No letters, no phone calls, no in-person visits.
The past two and a half months have been difficult for the Jin family, ever since Chinese authorities jailed Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, after raiding one of China’s largest underground churches, which he leads.
On Christmas Eve, Grace Jin Drexel’s eyes reddened as she read a public letter to her detained father, hoping the message could somehow get to him and bring him comfort from the United States.
The pastor, who founded Zion Church in Beijing in 2007, wound up in a cell with more than 30 people, sleeping on mats spread on the floor, Jin Drexel said.
She described a cell with no glass panels where wind and rain flow in during the harsh winter season. When her grandmother tried to send in clothes, blankets, and his medication, guards turned her away, Jin Drexel said.
“It is extremely sad to think that my dad would not be able to celebrate Christmas with us—and probably not even celebrate at all,” Jin Drexel, a U.S. citizen, told The Epoch Times. “He’ll be in the detention center, still having to memorize the Xi Jinping Thought.”
‘Fear of Independent Faith’
This Christmas looks especially bleak for China’s Christians, who have seen intensifying persecution over the past year.
Jin Drezel’s father is one of 18 Zion Church members who remain in detention after the Chinese regime’s sweeping clampdown in October, which spanned seven provinces and municipalities. But roundups have continued since then.
During a Thanksgiving dinner, Beijing police burst into a guesthouse and took more than 10 Christians to the police station for questioning, according to a notice from the Zion Church.
In mid-December, more than 1,000 police swarmed to a small town called Yayang in eastern China’s Zhejiang province to target a local church, interrogating hundreds and issuing wanted notices against two church leaders, human rights group China Aid said. Months before that, members from Golden Lampstand Church in northern China received years-long sentences, with the longest reaching 15 years, according to China Aid.
“Christians in China today are facing the worst persecution since the end of the Cultural Revolution,” the organization’s founder, Bob Fu, told The Epoch Times. “A nuclear-powered regime like China would start rounding up Christians and other peaceful, independent faith believers—I think that shows their fear of independent faith. They just want to launch a war against God.”
China Aid documented that fireworks of unusual scale lit up the local government square amid the Yayang operation. It was a disturbing sign, Fu said, as there was no traditional festival nor other official reason calling for the celebration.
“What kind of morally bankrupt regime would do this by celebrating the arrest and cracking down of peaceful, harmless Christians on the eve of Christmas?” he said.
Growing Restrictions
There are around 70 million Christians in China, according to U.S. government estimates. The Chinese regime officially recognizes five religions—Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism, and Taoism—and regulates them through state-controlled organizations to enforce Party allegiance.
Those who wish to worship freely have little choice but to join underground churches, leading to a proliferation of networks like Zion. Starting from 20 people in 2007, Zion spread to more than 40 cities with around 100 branches, according to Fu.
But such online worship services are also facing curbs.
New Chinese rules issued in September ban clergy from using livestreams, short videos, online meetings, or friend circles on Chinese social media WeChat, nor can they participate in online religious activities—unless they take place on platforms operating with express state approval.
David Lin, U.S. citizen and pastor, was arrested during a missionary trip to China in 2006. He spent 18 years in Chinese jail until regaining his freedom in September 2024 through a prisoner swap.
They had limited ability to express their faith in prison. During Christmas time in the early years, Lin told The Epoch Times, there were cakes and fruits to signify the occasion, and he could preach—including to secular prisoners. That changed later on.
The prison guards regularly searched the cells and confiscated belongings they believed shouldn’t be in the prisoners’ possession. Three times, they seized his Bible, but he got it back by insisting that he couldn’t live without it, he said.
He couldn’t pray audibly or sing hymns, so he did it silently each night before sleep. For lack of nourishment in prison, Lin, about 5’7’’, weighed less than 110 lbs when he got out, he said. He credited faith for sustaining him through each day.
Suffer With Joy
Jin Drexel was thankful that her father recently got a Bible, which she said was a “Christmas miracle.”
In past years, the family went to church together and held calls with Jin as they and their neighbors joined for a big dinner. It isn’t happening this year, but Jin Drexel and her siblings take comfort in knowing that their father has his spiritual guide by his side.
“We’re really proud of what he’s doing and proud of being his children,” she said, adding that he had shown her “how to suffer even in this time with such love and patience and joy.”
President Donald Trump is planning to visit China in April 2026. However, in the face of deteriorating religious freedom in China, Fu said that the Trump administration should set some benchmarks.
The president should not go unless Beijing releases prominent Chinese prisoners of conscience, such as Jin Drexel’s father and Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong media tycoon and Catholic, said Fu.
“The CCP needs to demonstrate that if it’s sincere.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House for comment.
While Chinese Christians may not be able to celebrate Christmas openly, Fu believes that no suppression can conquer faith.
“I think millions of Chinese Christians will share the same sentiment like me, they will continue to celebrate in their hearts,” he said.
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