Todd Nettleton of The Voice of the Martyrs, USA, says Jin was arrested after Zion Church refused to register with the government and join the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, which is the Protestant organization run by the Communist government.

Image courtesy of Milad Fakurian on Unsplash

“The thing that seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back is they refused to have cameras placed around their sanctuary in Beijing. That seems to have been what really brought down the wrath of the Communist government,” Nettleton says. 

Ezra Jin’s release came after U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned the imprisoned pastor in talks with Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping. China called the move a humanitarian gesture aimed at improving relations. This is good news and reason for praise. However, Pastor Jin was not the only one arrested. 

“There are still eight Zion Church leaders in prison,” Nettleton says. “One of them recently communicated that he has lost 30 pounds since his arrest. He is not getting the nutrition that he needs in prison. So they are certainly suffering.” 

The Instrument of Persecution

The government’s pattern in cracking down on church leaders over the last two years has been to charge them with fraud tied to tithe collection instead of claiming they broke a religious law. 

Image courtesy of Rafik Wahba on Unsplash

Nettleton explains: “The leaders would say, ‘Our congregation has given these tithes and offerings for our church.’ And the government says, ‘Well, you don’t have a church.’ And they say, ‘Yes, we do.’ And they say, ‘Well, show us your paperwork. Show us where you have registered your church.’ ‘Oh, we didn’t register.’ ‘Well, then you have committed fraud. You have collected tithes and offerings for a church that doesn’t legally exist.’”

When concerned Christians protest the imprisonment of church leaders, government officials tell them they are merely protecting citizens from fraudsters. 

“We know what’s going on, but they are hiding the fact that they’re persecuting Christians, and they’re making it very difficult for the Christians to defend against the charges,” Nettleton says.

Pray for the Captives

Pastor Jin gaining his freedom shows the Chinese government will sometimes listen to outside voices. Pray that political leaders will continue to press the Chinese government to free Christians from prison and grant them the ability to worship God without restriction. Also pray that Christians in prison for their faith would have courage, steadfastness, and opportunities to witness to others. 

Find out more about how The Voice of the Martyrs serves the persecuted church here. 

Header image courtesy of / Ricardo on Unsplash

Changing the Atmosphere

Jill Payne-Holman with Prisoners for Christ says the first project they began in Nigeria in 2018 had such success that they have since opened another one in Nigeria, two in Ethiopia, one in Mozambique and one in Pakistan. So far, IBIs have graduated 260 men. These programs have radically impacted the students and also are changing the atmosphere in participating prisons.

(Photo courtesy of Prisoners for Christ)

“What turned out is the officers in the prison started to notice a difference, not only in the inmates taking our Bible school, but in the whole entire prison. The atmosphere changed. The population behavior changed, because these students, they were having such an influence on everyone else that the officers were like, ‘Wow, this is really great! We need to keep this going.’ And it got to where prisons in the surrounding area heard about it and said, ‘Can we get that in our prison?’”

Local church leaders and qualified volunteers teach the classes. The first year covers basics of the faith. The next nine months feature curriculum split between evangelism in general and evangelism specifically within a prison. The final six-month session covers church planting as well as chaplaincy skills.

Promoting Confidence in Sharing Their Faith

For many men, this is the first time they’ve participated in higher education. It may be the first time they’ve really felt like someone believed in them or their capabilities. They may feel a deep desire to share their faith, but face reservations about their abilities.

Payne-Holman says this training and degree helps take away those fears. “They are not going to be afraid to share their faith, because they have been so steeped in it. They’re so grounded. They know the fundamentals. They can explain what is redemption and why we need it, why we all need it. And because they’ve been an inmate now, they’ve got a little more credibility, right? They can actually look at someone, say, ‘Jesus changed my life. Come follow Him. He can change yours too. If He saved me from my destructive behavior, He can do anything for you.’”

Get Involved

Each new graduate provides credibility and stirs excitement for the program. It is growing and encouraging many. However, Payne-Holman says they need prayer.

(Photo courtesy of Prisoners for Christ)

“Pray that we would have open doors in the prisons, that we will get approved to go into more prisons, that they will continue to see what a positive effect this has on their inmate population and their community around them. We would pray for open hearts, the inmates to want to join these programs.”

Additionally, as with any ministry, operating costs are always a need. They provide stipends to the teachers to help keep the program from becoming a financial burden on people already operating with few resources. Each class also needs school supplies like paper, pens, and books.

While the costs are a crucial piece of the puzzle, Payne-Holman says it is clear that God is at work. “I have been surprised at how open as many of the African countries have been to us, especially again, like Nigeria, Pakistan, Mozambique – these all have very large Muslim populations, and that’s just always not well received as a Christian ministry. So, I think the Lord has really divinely touched these schools and allowed them to open and function as well as they have, and that no one has shut us down yet.”

Please pray that God would continue to open doors for the International Bible Institutes and their students and provide for their needs. If you’d like to help provide resources for IBIs, click here.

Payne-Holman says that in addition to prayer and monetary support, Prisoners for Christ recommends going on a trip to share the Gospel firsthand. They provide the training and facilitate trips to prisons where people are hungry for the Word of God. If you want to learn more about those opportunities, click here.

Representative header image courtesy of Orlando Allo via Pexels.

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA explains that these six believers were apparently involved in church activities for children. Yet the charges against them make their actions sound far more serious: 

“‘Organizing minors to engage in activities undermining public order.’ That is not a religious charge,” says Nettleton. “That is a ‘you’re undermining the government’ charge, and so that could carry quite a serious penalty.” 

Teaching religion to children in China has been banned for years. Yet believers have faithfully worked to reach the next generation.

“There are risks for meeting together with other Christians in China. That risk grows if you have people under 18 in those meetings, so they certainly would have known the risk of what they were doing and counted the cost ahead of time,” says Nettleton. He says the detained Christians will likely receive significant prison time.

The arrest of the six Christians is only one example of the Chinese Communist Party’s push for the “sinicization of religion.” That is, bringing religion under state ideology and control. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a report in May 2026 on how China’s laws are increasingly restricting freedom of religion or belief.

(Photo courtesy VOM-USA)

“They would say [sincization] is more of a cultural thing, but the reality is, it’s a control thing. The Chinese Communist Party wants to control the hearts and minds of China’s people,” says Nettleton.

“That’s the position of the Chinese Communist Party, that you are undermining the government when you are training children in biblical values and biblical truth.”

How can we be praying for China? Last week, May 14–15, United States President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing. Ask God to raise more advocates in the government and other spheres who will speak up for persecuted Chinese Christians.  

Pray also for the encouragement and strengthening of imprisoned believers like Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, Pastor Wang Yi, and others. 

“We want to pray for them in the way that we would want to be prayed for if it were us who were behind the bars,” says Nettleton, pointing to Hebrews 13:3. 

Header photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs USA. 

Eric Foley with VOM Korea explains that after decades of faithful service in Russia, 70-year-old Park was stopped on her way home to South Korea in January. She’s now in a Russian holding facility, facing alleged immigration charges that could carry an up to 17-year prison sentence. 

VOM Korea has ensured that Park has an attorney, a critical part of the process. 

“She says that while she’s reading her Bible daily, and she’s confident in the Lord, she just wants to come home,” says Foley. 

The charges against Park are a mask for Russia’s underlying issue: her missionary work among children. 

“That’s what happens in countries, whether it’s North Korea, China, Russia, or other countries. Rarely do you hear about religious charges,” Foley says. “Instead, what you get are charges like in China, the charges against pastors these days are that pastors are committing fraud. In Russia, a lot of charges these days relate to immigration.”

(Photo courtesy of VOM Korea)

Your advocacy can make a difference! But the how matters. Foley warns against two common mistakes Christians make when responding to persecution. 

“One is that they say nothing,” he says. “The other is that they speak so loudly and stridently that they demonize the government about whom they’re speaking.” 

Foley says that in VOM Korea’s decades of advocacy for Christian prisoners, “Not one of them has ever said, ‘I wish you would have been quiet when I was in prison.’ So we don’t need to yell and be human rights crusaders. We do simply need to tell the truth about what’s happening.”

Even the simple act of signing a petition shows a government that people around the world know what is happening and that they are willing to speak the truth about it. 

Pray especially for favor as VOM Korea delivers the signed petition to the Russian embassy very soon. 

“When you visit an embassy with a petition, they don’t welcome you in and serve you tea,” Foley says. 

“It’s an experience for which we really request a lot of prayer, because sometimes the gates get shut, sometimes the tables get turned, and the people who deliver the petitions end up being seen as the disturbers of the peace.”

Header photo courtesy of VOM Korea. 

Joe Willey serves with SAT-7, a satellite TV ministry to the Middle East and North Africa. The team knows their programs are a lifeline for isolated believers.

SAT-7 programs are a lifeline for isolated believers. (Photo courtesy of SAT-7)

“We have to really consider and not be glib about what they are going through, and not just say, ‘Oh, it will be okay,’ although we know in Christ it will be okay,” Willey says.

Instead of glibness, SAT-7 programs strive for gospel grit. That’s one reason why Iranian expats serve across the SAT-7 team. They bring cultural and personal understanding to create biblically sound content to minister to Iran and beyond. Christians aren’t the only audience they hope their content will serve. 

“We can pray for the Christian community to be strong, to stand fast,” says Willey. “But what also is happening in Iran is that people who have been under a real burden of religion, they have been turning to atheism. Because they say, ‘If this is religion, I don’t want any part of it.’ Until they hear the Gospel, until they hear about grace, until they hear about forgiveness. And it changes everything.” 

Pray that God uses SAT-7 and other media ministries to soften hearts across Iran — perhaps for the first time — to Jesus today.

Visit SAT-7’s website to read stories of God’s work in the MENA region, and to learn how to partner with this ministry. “See what’s going on in the Middle East and North Africa, and pray,” invites Willey. 

Header photo: An Iranian woman stands at an overlook with a panoramic view of Tehran, Iran. Tehran is the capital of Iran and its largest city, with the greater metro area hosting a population of 15 million. (Photo and caption courtesy of IMB, CC 4.0)

Prisoners For Christ (PFC) recognized the ministry opportunity early. They eventually connected with Pando, a closed-access app owned and operated by God Behind Bars out of Nevada. In January 2025, PFC began uploading Christian books, sermons, Bible teachings, and Gospel videos.

(Photo courtesy of Prisoners For Christ)

Mike North, Vice President of Communications at PFC, says, “We’ve been on there almost a year, and the response has been incredible. It’s been greater than we ever imagined!”

Tablets in prison aren’t like civilian devices. Inmates cannot freely access the Internet or search random websites. Instead, usage is heavily restricted to pre-approved apps such as Pando and other monitored content platforms. That control ensures safety while allowing ministries like PFC to provide meaningful, Gospel-centered material.

And prisoners are responding. One inmate named Carl wrote: “I’m so ready to give my life to Christ and follow Him to the ends of the earth… I will follow you forever. Amen.”

To date, PFC’s 46 uploaded videos have been viewed more than 564,000 times. The channel has also recorded 702 professions of faith in Jesus Christ after inmates watch a video that clearly explains the Gospel.

“It’s really humbling and it’s an unexpected blessing to think that we are actually in the cell with these prisoners,” North says. “We are actually meeting them — literally where they are — to present the light of the Gospel.”

(Photo courtesy of Prisoners For Christ)

When asked about PFC’s future vision with the Pando app, North responds, “That we would continue to upload content that’s relevant — and not just relevant, but interesting…. We want to evangelize and disciple these brothers and sisters in Christ.”

The momentum is building nationwide. Greg von Tobel, President and Founder of PFC, predicts, “By five years, I think every inmate in America will have a tablet. So that gives the Christian ministries out there an incredible opportunity to provide their resources to inmates without having boots on the ground.”

Pando is already active on 610,000 tablets, and plans underway could add another 700,000, bringing the total to 1.1 million devices.

That’s a Gospel opportunity unlike anything prison ministries have seen before. But growth takes funding.

Von Tobel says, “If your listeners were so moved to partner with us…there’s a lot more material that we could certainly avail ourselves of putting out there for inmate consumption. So that would be a prayer request.”

You can help bring the Gospel into prison cells across the United States. Click here to give through the PFC website.

Pray for favor and open hearts as the Gospel goes into more prisons through Pando. Pray also for strength and spiritual growth for new believers inside prison walls.

Header photo courtesy of Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash.

“After the war, they realized there are many spies [who] find government secrets and send [them] to Israel,” she says. “They are blaming everyone.”

One watchdog organization reports that journalists have been especially targeted. Baghestani adds Christians and Baha’is to the list. She says the government accuses believers of being “Zionist Christians” spying for Israel. It’s a fast track to prison. 

“More than I would say 70 Christians are in prison currently, awaiting their sentences,” Baghestani says. 

Heart4Iran knows of house churches that have been raided and at least one pastor who was arrested and tortured so severely that he shared names of other believers. 

“Some have just left their homes and cars where they are, and they just fled for their lives,” says Baghestani. “It’s sad, because we have prayed with these friends, with these Christians inside the country. We have discipled them. They are like our [children], and we are responsible for them.”

People’s fear of being monitored has kept them from calling Heart4Iran’s counseling center, which has seen its daily call volume drop.

(Photo courtesy of Heart4Iran)

“Everybody — Christian or non-Christian, the youth, the old — they all live in fear. Fear of arrest, fear of even getting killed on the streets. They come and stab you, and nobody knows why. You’re dead on the street, bleeding, and there is no answer,” Baghestani says. 

“When Mahsa Amini [protests] started, all the youth [rose up]. But now the youth are quiet. Where are they? They’re scared. They’re afraid.”

She says Iranians are placing notes and stickers in public places as signs of protest rather than taking to the streets themselves.

Let these accounts lead your prayers for the Iranian church.

“The Lord is good. The Lord is faithful. The Lord can protect them in the midst of all the persecution,” Baghestani says. 

Then, share this story. Visit Heart4Iran’s website to learn more about the Church in Iran.

“When we educate one another [about] what’s going on, when we bring awareness, we will be able to pray better for our people inside the country,” Baghestani says. 

“As much as we feel we are safe and there is no persecution, at these end times, persecution is spreading. If there is persecution in Iran, it will ooze out, and it will affect Christians all over the world.” 

Header image is a stock photo from Tehran, Iran courtesy of Seyed Amir Mohammad Tabatabaee.

Non-Existent Organizations

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA recently recorded a podcast with Chinese pastor, Brother Enfu*. He offered some insights on this unique concern of the underground church.

Nettleton says, “Every single church leader that has been charged in the last two years has been charged with financial crimes charges. They’ve been charged with fraud. They’ve been charged with so-called illegal business practices. And what it comes down to is the government comes in and says, ‘Hey, you’re collecting donations for an organization that doesn’t exist. That’s fraud.’”

Pastors facing this charge have very little chance at a defense. They cannot admit to having parishioners since that would require a legal church. The trials have been short and there is little chance for outside help since China says the arrests are for fraud not religious persecution.

(Image courtesy of Jacob Bentzinger on Unsplash)

Nettleton says that for Brother Enfu and other church leaders this poses a serious problem. Tithing, paying a pastor, and even providing healthcare or insurance for the pastor have become increasingly difficult.

“You can’t start a checking account for something that doesn’t legally exist. And the Chinese government is certainly monitoring financial transactions. They’re watching what’s going on. He talked about the fact that people bring their offerings in cash because they don’t want it tracked through some kind of electronic transaction, and the church doesn’t have a checking account where they could deposit checks. So people bring their money, their offerings, in cash. Then in his church they divided it up among the elders of the church,” Nettleton says.

Once the elders have the money, there still must be a legitimate reason for them to have it. So many church leaders have found themselves attending to these practical concerns while they struggle to find time to prepare to preach.

Smaller Churches, No Outside Training

Additionally, the crackdown in this way has forced larger underground churches to break up into smaller units. They need more leaders, but the avenues to train and pay them are fewer and more dangerous than in the past.

One area of increased concern is with outside training from foreigners. Brother Enfu noted that the government has cracked down on outsiders sharing the Gospel.

(Image courtesy of Zhang Kaiyv on Unsplash)

Nettleton says, “Not just in front of a crowd of people, but literally even in a one-on-one conversation, for a foreigner to talk about religion is now against the law in China. And so the need for Chinese leaders to be raised up, and Chinese leaders to stay and to train the next generation of leaders, that is something that is certainly on Brother Enfu’s heart. He encouraged us to pray for that as well.”

As a result of these new and creative means of persecution, Chinese parents are preparing their children for oppression and imprisonment. Nettleton says, “He talked about literally sitting around his own dinner table and talking with his own children about, ‘What will happen when I get arrested? Yeah, that that’s a strong possibility. But more importantly, what will happen when you get arrested my children? When you go to prison? Because that’s what it looks like to follow Jesus in China.’”

Please pray that God would continue to grow the church in China despite persecution.

If you want to listen to Brother Enfu’s interview in full, click here.

*Pseudonym

Header image courtesy of Ye Jinghan via Unsplash

Kathleen Retan with Prisoners for Christ (PFC) says that a few years ago, an inmate named Darryl was receiving discipleship from multiple ministries, including PFC. He decided it was time to take responsibility for gospel ministry in his facility. 

Today, Darryl and a group of fellow believers call themselves Table Time Ministries. The name is a riff on a well-known prison reality in which s the tables in shared spaces are staked out by different people.

(Photo courtesy of Ivan Samkov via Pexels)

“Their emphasis is very much on being models within the prison, models of the way Jesus Christ would want them to act and to live,” said Retan. “This is not just to other inmates, but specifically for staff to see that too.” 

The men in Table Time meet for three hours on Saturdays, sponsored by PFC. Volunteers with PFC lead one hour, but a full two hours are for Table Time’s cell-to-cell outreach planning, Bible study, community, and more.

“When you have the inmate-initiated discipleship, you’re able to tap into a passion for other inmates as well as a shared cultural experience that volunteers can’t match either,” said Retan. “That gives me a lot of hope for what the Holy Spirit’s going to do in this work.” 

This good news is a call to action! Inmates around the world need discipleship before they can become disciplers themselves. That often means a fellow Christian must come to serve them first. 

“So many of us think of the work of the church [as if] it should be done by the pastors and the elders, the deacons, and we sit in the pews,” said Retan. “Well, the inmates can be the same way. They need to have it awakened to them that they need to be the ‘inside church’ themselves and not leave ministry up to the organizations, the volunteers alone.” 

Think God might be calling you to prison ministry? Prisoners for Christ is dedicated to taking the gospel into jails, prisons, and juvenile institutions in more than 30 countries worldwide, including the US. Contact PFC today to learn more and find resources about this work wherever you are. 

The header photo is courtesy of Donald Tong/Pexels.

The good news? Don Szolomayer with Prisoners for Christ says almost every prison they’ve served over the years has some form of a church.

“[It] may not be in a building. It may just be a handful of inmates that gather periodically. On the other side of that, it may be a full-blown, active church with a building, with structure.” 

These churches need support. Prisoners for Christ offers an International Bible Institute program that disciples inmates in their faith in Christ. (More on that here.)

Another strategy is to connect believers outside of the prison with those inside.

Representative picture of a small prison cell. (Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash)

“When we go to various countries…we go into their prisons and we model how to do services and things of that nature, but then we’re gone. Who’s there to carry over? So one of the things we do is we try to find local churches and that to take on that responsibility,” says Szolomayer.

He encourages pastors around the world to view prison churches as part of their own congregation. Looking ahead, Prisoners for Christ hopes to see many inmates serving as chaplains within the facilities where they are incarcerated.

“You have someone in that prison that’s there, 24/7, that can share, that can mentor, that can disciple, that can evangelize on the spot, as needed, as things occur — that’s really the church in action in a prison setting,” says Szolomayer. 

Please pray as Prisoners for Christ develops their ministry model to plant more churches and strengthen the ones that already exist. Rapport with prison officials is opening the way for church-planting.

“It’s almost like starting from scratch every time you go to plant a church in a prison, because the variables are just all over the place,” says Szolomayer. 

Header photo: Representative stock photo from Iran courtesy of Mashid Saberpour via Unsplash.