Christian NGO welcomes release of pastor held in southern China

BEIJING, July 5 (Reuters) - ChinaAid, a ‌Christian NGO, said ​on ​Sunday it welcomed the release of Zion Church Pastor Jin Mingri, who had been held in detention centres in the southern Chinese ‌city of Beihai since last October and arrived in Los Angeles ⁠on Saturday.

Eighteen leaders of the major underground church, including Jin, were arrested last November and charged ‌with the crime of "illegally using ‌information networks."

Jin's daughter Grace told Reuters on Sunday that eight members of the Zion Church are still detained in China.

"ChinaAid welcomes with profound gratitude the ​release of imprisoned Chinese house church pastor Ezra Jin, who arrived safely in Los Angeles on July 4, 2026," the NGO said in a statement ⁠that used Jin's English first name.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent ​outside work hours.

U.S. President Donald Trump had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for Jin's release during his May trip to Beijing, ​a U.S. official said.

"He will always champion religious ‌freedom around the world," the official told Reuters in response to questions about Trump's role in Jin's release.

China has more than ⁠44 million Christians registered with state-sanctioned churches, the majority Protestant, official figures show. But tens of millions more are estimated to be part of illegal "house churches" that operate outside ⁠the control of the ruling Communist Party, according to think tanks and NGOs.

Zion Church, founded by ​Jin in 2007 after he quit as a pastor for the official state-controlled Protestant church, had rapidly added members during the COVID-19 pandemic through Zoom sermons and small in-person gatherings.

"We ‌know that this could not have happened without the direct intervention from Chairman Xi Jinping. We hope this is a ‌signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between ⁠our two nations," said a separate ‌family statement shared with ​Reuters.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen in Beijing and Michael Martina in Washington; Writing by Joe Cash; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Jamie Freed and ‌Stephen Coates)

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