In an Oct. 12 social media post, Liu Chunli explained that her husband became a Christian after the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square. He later received a doctorate at Fuller Theological Seminary in California.
“Whenever he met believers who loved the Lord, he encouraged them to become preachers, saying it was the most honorable calling one could pursue,” wrote Liu. “He poured out his personal resources to support and nurture those willing to serve.”
In 2018, after authorities shut down the Zion Church sanctuary in Beijing, Pastor Jin brought his family to safety in the U.S. But he returned to China because “he felt that as a pastor he had to be with the flock,” explained daughter Grace Lin Drexel, a U.S. Senate staffer. “He had always been prepared for something like this.”
Jin also sent Sean Long, one of Zion Church’s 20+ pastors, overseas for continuity of leadership. Long, currently working on a doctorate in theology at Wheaton College, called the arrests “disturbing and distressing.” They represent a “brutal violation of freedom of religion, which is written into the Chinese constitution,” he added.
When Long had previously asked Jin about the possibility of arrest, the pastor responded, “Hallelujah, because a new wave of revival is coming.”
RELATED: Lee Strobel’s Film ‘The Case for Miracles’ Aims To Prove Miracles ‘Happen Among Us Today’
Zion’s 100 church plants will continue meeting in small groups throughout China, Long said. “No suffering, no glory. That’s the most important spiritual DNA of the Chinese house church movement through history,” he added. “We are willing to pay the price to bear the cost of discipleship.”
Groups Demand Release of Faith Leaders in China
Luke Alliance, a group that advocates for the persecuted church, said Pastor Ezra Jin had been under constant surveillance and under an exit ban, unable to leave China. “We stand with Pastor Jin’s family in their request that the U.S. State Department demand that the CCP release him immediately and unconditionally,” the group stated, “allowing him to return to his family in the United States prior to further persecution at the hands of the Chinese government.”
Bill Drexel, son-in-law of Pastor Jin, thanked Secretary of State Marco Rubio for addressing the situation. He also thanked supporters, officials, and journalists who have assisted his family and publicized the arrests.
On Friday evening, my father-in-law Pastor Ezra Jin was arrested by Chinese government officials, along with more than 20 other pastors and church workers across 7 cities in the most extensive attack on a Chinese church in 4 decades. I have been quiet here mostly because helping… https://t.co/05Vbe3ayGG pic.twitter.com/4M3l5SGR1J
— Bill Drexel (@bill_drexel) October 12, 2025
