David Lin was a pastor on a missionary trip to China in 2006 when he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison while helping a group of house Christians.
The Chinese regime has released David Lin, an American citizen and pastor who was on a missionary trip to China in 2006 when he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison while helping a group of house Christians.
Christianity under the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) rule requires registration and worship under CCP-controlled churches, and independent Christians who do not follow CCP doctrines are subjected to religious persecution. They are also known as house Christians because they gather instead in private homes.
Lin’s family has been campaigning for his release for years, and shortly before President Joe Biden met with Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping in 2022, Lin’s life sentence was reduced to 24 years. According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Lin was, until 2019, translating the Bible into Chinese and ministering to his fellow prisoners but stopped at the same time reports emerged of Lin’s declining health and concerns for safety.
