Pastor Ezra Jin receives human rights award on anniversary of CCP arrest: 'I will not rest'
Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, who was imprisoned in China for nine months until he was released to the United States in July, is slated to receive a human rights award commemorating the one-year anniversary of his arrest.
Jin is using the award to continue speaking out on behalf of the eight leaders of his Beijing Zion Church who remain detained.
The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice announced Friday that Jin will receive its 2026 Lantos Human Rights Prize, marking a year since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began its sweeping crackdown on Zion Church leaders in October 2025.
Zion Church, which has grown into one of the largest unregistered Protestant "house church" networks in China since Jin founded it in 2007, had been facing harassment from CCP authorities since 2018, when they refused to install facial recognition cameras in their sanctuary. The CCP shuttered their facility that year, but they gathered online, outdoors, in homes or in hotel rooms.
Pastor Ezra Jin: 'God-poured words' sustained me through 266 days in a Chinese cell
Last October marked an unprecedented escalation against the church, when nearly 30 pastors and members across more than 10 cities were initially detained in what observers described as China's largest coordinated action against an urban house church in more than 40 years. Most were released shortly afterward, though Jin was imprisoned for 266 days.
Jin said in a statement to The Christian Post that he is honored to have been chosen for the Lantos Prize and hopes it will help raise awareness of the severe persecution faced by people of faith in China.
"The Chinese Communist Party has targeted my church community and so many other communities, spanning many different faith and belief traditions. It is vital for people around the world to come together to advocate for greater religious freedom for the people of China; this right is fundamental to any peaceful and just society," Jin said.
"I am especially focused on advocating for the release of eight of my brothers and sisters from Zion Church, who remain unjustly imprisoned. I will not rest from speaking out until they are free and reunited with their loved ones," he added.
Katrina Lantos Swett, who serves as president of The Lantos Foundation, said in a statement provided to CP that Jin "has inspired people throughout the world with his unyielding courage and unshakeable faith in the face of persecution."
"He may not have set out to become a powerful advocate for the foundational right of freedom of belief, but he rose to the occasion when called upon. I am deeply honored to award the Lantos Prize to an individual who lives his beliefs and values so fully and whose example should inspire each of us to do likewise," Swett added.
Established in 2008 in honor of the late Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., a Holocaust survivor who served in Congress from 1981 until he died in 2008, the Lantos Foundation has awarded an annual Lantos Human Rights Prize since 2009. Other recipients include Elie Wiesel, Hillary Clinton, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and the Dalai Lama.
Since his release to the U.S. on July 3 as a goodwill gesture from Chinese President Xi Jinping, Jin has been advocating on behalf of not just the eight Zion Church leaders still detained, but also the hundreds of other Christians who are imprisoned in China for their faith.
The Zion Church leaders still imprisoned are Gao Yingjia, Wang Lin, Yin Huibin, Wang Zhong, Wang Cong, Liu Zhenbin, Lin Shucheng and Wu Qiuyu.
During a recent two-part interview with CP, Jin explained how the Holy Spirit sustained him during his months of imprisonment by bringing relevant Scripture to his mind. He also expressed hope that the CCP's present, high-intensity persecution against the Chinese church will eventually recede and lead to "an enormous revival."
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
