An original musical and dance performance recounting the true story of the translation and transmission of the Bible to Korea through Scottish missionary John Ross and his Korean co-workers debuted last week at More Love Church in Suwon.
The “John Ross Bible Historical Drama”, written by Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr Hyun Sook Foley, was performed by North Korean defector students enrolled in the ministry’s Underground University North Korean missionary training program, as well as by Representative Foley, Voice of the Martyrs Korea CEO Pastor Eric Foley, and North Korean Ministries Team Leader Pastor Trevor Foley.
According to Representative Foley, the drama was twenty years in the making.
“In the mid-2000s, Voice of the Martyrs Korea, which believed that North Korean defectors flooding into South Korea could play an important role in North Korean missions, started Underground University to train North Korean defectors in the ways of North Korean underground believers and to reach North Koreans with the gospel wherever they are found around the world,” said Representative Foley. “While running the school, I discovered that first-generation North Korean defectors (average age over 60 years old) were the main characters of North Korean ministry.”
Starting in early 2023, Representative Foley, a professional Korean dancer and clinical counselor, began including Bible dance therapy in the Underground University curriculum.
“There are two goals for our Bible dance therapy curriculum,” said Representative Foley. “Our first goal was to teach our students the miraculous true story of their North Korean ancestors, who were the ones the Lord used along with Missionary John Ross to bring the word of God to Korea. The second was to use Korean dance and drama to help them express their inner feelings and experience healing for the traumas they had experienced in their lives and in their journeys to South Korea.”
Representative Foley said the students gained pride as they learned about their ancestors, while also experiencing a sense of stability and peace in their hearts through the Bible dance therapy. “Their passion for evangelism toward fellow North Koreans was also amplified,” she said.
More Love Church in Suwon invited the group for their debut performance, scheduling it immediately after their Wednesday morning service at which Pastor Foley and Representative Foley preached. In addition to the church’s own members, about a hundred other guests attended the performance at the invitation of Voice of the Martyrs Korea.
More Love Church Associate Pastor Ji Sang Hoon, who coordinated the group’s performance at the church, said he was impressed.
“I think that the John Ross Bible historical drama does a great job of conveying the historical story of John Ross and the Joseon merchants’ translation of the Bible without leaving out the essential points,” said Pastor Ji. “The Korean people who participated in the John Ross Bible translation were not Christians at first, and in some ways, they were people who would not have received any social attention. However, I really liked how Missionary John Ross expressed in detail through this performance how he paid great attention to each and every one of them, persevering and motivating them until the end of the book of life.”
Pastor Ji said he was most impressed by the North Korean defector performers, who played historical figures including Seo Sang Yoon, Lee Eung Chan, and Lee Sung Ha, in addition to singing and performing versions of the Korean traditional fan dance and three drum dance created especially for the drama. There is also a performance in which the confession of a North Korean defector about the translation of the Bible is scored to the traditional “Jindo Arirang” folk song and expressed using Korean traditional percussion instruments.
“The North Korean defector students in their 60s and 70s did it like professional theater actors, even though it must not have been easy for them to memorize and direct so many lines in such a short period of time,” Pastor Ji said.
Also in attendance were students from The Light School, a Christian alternative school in Yongin. The students had been studying Missionary John Ross and early Korean Christians when they heard that Voice of the Martyrs Korea would be performing the drama near the school.
“Through John Ross Bible Historical Drama, I have been very grateful to see how God’s Word has changed people who are mere treasures into God’s people who risk their lives to preach the Bible,” said Pastor Go Byeong-ik, the pastor in charge of the school. “I was impressed by the historical facts through the play, and the acting of the North Korean defector teachers was very good and interesting. In particular, I was surprised that Pastor Trevor Foley, who played the role of John Ross, spoke Korean so well.” Pastor Go says the Light School receives the Voice of the Martyrs Korea monthly newsletter and uses it to guide students’ prayer requests for Christians in persecuted countries, as well as to support VOMK’s annual sending of more than 40,000 Bibles per year into North Korea.
Representative Foley says Voice of the Martyrs Korea plans to continue performances of the John Ross Bible Historical Drama throughout the remainder of 2024. Churches interested in hosting the performance can contact the ministry at 02-2065-0703 for more information.
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