(Beijing — June 3, 2026) More than six months have passed since authorities launched a large-scale crackdown on Zion Church, a prominent house church in Beijing, the capital of China, on Oct. 10, 2025.
Eighteen pastors and church workers, including Senior Pastor Ezra Jin, remain in detention. In an interview with The Free Press published May 11, Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, also disclosed previously unreported details of a 2021 incident in which she alleges her father was drugged.
Recounting the Oct. 10 raids, Grace Jin Drexel said she received a text message from her father early that morning informing her that fellow Zion Church pastor Wang Lin had been arrested. Shortly afterward, her mother, Anna Liu, told her she had lost contact with Pastor Jin.
Zion Church leaders then convened an emergency Zoom meeting. During the call, pastors reported that authorities were outside their homes. Participants subsequently went offline, and communication with them was lost.
A total of 18 pastors and church workers remain detained in connection with the case. Family members report that members of the legal team representing them have faced professional sanctions, including the revocation of several lawyers’ licenses.
The pastors are being held at Beihai Detention Center, where family members and supporters describe conditions as extremely poor and inhumane, raising concerns about their health. ChinaAid sources also report that the special investigative task force has threatened to seek lengthy prison sentences.
During the interview, Grace Jin Drexel disclosed a previously unreported incident that she said occurred in 2021. After returning to Beijing from a trip, Pastor Jin was invited by government personnel to “have dinner,” where, according to his daughter, he was suspected of having been drugged.
The interview included footage from the incident that was released publicly for the first time. In the video, Pastor Ezra Jin appears seated with his eyes closed and seemingly disoriented before a police officer approaches and blocks the camera with his hand. Grace Jin said the footage deeply alarmed her and intensified concerns for her father’s safety.
The case has drawn additional attention because of Pastor Jin’s long-standing role in China’s house church movement. Now in his fifties, his faith journey is closely intertwined with modern Chinese history.
Following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and subsequent crackdown, Jin experienced a spiritual awakening, began reflecting on the meaning of life and later converted to Christianity. He was eventually ordained as a pastor.
After serving for more than a decade within China’s state-sanctioned church system, Jin concluded that government authorities should not interfere in church teaching and that God alone should be the church’s highest authority. Acting on that conviction, he left the official system in 2007 and founded Beijing Zion Church.
At its peak, Zion Church rented a 500-seat auditorium in a commercial building in Beijing and drew as many as 1,500 attendees across multiple services each day.
The church was officially shut down in September 2018 after refusing government demands to install facial-recognition surveillance equipment in its meeting venue. Authorities subsequently barred Ezra Jin and his family from leaving China on national security grounds. Grace Jin was permitted to travel to the United States in January 2020 to reunite with her newlywed husband.
The situation involving Beijing Zion Church has attracted attention from international human rights advocates and government officials. During a recent visit to China, President Trump reportedly raised both the Ezra Jin case and the case of Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as examples of broader human rights concerns.
According to U.S. officials, Xi indicated he would consider releasing Ezra Jin. The White House has formally invited President Xi for a state visit in Washington scheduled for September 24.
While some observers hope Jin will be released prior to that meeting, the case’s outlook remains uncertain given the current detention and ongoing pressure on those involved.
Gao Zhensai is a special correspondent for ChinaAid News. Founded in 2002, ChinaAid is an international Christian human rights organization committed to promoting religious freedom and the rule of law in China through advocacy, legal support, and international awareness campaigns.