Pastor Ezra Jin founded Zion Church in 2007. Like many unregistered churches in China, they have faced years of pressure. But even when the church’s main building was shut down in 2018, they continued to meet both online and in person.
Now serving at least 5,000 members, it is one of the largest unregistered churches in the country.
In October 2025, the authorities launched a sweeping crackdown on Zion Church. Twenty-eight leaders were detained in raids spanning multiple cities. Eighteen were later formally arrested.
Thankfully, Pastor Jin was released after 266 days in detention. But today, eight leaders are still not free.
Their loved ones are concerned for their safety, and long to be reunited soon. Some have fled the country, yet continue to bravely raise their cases.
Will you send an encouragement to Zion Church?
Address your message generally and we’ll pass it on to members of Zion Church around the world. You can read more of their stories below.
Thank you.
If you’d like to send a letter to others in China who are suffering for the religion or belief, like Pastor Wang Yi, you can do so using our 连接与鼓励 resource. There you’ll find addresses and a simple guide to writing a letter to someone in China.
Wu Qiuyu, 37, is the wife of Pastor Yang Jun, who oversees campus ministries at Zion Church. The couple met in 2013, shortly before Wu travelled to the US to study theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. They married in 2022 and have a three-year-old son and two-year-old daughter. Pastor Yang was on a ministry trip when police visited the family home on 10 October 2025. Wu was arrested in front of their children, who are now being raised by their grandparents.
‘We never imagined she would be taken away by the police, right in front of our two young children.’ – Yang Jun
Pastor Yin Huibin is the head pastor of Zion Church in Beihai. His wife Yang Lijun was detained alongside him in October 2025 and was released on bail in November. He wrote the following in a letter:
‘Though I cannot yet discern the final outcome, I continue to believe that the gracious God will preserve His church forever. Even in this desperate age, I still look up to the God of hope, praying for the church, praying for the city of Beihai, and praying for all who live on this land.’
Pastor Wang Cong ministered at Zion Church with her husband Ren Zhong. At around 9pm on 10 October 2025 the power went out at their home shortly before several plainclothes officer broke into their house. The officers restrained Ren in a chair, separated Wang from their three-year-old daughter Song En, and confiscated their phones, computers and identity documents. They proceeded to take Wang away in a police vehicle whilst Ren chased after them with their daughter in his arms.
‘I knew I couldn’t catch up, but I couldn’t stop, because I wanted to give my child hope. So I kept chasing.’ – Ren Zhong
Pastor Wang Lin has co-led Zion Church since 2017. Before entering ministry, he practiced law and later earned a Ph.D. in Old Testament theology from Wheaton College in Illinois. Pastor Wang’s family had faced constant police harassment for years prior to his arrest, and had been forced to move frequently. In November 2025 Pastor Wang’s wife Su Ziming fled to the United States with their two children aged nine and ten, shortly after she was summoned for questioning by the authorities.
‘My husband has missed every important milestone in our children’s lives, along with all the ordinary moments that a family should have shared together.’ – Su Ziming
Pastor Liu Zhenbin was born in the 1980s and earned a master’s degree from Taiyuan University of Technology in Shanxi Province before he became a full-time minister in 2016. He oversaw the Qingdao branch congregation of Zion Church. He and his wife Li Hongyang have three young children.
‘Your children are still very young. You need to consider them.’ – prosecutor to Pastor Liu Zhenbin
Pastor Lin Shucheng began theological studies at the Zion Church seminary in Beijing in 2015 and also worked as an intern pastor at Zion Bible Church. He went into full-time ministry in 2021 and moved with his wife Tao Tingting to Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to establish a church branch in the city. The couple have three children together, the youngest of whom Pastor Lin has never met as he was born after the pastor was detained.
Before entering full-time ministry, Pastor Gao Yingjia spent extended periods living with his Catholic grandmother and completed his undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral studies in physics at Peking University, one of China’s most prestigious institutions, before conducting postdoctoral research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His wife Geng Pengpeng fled to Thailand with their then six-year-old son in December 2025.
‘I wish for all of this to be just a dream. When I wake up, everything returns to normal life, but clearly it is not.’ – Geng Pengpeng
‘What is wrong with preaching the Lord’s word? It makes no sense.’ – Gao’s father
Elder Wang Zhong suffers from severe coronary heart disease and has undergone cardiac stent surgery. In August 2026 his father fell ill and his family submitted a notice of critical illness and applied for bail, but the application was delayed by the court on the grounds of ‘the need to conduct a social harm investigation’. His father died on 18 August after 11 days in intensive care. Elder Wang was not able to see him.
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