The Chinese Communist Party has once again shown its true face, grabbing Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri — founder of the influential Zion Church — in a coordinated raid this October as part of a nationwide sweep against underground Christians. This was not a garden-variety police matter but a politically motivated crackdown on faith, carried out with the blunt force of an authoritarian regime that treats worship as a crime. Human rights groups and news organizations report that Jin and dozens of other pastors were detained in raids across multiple provinces.
Reports indicate roughly thirty leaders and members of Zion Church were rounded up beginning October 10, and later moves formalized arrests of at least 18 people on new charges such as “illegal use of information networks” — an Orwellian pretext for criminalizing sermons and online worship. The charge is thin cover for the CCP’s larger campaign to strangle any independent civil society that refuses to bow to state control. Religious freedom advocates warn this is the broadest suppression of urban house churches in decades, and Americans should not look the other way.
Zion Church has been a thorn in Beijing’s side because it grew — quietly and faithfully — into one of China’s largest unregistered Protestant networks, reaching thousands online and in person after being driven underground in 2018. The church’s explosive outreach during the pandemic and refusal to submit to surveillance cameras made it a target, proving once again that the CCP fears belief and community more than it respects liberty. That growth and resilience are the very reasons the regime moved to crush it.
Here in the United States, Jin’s wife and daughter have not been silent. They have taken their plea straight to American soil, launching a Christmas card campaign to reach detained pastors and pressing Washington to act — even bringing testimony before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China to make sure Congress knows the human faces behind the headlines. Their courage in the face of intimidation is a reminder that faith often demands sacrifice, and that liberty-loving Americans must reciprocate with resolve, not platitudes.
This is a moment for the United States to stand tall. Congressional hearings, resolutions, and even signals from the administration have begun, but words alone are not enough; we need targeted sanctions, Magnitsky-style accountability, and diplomatic leverage to make clear that religious persecution carries consequences. If the Biden holdovers and Capitol Hill careerists refuse to use every tool at our disposal, patriotic Americans and our churches should press harder — for moral clarity and for real policy that defends believers abroad.
Patriots and churchgoers should join Jin’s family in making their Christmas campaign more than symbolic: send cards, write Congress, and demand action from the executive branch. The world is watching whether America will defend the weak and the faithful or look away while a totalitarian regime erases conscience. Stand with Pastor Jin, stand with persecuted Christians, and let Washington know that religious liberty is not negotiable — it is a cornerstone of our national character.
