The family of Pastor Ezra Jin, an imprisoned Chinese pastor, is calling on religious freedom supporters to send Christmas cards and encouraging words to incarcerated church leaders in China who were detained during the Zion Church raid in October. 

Jin, a prominent figure and founder of the underground Zion Church, was detained on Oct. 10 by Chinese authorities along with 30 other congregants after a large-scale raid was conducted on the church. In November, Jin and 17 other pastors were officially charged with illegally using information networks, a charge likely stemming from the church’s use of the internet to tell others about Jesus. They’re currently being held in Beihai. 

The arrests resulting from the raid are reportedly part of the most expansive assault on religious freedom within one congregation in decades, according to the religious watchdog CSW.  

Chinese authorities seized the assets of Zion Church. They forced the closure of its buildings in 2018 after the church refused to allow facial recognition cameras to be installed within its facility. Jin was also prohibited from exiting China. Despite the setback, the church didn’t give up and continued its ministry, “reaching as many as 10,000 people a day,” according to the Associated Press. Per 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 daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, and his wife reside in the United States. Drexel recently discussed her father’s persecution and arrest in an interview with CBN News. 

“Thirty different police officers, many of them in plain clothes, came rushing into the house,” Drexel stated. “They handcuffed my dad and dragged him out.”  

She continued, explaining that authorities “are pointing to [her] father’s sermons and worship online on Zoom … and that, the medium of Zoom, they are calling that illegal.”  

The pastor’s family communicates with him 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 through messages sent through lawyers. 

“He told me that the Holy Spirit encourages him,” Liu stated, “and he feels honored to join in the suffering of Jesus.” 

If found guilty, Jin faces three years in prison for spreading the gospel. 

Story by Lynn Arias 

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