 4.Jin is the founder and pastor of Zion Church, an underground Christian church operating in China. Chinese authorities detained Jin and several other fellow pastors and congregants in October 2025 in what human rights groups described as an escalating clampdown on religious freedom.“Thank you so much for everyone’s support and prayers since the beginning. We truly witnessed a miracle and we are feeling so overwhelmed with joy. We thank God for this tremendous miracle,” Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, wrote in a text message.President Donald Trump advocated for Jin’s release when he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in May, and said Xi was “giving very serious consideration” following their discussion.“We also thank President Trump and his administration for their tremendous leadership,” Jin Drexel’s text said. “We know that this could not have happened without the direct intervention from Chairman Xi Jinping.”The White House did not respond to a request for comment before publication time.Jin, a Chinese citizen, had lived with his family in the United States until he felt compelled to start Zion Church in 2007.In the years that followed, Jin’s Christian ministry increasingly ran afoul of the strictures imposed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Authorities officially banned Zion Church in 2018 and imposed an exit ban on Jin, preventing him from being with his family in the United States.The October 2025 arrests of Jin and his fellow pastors and congregants played out across multiple municipalities and provinces. Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid, said the detainees were charged with “illegally using information networks” in their ministry—a charge carrying a prison sentence of up to three years.“We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations,” Jin Drexel wrote. “As this tremendous development all happened so quickly, we ask for your prayers and patience with us as we navigate this critical time.”Lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate passed resolutions ahead of Trump’s visit with Xi in May, urging the president to also press the Chinese leader for the release of Pastor Gao Quanfu and his wife, Pang Yu; media mogul and CCP critic Jimmy Lai; and retired Uyghur medical doctor Gulshan Abbas.Trump indicated he raised Lai’s case with Xi, but said his was “a tougher one” to resolve.Lily Zhou, Dorothy Li, Catherine Yang, and Eva Fu contributed to this article.