Central Asian pastor honored by VOMK for this year’s Day of the Christian Martyr

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Pastor Foley

A Central Asian pastor remembered as a peaceful witness for Jesus Christ is this year’s Voice of the Martyrs Korea Day of the Christian Martyr honoree.

The ministry held a press conference last week at its Seoul office to honor martyred pastor Sergei Bessarab with a plaque on its Martyrs Timeline and a video available for use by churches, small groups, and families to commemorate this year’s Day of the Christian Martyr. The video is available at www.vomkorea.com/en/dotcm.

“According to church tradition, June 29 marks the martyrdom of the Apostle Paul, so Christians around the world take time this week to honor the legacy of those who have sacrificed their lives for the advancement of the gospel,” said Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr Hyun Sook Foley.

Representative Foley said that this year her organization is honoring Pastor Sergei Bessarab, who was martyred in Central Asia on January 4, 2004.

“Five years before his death, Sergei Bessarab had gone to prison five times, but not for his faith in Christ,” said Representative Foley. She says that one day a fellow prisoner shared the gospel with Bessarab, who eventually surrendered his life to the Lord.

“After being released from prison, Bessarab and his wife Tamara felt called to gospel ministry and began preaching around Central Asia, before settling on a particular city to plant a church in,” said Representative Foley. The city had over 100 mosques but no Christian presence, she added.

Pastor Bessarab faithfully preached the gospel, and his new church grew to almost 60 people. But according to Representative Foley, some in the city were not happy with the pastor’s faithful witness.

“On January 12, 2004, after returning from a prayer meeting, Pastor Sergei came into his house and stopped by a window,” said Representative Foley. “Suddenly shots rang out and he fell dead, having been shot at point blank range.  This was less than a year after Sergei and Tamara moved to town.”

Almost immediately, Tamara began to see fruit from Sergei’s life and death.

“During Sergei’s funeral, my son gave his life to Christ,” Tamara told Voice of the Martyrs. “The fact that Sergei was always prepared to sacrifice life for his faith, and eventually did that, showed my son that faith in Christ is worth our firm stance, even under the threat of death.”

Pastor Sergei preaching at his church in Central Asia.

Representative Foley said that most people expected that Pastor Bessarab’s death would lead to the closure of the church he had planted. “On the contrary, his death filled the church, and it became a living witness of God’s faithfulness,” said Representative Foley. She said that Bessarab’s wife Tamara continues ministry to the present day, despite her own serious health problems.

According to Representative Foley, the Day of the Christian Martyr is an opportunity for churches around the world to learn about Christians facing martyrdom today, particularly in the more than 70 countries where there are restrictions on the practice of the Christian faith. She said Voice of the Martyrs Korea tries to highlight a martyr from a different country or region on the Day of the Christian Martyr each year so that Christians can better understand the extent and types of persecution currently being faced by other Christians around the world. Pastor Bessarab is the first Central Asian martyr Voice of the Martyrs Korea has highlighted, according to Representative Foley.

Pastor Sergei’s family surround a picture of Pastor Sergei after his death.

A short video about Pastor Bessarab is available at www.vomkorea.com/en/dotcm for individual viewing as well as use by churches and small groups, in commemoration of the Day of the Christian Martyr as well as for general use year round, Representative Foley said.

“Today, many local believers in Central Asia are facing increasing restrictions, persecutions, and even martyrdom due to their faithful witness for Christ,” said Representative Foley. “But the Lord is continuing to raise up bold local pastors to lead his churches there. Sadly, many churches around the world still have not yet heard the stories of Central Asian pastors like Pastor Bessarab.” She said that is why her organization is highlighting Pastor Bessarab’s martyrdom. “We want believers around the world to be encouraged and strengthened by learning more about how the Lord is working in the Central Asian towns and villages that are well beyond the reach of foreign missionaries,” said Representative Foley.

Voice of the Martyr’s Korea video on Pastor Sergei Bessarab’s faithful witness 

Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s previous honorees on the Day of the Christian Martyr include Colombian lay evangelist Rocio Pino, who was martyred on March 6, 2011 by the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia; North Korean underground Christian Cha Deok Sun, who was martyred between 2005-2010; and Somali evangelist Abdiwelli Ahmed, a convert to Christianity from Islam who was martyred in Kenya on February 27, 2013.

Posted in Day of the Christian Martyr | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The best balloon launch is the one that remains undetected

Posted on June 6, 2024 by Pastor Foley

Here are comments I shared with a reporter who was doing a story on the recent back-and-forth balloon launch activity by the North Korean government (sending human waste and trash) and some balloon launchers in South Korea who publicly announce the details of their launches:

I think it’s helpful to distinguish between balloon launching and public announcements about balloon launches. What the North Korean government and some South Korean balloon launchers have in common is that making the public aware of their launching activities is at least as important to them and their goals as the launches themselves and the materials they are sending. Both groups make extensive use of media, launch eye-catching materials in eye-catching balloons, and employ rhetoric that at times flies higher than the balloons themselves.

But of course it doesn’t have to be like this. If the goal is to reach North Koreans outside of the mediation of the North Korean government, which in my opinion should indeed be the goal of balloon launching, then the best launch is the one that remains undetected.

For some groups, balloon launching is political theatre, which is why they launch on public holidays and then heavily promote their launches. But when launchers show photos of what they launch, and when they announce when and where they launched, it’s like providing a map to North Korean authorities, who can then use these public statements to locate the materials which were launched and to round up any North Koreans who found and took the materials. Units in the North Korean military are mobilized to respond to launches once those launches are detected. So North Koreans who find the materials and take them home likely have no idea that the North Korean government already knows and is actively searching for them. Their safety is compromised completely outside of their awareness.

In order to keep potential recipients safe, launches should be separate from public advocacy and the public theatre of launching. Launch as quietly as possible. Say nothing. Post no photos, no launch data about how many balloons were sent from where carrying what. Give North Koreans the best possible opportunity to simply find what you sent without anyone already tracking them.

Some people may say the best launch is no launch, and situations like what we see at the present time will no doubt result in various parties calling for a renewed ban on launching. But balloon launches are one of very few technologies that when employed responsibly enable ordinary North Koreans access to a world not mediated by their government. When launches are done safely and quietly—using non-flammable gas, biodegradable balloons, intelligent projection and tracking tools to ensure success—they don’t make the news, and they don’t ratchet up the danger. Ordinary North Koreans benefit, and the North Korean government is none the wiser. Unfortunately, you can’t make a law that requires balloon launchers to examine their own hearts and motives, but the public can decide what groups are supported, and they can influence how groups act. Local police can enforce local laws that are already on the books so that launches are not political theatre but are efficient, effective, safe ways for Koreans to communicate without the interference of governments, as is every human being’s right.

As regards our own work at Voice of the Martyrs Korea, we ourselves don’t comment publicly about what we are or are not doing, or have done, or will do, in the field, in order to ensure the safety of of all concerned and the success of our operations. What we can say is that every year we get 40,000 Bibles into North Korea as quietly as possible, using a wide variety of methods, always focused on the safety of our neighbors here and the safety of potential recipients in North Korea. They have a right to know, and we have a responsibility to help them exercise that right as safely as possible. That requires us to separate our public advocacy role from our field work. Both are vital, but they should never be concurrent.

Posted in Balloon Launching | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

“From victim to victor”: Dr Hyun Sook Foley leads women around the world on a “hero’s journey”

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Pastor Foley

At retreat centers outside Ottawa and Calgary last month, more than one hundred women from across Canada gathered together to draw their life stories on Korean-style fans, discuss previously hidden traumas, and listen attentively to workshops on “letting God tell your story” led by Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr Hyun Sook Foley, author of the book, “The Hero’s Journey: From Victim to Victor”.

Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley leads Christian women in Canada through her Hero’s Journey method at a workshop in a retreat center near Ottawa on May 17, 2024.

The organizer of the Canadian events, Voice of the Martyrs Canada’s Vanessa Brobbel, says she wanted to bring to Canadian Christian women the same teaching on healing from traumatic life experiences that Representative Foley has been sharing in workshops with persecuted Christian women across Asia since the book’s publication in 2021.

“I invited Dr Foley because I believed that ordinary Christian women here in Canada need to experience the same healing that the Lord has used her to bring to persecuted Christian women in North Korea, China, and other countries,” says Mrs Brobbel, whose husband is the CEO of Voice of the Martyrs Canada. “The specific challenges we experience in living our Christian lives are of course different in Canada than in North Korea, but the need for healing from deep hurts is the same. And Representative Foley’s method of letting Christ tell your story instead of you being the author of your own life story is understandable and powerful for Christian women everywhere.”

An attendee explains her artwork to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley during a Hero’s Journey workshop held in Canada last month.

The events, which took place from Friday evening through Sunday morning on consecutive weekends, attracted attendees who drove as long as seven hours to attend.

Mrs Brobbel says the event was life changing for the attendees.

“One of the attendees was a pastor’s wife whose husband died a few years ago,” says Mrs Brobbel. “Her husband had abused her for more than 30 years, but she never shared this with anyone. During one of the small group discussion times after Dr Foley shared her own story, the pastor’s wife burst into tears and shared about the abuse for the first time. By the end of the event the woman was beaming. Her face was bright, and she said she now had a totally different outlook on her past and for the first time was looking forward to the future.”

“We were never victims; we were always characters in God’s stories, and we just didn’t know it,” says Ann, a woman who participated at the Ottawa conference. “Through the event I learned that we can really benefit from reframing our stories away from what is victimhood and toward God’s perspective, which helps us understand where he’s leading us, and to better understand why he took us through what we went through.”

Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley hugs one of the participants at a Hero’s Journey retreat in Canada last month.

Representative Foley says that she first developed the Hero’s Journey method to help the North Korean defector Christian women she has been working with since 2005. She still uses the method primarily in that work but says that since the publication of her book she has received more and more requests to teach the method to Christian women in countries like Canada, Europe, and South Korea. Her first Korean seminar, offered by Voice of the Martyrs Korea at a location in Muju, will take place August 30 through September 1.

“What I have come to realize is that it doesn’t matter if we are from North or South Korea; every Christian needs to learn the narrative framework in which God has planned our lives to be victors’ stories,” says Representative Foley. “If we don’t learn this, our stories will always be about ourselves and about the people who have hurt us. So, in these women’s conferences we are learning how to go ‘from victim to victor’ by letting God tell our story, rather than us telling it ourselves. God never gives anyone a victim’s story. Because of Christ, he is turning all our stories into hero’s stories. Seeing Canadian women experience that truth during these conferences has been extremely encouraging for me.”

Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley speaks with an attendee at a Hero’s Journey retreat for Christian women in Canada last month.

“For years I have been living a victim’s story,” says Samantha, a woman who attended the Calgary event. “But now I can see that we were never victims but were always victors in Christ. So I feel like it’s time for me to start living as a victor.”

In the workshops, Representative Foley makes use of art as a means of helping participants process and express how to see their difficult life experiences differently through Christ. For the Korean workshop, she plans to use traditional Korean dance as well, something she says has become fundamental to her work in helping North Korean defector Christians overcome trauma. “In many Christian conferences the attendees just sit and listen to the speaker,” says Representative Foley. “But watching the Canadian Christian women re-think their life stories by drawing them on Korean fans as they discussed their stories with each other helped me to see that the art and discussion times are sometimes even more important than the teaching times.”

Harmony Brobbel, one of the participants at the Calgary Hero’s Journey workshop, displays the “life story fan” she created at the workshop as she poses with Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley

Representative Foley says that she will be teaching the first Hero’s Journey workshop for Christian women in Korea Friday evening August 30 through Sunday morning September 1. Cost for the event is 250,000 KRW. Women interested in attending can call the Voice of the Martyrs Korea office at 02-2065-0703, or register through the organization’s website at www.vomkorea.com/herosjourney. Representative Foley’s book, The Hero’s Journey, is available through amazon.com.

Posted in Hero's Journey | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment