China underground church pastor reunites with family after 266 days imprisoned

Ezra Jin Mingri reunited with his wife and daughter in Los Angeles after 266 days in Chinese custody, ending a detention that has become a new flashpoint in the fight over religious freedom in China and the limits of U.S. pressure on Beijing.

Jin, the founder and senior pastor of Beijing Zion Church, one of China’s largest unregistered Protestant house churches, was arrested on October 10, 2025, and later formally arrested on November 18 on charges reported as illegally using information networks. He had been held in Beihai, in Guangxi Province, far from the capital where his church built a following among Christians who worship outside the state-approved system.

His case has also drawn attention because of the wider crackdown that followed. Christian Solidarity Worldwide said Jin was among 28 Zion Church leaders detained in raids across 11 cities that began on October 10, 2025. Nine of those detainees were later released on bail on June 18, 2026, but Jin remained in prison until his own release.

The timing of the release tied the case directly to Washington’s confrontation with Beijing. Donald Trump said he raised Jin’s case with Xi Jinping during his May visit to Beijing, and Chinese officials later presented the release as a goodwill gesture linked to those talks and to America’s Independence Day. For advocates, that framing underscored how a pastor’s imprisonment had become part of a larger diplomatic bargain over human rights.

Jin arrived in Los Angeles on July 3 and was reunited with Anna Liu, his wife, and Grace Jin Drexel, his daughter. Reporting also said he met his grandson for the first time after leaving prison. His family said his release was a miracle and thanked Trump, while a statement shared with AFP called the reunion a “tremendous miracle.”

Rights groups moved quickly to use the moment to press their broader demands. ChinaAid said Jin arrived safely in Los Angeles, Freedom House called for the release of other detained Zion Church members and all political prisoners, and Christian Solidarity Worldwide renewed its call for Beijing to end its campaign against underground churches. Jin’s return has given China’s unregistered Christians a rare public victory, but it has also sharpened the question of how far Washington is prepared to go in defending religious dissent in China.