Ezra Jin, the founder of one of China’s most prominent underground churches, has been released from prison and reunited with his family in the United States. His daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, expressed her family’s joy and gratitude, thanking God for this miracle and US President Donald Trump for his leadership in securing her father’s release.

Background

Jin founded Zion Church in Beijing in 2007. However, as a crackdown on unregistered churches intensified in 2018, he and his family moved to the US, hoping to appease the Chinese authorities. Despite this, Jin returned to China and was later barred from leaving the country. He was among dozens of church members caught up in a sweeping crackdown by Chinese authorities late last year.

Chinese authorities have long seen Christianity as an unwelcome foreign influence and a threat to government control. Religious practice is legal but tightly controlled and surveilled by the government, which registers “official” state-sanctioned churches. Human rights groups welcomed Jin’s return but called on the Trump administration to do more, while urging Chinese authorities to release other church members in detention.

Rev. Dr. Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, an advocacy group promoting religious freedom in China, called Jin’s release “a tremendous victory,” but said work remained “until every prisoner of faith is free.”

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.