AP

‘WE TRULY WITNESSED A MIRACLE’: FREED PASTOR HAS A BIG PRAYER REQUEST

Zion Church is China’s largest independent Protestant house church network. While Zion Church was originally founded in Beijing, its hybrid online-offline network expanded to over 40 Chinese cities, drawing intense government scrutiny. China’s nationwide crackdown on Christian Churches has intersected directly with Wenzhou, long nicknamed the “Jerusalem of China” due to its large Christian population, and where Zion Church could be considered to have its headquarters.

The Church became a primary target after refusing to install 23 facial recognition cameras inside its sanctuary.  When its building was confiscated in October 2025, it transitioned to smaller offline meeting points and a massive digital congregation of over 10,000 daily participants. The confiscation of the building was followed by the detention of Zion Church’s founder, Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri (Pastor Ezra Jyn), along with nearly 30 other senior pastors and church leaders. The arrested leaders face vague charges of “illegally using information networks”. This directly targets their use of Zoom and encrypted apps for online sermons and Bible studies. The ruling Communist Party, which is officially atheist, views organized religion as a threat to its hold on power. Under President Xi Jinping, Chinese authorities have pushed to ‘Sinicize’ religion by demanding loyalty to the party, even within churches.
President Trump had requested Pastor Jin’s release in a meeting with President Xi earlier this year. He was then set free from prison and arrived in the US on July 5th. In a statement, Pastor Jin’s family said:  “Thank you so much for everyone’s support and prayers … we truly witnessed a miracle and we are feeling so overwhelmed with joy. We thank God for this tremendous miracle. We also thank President Trump and his administration for their tremendous leadership.” His wife Anna Chunli Liu also posted a statement on X saying: “Thank God, He answered our countless urgent prayers. Just when my family and I were almost overwhelmed by this immense pressure, He prepared this miraculous way out for us.”
But Pastor Jin “Ezra” Mingri  is now issuing a call to prayer: “I spent 266 days in a Chinese prison after being detained along with 28 other leaders and members of Zion Church in October … Eight of my fellow church members, along with many other church leaders and prisoners of conscience, remain in prison. These men and women, some of the most caring people I have met, are confined in cramped cells and sleep on floor mats in blistering heat. Many leave behind young families. I won’t rest until they see freedom …”
 “My earnest prayer is that my release can mark the beginning of a new chapter for people of faith in China … I hope that all our church members are freed and that China becomes a place where all people can freely worship … Such a future might seem impossibly remote, but so did my release. I couldn’t be more thankful, and pray that others still imprisoned will experience this same freedom soon. Mine is a God of miracles, and he constantly surprises me.”
May we all join with Pastor Jin and the members of Zion Church, in praying for the release of not only members of their Church, but for all Christians being detained unlawfully in Chinese prisons. [Sources: Back to Jerusalem and CBN News.]
STOP PRESS: A further nine Zion Christian leaders were finally released on the 18th June from a Chinese prison, after being detained for 253 days without charges .

IMPRISONED FATHERS REUNITED FOR FISHING TRIP, THANKS TO CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
Fathers incarcerated in Angola prison, Louisiana – the US’s largest maximum-security prison – have been reunited with their children for a fishing trip, through a Christian restorative justice initiative. God Behind Bars organised the dad-and-son day out, which saw families reconnect to fish, play games and share a barbecue. Instead of wearing prison jumpsuits, the 46 fathers were given t-shirts and snapback caps, so their children could see them as simply parents, rather than as inmates.
Some fathers had been imprisoned before their sons’ births, meaning it was the first time they spent a full day with their child. Kevin came to faith whilst serving a 17-year sentence. “My son has heard stories about me, and they were pretty rough stories,” he said. “Being able to talk about God with him, it’s awesome. I’ve been able to talk about what God’s done in my life, and what I hope God will do in his life.”
It’s not the first time God Behind Bars has partnered with Angola prison. The organisation has hosted worship nights for inmates, as well as a father-daughter dance.  “Approximately 1.2 million people in the US are incarcerated at any given time, representing one of the most unchurched populations in our country,” the charity stated. “We are on a mission to change that. We will stop at nothing to ensure every inmate in the US has direct and personal access to the Gospel. We want to help them grow their faith, heal trauma and emotional wounds, break addictions and cycles, and allow every person behind bars to step into their calling as sons and daughters of the Most High.” [Source: Premier Christian News]

SHARING THE GOSPEL UNDER THREAT IN THE UK
Last November, 2025, Dia Moodley, a Christian pastor, was peacefully sharing his faith on the streets of Bristol — something he has done for years. For this, he was arrested by police on suspicion of ‘inciting religious hatred’ under the Public Order Act 1986, despite merely sharing his beliefs. Pastor Dia, who lives with a heart condition, was held in a police cell for eight hours before being released under bail conditions that banned him from preaching in the city over Christmas.
Although those bail conditions were later dropped after Pastor Dia made representations to the police, the situation did not end there. In January, two police officers visited his home, questioned him further about the November incident, and invited him to attend a voluntary interview under caution.
Pastor Dia attended the interview and, astonishingly, was questioned about whether it was appropriate for a Christian to share his biblically held convictions on the topic of gender ideology. The pastor was also asked why he preached in an area where he supposedly knew Muslims would be present, referring to the city centre of Bristol. The police’s line of questioning showed a clear two-tier bias in favour of Muslim and progressive beliefs, and against his Christian speech. The police’s suggestion in their questioning of Pastor Dia, was that the right to free speech does not extend to public spaces where Muslims are present, is totally antithetical to the tradition of liberty in Great Britain and the equality of all people under the law. Pastor Dia preaches to all people present in the busiest area of the city, as is his lawful right. He is now waiting to learn whether he will be criminally charged for his peaceful expression. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International is providing legal support for his criminal defence as he considers legal action against the police for violating his free speech rights.
Shockingly, this is the second time police have arrested Pastor Dia for peaceful street preaching. While the police have repeatedly targeted Pastor Dia for this, they have failed to properly investigate serious crimes committed against him by those who objected to his preaching. Pastor Dia recently stated: “My experience as a Christian pastor undoubtedly shows there is a real risk of authorities allowing Christianity to be pushed out of public spaces in the UK in favour of allowing Islam or other beliefs to dominate.”
This case is all the more pressing, as the UK government recently unveiled its broad and ambiguous definition of ‘anti-Muslim  hostility’, which risks censoring legitimate speech related to Islam. Pastor Dia’s case shows how authorities can misconstrue peaceful comments on Islam as ‘hateful’ and criminal.
After months under criminal investigation, Pastor Dia has officially been cleared. [Source: Alliance Defending Freedom UK)

HIGH COURT ISSUES MAJOR RULING ON TRANSGENDER ATHLETES IN GIRLS’ SPORTS
WASHINGTON (USA)  — The Supreme Court has issued a ruling that could shape the future of women’s sports across the United States. In a sweeping 6-3 decision, the court ruled that state laws requiring transgender athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond with their sex assigned at birth are lawful and do not violate any laws. West Virginia Attorney General, whose office defended the state’s law, told CBN News he disagrees with critics who describe the measure as anti-transgender. “It is not anti-trans. What this law is, is a common-sense way for us to make sure that we have fair, sex-delineated sports,” McCuskey said.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) contends the male plaintiff, transgender athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson, who sued the state of West Virginia and was able to compete in girls’ sport  before the Supreme Court heard the case, defeated more than 470 girls over 1,400 times and won the women’s state championship in the shot put competition.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty which  filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of West Virginia, said in a statement: “This is a tremendous victory for common sense, fairness in women’s sports, and religious freedom. Thankfully, the Court slammed the door on that dangerous path and kept religious groups from being forced into culture-war litigation.” [Source: NBN News]

THE HIDDEN TRAGEDY – THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN KIDS ABDUCTED BY RUSSIA
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago, thousands of Ukrainian children have been taken into captivity. “These are the children who have been either deported to Russia or forcefully transferred within occupied territories,” Maksym Maksymov, the leader of Bring Kids Back UA, told CBN News. Bring Kids Back UA is an initiative launched by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to identify, locate, and return their children.
Although Ukraine confirms more than 20,000 cases of abducted children, Maksymov believes that number to be much higher. “In 2023, the Russians made two statements. The first, when they proudly posted about ‘welcoming the Ukrainian children in the amount (sic) of 744,000 to Russia’,” said Maksymov. “The second statement is in their report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, they said that they have issued Russian citizenship to 46,000 Ukrainian kids.”
Many of those taken have been stripped of their identities, language, and culture. Children have also been placed in Russian state institutions, forced into military camps, put up for illegal adoption and more. “They’re told that the nation of Ukraine doesn’t exist, that they have nowhere else to go, that their families have forsaken them,” human rights lawyer Sharanjeet Parmar said in an interview with CBN News. “And in other terrible cases also, we have cases of girls being exposed to sexual violence as well as sex trafficking.” Parmar said the abductions of Ukraine’s youth should be labelled ‘war crimes’.
“The European Court of Human Rights found that the Russian Federation has been violating the children’s right to family and right to their personal status as a result of these abductions whilst living under occupation,” Parmar explained. “We also have seen the International Criminal Court issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin, and Maria Lvova-Belova who’s the child rights commissioner and who has openly declared having transferred Ukrainian children into areas under Russian control and with Russian families.” A coalition of countries is working to secure the return of the children. The US State Department has pledged $25 million to find and return children, while also providing critical resources to help those rescued to heal.
Christians are called to pray for:
*the cessation of children being removed from the Ukraine by foreign forces.
*the success of finding these abducted children, and re-uniting them with their families.
*the families who have had their children abducted, that the Lord would comfort them and meet their needs.

– compiled by Guido Kettniss