In a Facebook post Tuesday, Franklin Graham thanked President Donald Trump for his role in the release of imprisoned Christian pastor Ezra Jin Mingri—founder of an underground church in China—who had been detained for 266 days.
Jin, 57, was released and reunited with his wife and daughter in Los Angeles Friday, roughly two months after Trump pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping to free him during a U.S.-China summit in Beijing. Jin was arrested Oct. 11 after Chinese officials raided his home in Beihai, Guangxi Province, the previous evening and conducted an all-night search. He was charged with “illegally using information networks,” according to The New York Times.
“Thank you, President Donald J. Trump, for all you’ve done to help get Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri released from prison in China,” Franklin posted. “We are thankful that he is now back home with his family.” Franklin closed his post by asking readers to join him in praying that the U.S. relationship with China would improve.
Other religious liberty advocates took to X to express their gratitude for what the pastor’s family and others are calling a miracle. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said: “I am grateful for President Trump prioritizing religious freedom and pressuring Xi Jinping to release Pastor Jin.”
Jin’s release also drew praise from former Vice President Mike Pence and other politicians.
“President Trump should be commended for securing Ezra Jin’s release by raising the case with Xi Jinping in Beijing this year,” Pence posted July 6 on X. “Truly Treasure in Heaven to see this godly man of faith set free.”
Jin founded Zion Church in 2007 after converting to Christianity following the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. The church began with about 20 worshipers and over the following decade grew to an estimated 5,000 worshipers across several cities. It operated outside the state-approved religious system, which requires congregations to register with the government.
In 2018, the government shut its main building in Beijing when the church refused to install closed-circuit cameras for monitoring. After the closure, Jin broadcast his sermons online, his daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, told The New York Times, adding that an estimated 10,000 people throughout China tuned in to hear his messages.
She told a U.S. Congressional Committee in November: “My father started Zion in order to worship freely in a church that put God as the sole head of our church, like many faithful Christians everywhere.”
Nine months after Jin’s incarceration, his family is calling his release a miracle. “We are feeling so overwhelmed with joy,” Grace said in a statement. “We thank God for this tremendous miracle.” She went on to thank “President Trump and his administration for their tremendous leadership,” but also noting that her father’s release likely would 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,” the statement concluded.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who is a longtime lawmaker and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said in a July 5 statement: “His release is a joyous answer to countless prayers, and an important reminder that sustained and principled American engagement on behalf of religious and political prisoners can make a difference.”
