China Frees ‘Underground’ Christian Pastor After Trump’s Intervention
Pastor Ezra Jin “arrived safely in Los Angeles on July 4, 2026, after being released directly from detention in China.”
China’s Communist regime has released a prominent underground church pastor weeks after President Donald Trump raised his plight during the recent visit to Beijing.
Ezra Jin, who led one of China’s biggest underground churches, was released after nine months of detention. In October, Chinese authorities cracked down on his church, arresting him along with dozens of other church leaders. The Wall Street Journal described Pastor Jin as the leader of “one of China’s most influential underground churches,” and added that his release is “a surprise gesture of goodwill” from Beijing towards President Trump.
The 57-year-old pastor “arrived safely in Los Angeles on July 4, 2026, after being released directly from detention in China,” Christian human rights group ChinaAid confirmed in a statement.
The release could only have been secured through high-level diplomacy between the U.S. and China, news reports say. “According to information received (…) from trusted sources, Pastor Jin was released from detention and transported to the United States in an extraordinary diplomatic arrangement,” ChinaAid said. “Chinese officials reportedly informed him that his release resulted from discussions between U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and was presented as a goodwill gesture coinciding with America’s Independence Day.”
We are overjoyed that Pastor Ezra Jin has been released from prison!
We send our best wishes to him and his family, and sincerely thank the diplomats and others who worked so hard behind the scenes to make the impossible happen. 😭 pic.twitter.com/KcZPP3IpiC
— Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) (@ipacglobal) July 4, 2026
The BBC reported Sunday:
Underground church leader Jin Mingri has been released from prison in China and has travelled to the US, less than two months after his incarceration was raised directly by Donald Trump.
The pastor and founder of the Zion Church had been imprisoned following overnight raids across China in October, described by Christian groups as one of the strictest crackdowns on religious activity in the country’s modern history.
The Chinese government tightly controls religion and officially promotes atheism.
Jin’s family thanked supporters in a statement, adding: “We truly witnessed a miracle and we are feeling so overwhelmed with joy”. The Chinese foreign ministry has not officially commented on his case.
The family thanked the US president and the Trump administration “for their tremendous leadership”, and said they knew “this could not have happened without the direct intervention from [Chinese President] Xi Jinping”.
“We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations.”
The Communist Party views Christianity as a challenge to its absolute authority. In recent years, Chinese Christians have been forced to remove religious symbols in their homes and replace them with portraits of Xi Jinping. Christians “have been told to take down the images of Jesus, the crosses and the gospel couplets that form the centerpieces of their homes, and hang portraits of Xi instead,” The South China Morning Post reported in 2017.
China exerts strict control over religious institutions, permitting only four state-sanctioned Christian churches to operate legally. These so-called “patriotic” churches adhere to the Chinese communist doctrine, deviating from the teaching of the bible. They also act as instruments of state surveillance, monitoring, and reporting on the activities of Christian believers.
Despite grave risk, Christians organize underground or house churches to teach and practice their faith. “Many churches decide not to register, and instead meet underground as house churches. But these churches face raids, fines, arrests, imprisonments and the confiscation of materials,” Christian watchdog organization Open Doors observes.
Christian converts face persecution from other established faiths as well. “In areas that are traditionally Muslim or Buddhist, new Christians can face threats and even physical harm from their family and community, on top of persecution from the state,” the watchdog adds.
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Comments
“Chinese Christians have been forced to remove religious symbols in their homes and replace them with portraits of Xi Jinping.”
Praise Homelander!
I’m sure China considers this a win-win. They get to relicate a “criminal” to the United States, just like every central American country achieved during the Biden years.
Good news! “The Communist Party views Christianity as a challenge to its absolute authority”. Better believe it. The Gospel has been and is the greatest threat evil faces in our world today. Just watch the forces of evil we all see and how they react to those spreading the Gospel, even those in underground churches.
Though the Falun Gong has a WAY better PR department.