Free At Last: Moolenaar Meets Pastor Jin on Capitol Hill
Today on Capitol Hill, Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar met with Pastor Ezra Jin in celebration of his release from prison in China. Jin, founder of Zion Church, one of China's largest independent house churches, was detained in October 2025 amidst the Chinese Communist Party's crackdown on underground churches with nearly 30 other Zion Church pastors. On July 3, 2026, Jin was reunited with his family after spending 266 days in a Chinese prison.
"It is an honor to meet with Pastor Jin and to see him reunited with his family. The story he shared with me was incredible and he sustained his love for the Lord through an experience so dark and unimaginable to most of us. This is the power of faith in Christ, and Pastor Jin is undeterred in his commitment to spreading the Good News," said Moolenaar. "For nearly nine months, Pastor Jin's family never abandoned hope they would see him again. It was a blessing to meet with them in this joyous time for their family and I pray all people of faith in China will one day be able to worship freely.”
"I am overwhelmed with joy to be reunited with my family after so long apart," said Jin. "I give thanks to God for his blessings in my life, and for the chance to meet my grandson. I am grateful to President Trump for raising my case directly with Xi Jinping, and to Chairman Moolenaar, the Select Committee, and the many members of Congress who called for my release. We must never forget those who are unjustly detained in China and pray they too will be released to their families."
Jin wrote an op-ed last week on his experience imprisoned in China and called for China to welcome religion instead of cracking down on it.
Earlier this year, Moolenaar hosted a Daughters of Dissidents event with Grace Drexel (Pastor Jin’s daughter) and Claire Lai, the daughter of Hong Kong pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, to call attention to their cases. Moolenaar has repeatedly called for freedom of religion in China and for the release of persons unjustly imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party, including Gulshan Abbas, Joshua Wong and Pastor Wang Yi, among others.