Leaders Call for Release of Detainees
Immediately following the detention of church leaders and staff, Secretary Marco Rubio spoke out on behalf of the U.S., saying, “The United States condemns the Chinese Communist Party’s recent detention of dozens of leaders of the unregistered Zion Church in China, including prominent pastor Mingri ‘Ezra’ Jin. We call for their immediate release.”
Advocacy group Luke Alliance said in a statement, “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.”
Sean Long, one of Zion Church’s pastors, is currently pursuing a doctorate in theology at Wheaton College while serving in China. He referred to the arrests as “disturbing and distressing.” Long added that the Chinese government’s action is a “brutal violation of freedom of religion, which is written into the Chinese constitution.”
