Name: Ezra Jin
Country: China
Struggle:
“I was always more afraid of my mom than my dad growing up,” Grace Jin Drexel laughed during an interview with Freedom House. She was reflecting on the loving nature of her father, Pastor Ezra Jin, who is a Chinese political prisoner.
In October 2025, Chinese authorities arrested more than 30 religious leaders during a crackdown on underground “house churches” across China. Among them was Pastor Jin, founder of the nationwide Zion Church, who dared to practice his Christian faith without the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) approval.
Beijing seeks to control religious institutions in China by requiring registration with the government. In doing so, the CCP can appoint their own hand-selected clergy or other religious leaders, while ensuring that these faith communities prioritize their subservience to the state. That’s problematic for devout people like Pastor Jin who see God as the ultimate arbiter of the universe.
As his daughter Grace, an American citizen living in the U.S., commented, “To him, Christianity really like changed his life. He was the generation of students during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest, and so at that time, the whole generation – many of them – just had completely lost faith in their future. And for him, he found hope and love and freedom in Christ.”
Sadly, those like Pastor Jin who refuse to place the CCP above the divine risk severe punishment. According to Grace, Pastor Jin and others remain in squalid prisons where “there’s no bed and people are sleeping on the floors.” She also says that he is in poor health suffering from Type 2 diabetes with limited access to medical care. And the only way they can communicate is through lawyers who are themselves targets of government intimidation.
Every day that Pastor Jin remains in prison wastes his precious Earthly time. His pastoral flock depends on him. And his family needs him.
Wiping tears from her cheeks, Grace lamented that – beyond prison – her father hasn’t been permitted to leave China in years. “He has missed my wedding. He has missed my brother’s graduations. And my mom’s graduation. The birth of my two children … I would really love for my father to meet his grandchildren in person.”
