Pastors Jin “Ezra” Mingri (金明日), Gao Yingjia (高颖佳), and Wang Lin (王林) are leaders of Zion Church, one of China’s largest unregistered Protestant congregations. Founded in Beijing, Zion Church refused to submit to state control of religious life — most notably when Pastor Jin declined to install government surveillance cameras in the sanctuary, prompting authorities to ban the church and confiscate its premises in 2018. Rather than dissolve, the congregation moved underground, and Pastor Jin’s online and hybrid services drew up to 10,000 worshippers at a time during the pandemic. In October 2025, in a coordinated crackdown across eleven cities, the three pastors were arrested alongside nearly thirty other Zion Church leaders and members and charged with “illegal use of information networks,” a provision amended just one month earlier to criminalize religious professionals’ use of the internet. The charge was later changed to the “illegal use of business operations,” carrying a potentially longer sentence. Their prolonged pre-trial detention has drawn international concern as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s broader campaign to “sinicize” religion and eliminate independent worship. Through the continued advocacy of HRF and its partners, Pastor Jin was released in July 2026.