Jin Mingri, founder of the Zion Church, was detained in Beijing in October 2025. The pastor has now been released from prison in China and has traveled to the US, less than two months after his incarceration was raised directly by Donald Trump.

The pastor and founder of the Zion Church had been imprisoned following overnight raids across China in October, described by Christian groups as one of the strictest crackdowns on religious activity in the country's modern history. The Chinese government tightly controls religion and officially promotes atheism.

Jin's family thanked supporters in a statement, adding: 'We truly witnessed a miracle and we are feeling so overwhelmed with joy.' The Chinese foreign ministry has not officially commented on his case. The family thanked the US president and the Trump administration 'for their tremendous leadership' and said they knew 'this could not have happened without the direct intervention from Chinese President Xi Jinping.'

US-based rights group ChinaAid, which monitors religious persecution, confirmed Jin, also known as Ezra Jin, had arrived in Los Angeles. Its founder Bob Fu welcomed his release, while noting that 'countless' religious practitioners, including eight belonging to the Zion Church, remained incarcerated in China.

Trump had urged Xi to release Jin during direct talks between the two while in Beijing for a state visit in May. 'He said he's gonna strongly consider the pastor,' the US president said afterward.

Jin started the Zion Church in 2007 with just 20 people. It grew into one of China's largest unregistered churches, with a network of some 10,000 people in 40 cities across the country. It was officially banned by the Chinese Communist Party in 2018 after resisting government pressure to install security cameras at its property in Beijing.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk