100 Days Update: Many North Korean Underground Christians Aren’t Poor

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Pastor Foley

SUSA-KoreanA few days hence, we’ll be releasing exclusive new video of North Korean underground Christians worshiping inside of North Korea. It’s rare and amazing footage. But perhaps the most shocking thing you’ll note about the video is this:

These North Korean underground Christians in the video aren’t poor.

This runs contrary to the image most people have of North Korean Christians. The assumption is that because North Korean Christians are the most persecuted population on the planet, they must by definition be poor.

But this overlooks some very important truths about North Korea and how Christians must function there in order to stay alive.

It’s important to understand that many of the basic activities we associate with being a Christian–e.g., gathering together, owning and reading a Bible, being discipled, singing songs, praying–are activities that border on the impossible for most North Koreans.

Take church meetings. North Koreans have a saying: Wherever two or three are gathered together, one of them is a spy. North Koreans are tasked with watching their neighbors closely and reporting any unusual activity to the government. The idea of underground North Korean Christians sneaking out of their homes in the middle of the night and going out into the forest or to the home of another Christian to worship just doesn’t bear scrutiny. Most North Korean Christians simply never meet other North Korean Christians beyond their immediate family members in their lifetime.

Traveling around inside North Korea legally is an impressive feat in and of itself. A travel permit is required to move from town to town, and procuring such permits require time and, often, money. They also require being in the good graces of the government. This eliminates many in the lower classes of North Korean society–and it means that the gospel is more likely to spread among those in the higher classes.

Wealth brings privilege in North Korean society, and privilege often takes the form of greater privacy–and greater ability to get other North Koreans to forget about having seen you do something anti-North Korean…like praying, having a Bible, listening to a Christian radio broadcast, or watching a Christian video on DVD.

Also, historically in Korea overall, Christianity has been the religion of the upper classes, whereas Buddhism has been the religion of the poor. So it is not unusual for historic Christian families in North Korea to have been in positions of comparative privilege because of their family background.

Finally, North Koreans often encounter Christianity when they are on work contracts in countries like China and Russia. Only the upper crust of North Korean society are eligible for these international jobs. Sometimes the contracts are for a year abroad, sometimes for three. But at the end of those contracts, when workers return home (or, sometimes, during visits back home during the contracts), their neighbors are eager to hear the reports of what is happening in the outside world. Sometimes those reports can carefully include proclamations of the gospel to family members and confidantes.

This is not to say that all North Korean Christians are rich. Some are quite destitute–especially those who hear the gospel upon escaping into China. But these defectors are less likely to return back to North Korea in order to evangelize family members. This is why we train North Korean defectors in South Korea how to share the gospel with family members still inside North Korea.

And, in the end, that is why many North Korean underground Christians who remain in North Korea aren’t poor. They aren’t necessarily affluent either, but as you’ll see in the video when we post it, a surprising number are middle class.

And that’s just one of the surprising things you can learn about the North Korean underground church through participating in the 100 Days of Worship in the Common Places campaign that is now underway. And it’s not too late to sign up. We’ll be worshiping with the North Korean church on through New Year’s Eve. So make sure to sign up now so that you don’t miss the exclusive video when it’s posted.

 

 

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Video – How Do North Korean Christians Do The Lord’s Supper?

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Pastor Foley

All denominations have rules regarding the Lord’s Supper.  Pastor Foley challenges us to think about how those rules would hold up in a place like North Korea. In North Korea, the Lord’s Supper manages to pass the boundaries that human beings and repressive structures have erected.  For North Korean Christians, the Lord’s Supper reminds them that Jesus Christ can go to places where they cannot and connect them in worship to people whose faces they may never see in this lifetime.

For all of the latest podcasts on Making Disciples and on past Works of Mercy visit our Seoul USA Podcast Page!

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We Ransom the Persecuted Church And They Ransom Us

Posted on October 16, 2013 by tdillmuth

WLO_ransomcaptivePost by Pastor Tim – It’s often difficult to understand what the Work of Mercy of ransoming the captive is . . . let alone actually meet someone who is actively ransoming someone.  But this past week I was able to do just that, in fact I met about 60 people who have dedicated their lives to ransoming the captive.

When it comes to ransoming, people are not only figuratively held captive by their emotions, backgrounds and circumstances, but today there are over 200 million Christians who are literally held captive in about 60 countries around the world.

These 60 men and women are all a part of Voice of the Martyrs and they are serving the Lord in places like North Korea, Nigeria, Laos, Iraq, Israel and India.

A great example of this are the doctors that are a part of VOM Medical Missions.  It would certainly be much easier for these doctors to simply give money to the cause, but instead they physically traveled to some of these dangerous places and administered both spiritual and physical care for those that have been persecuted for their faith.  In fact, these doctors recently went into Nigeria and helped Habila Adamu, who survived a vicious gun-shot to the face because he refused to deny Jesus Christ.

Over the past year, I’ve found myself thinking that in this day and age there weren’t many opportunities to ransom anyone.  But my time with these honored brothers and sisters reminded me that persecution hasn’t diminished since the time of Christ . . . it’s grown! And like the VOM medical doctors, we should have a part in the work of mercy of ransoming.  This could mean a number of things, but it certainly means that we should begin to devote our time, prayers, money and ourselves to the persecuted church.

But one aspect of ransoming that we don’t often think of is the part that the persecuted church plays in ransoming us.  We may not need a physical ransoming (like they do), but we could certainly use some spiritual ransoming!  For example, I’ve been discipled by the North Korean underground church in that I’ve seen and experienced their faithfulness firsthand through the “100 Days of Worship.”

And this was perhaps the most special part of my time spent with these 60 men and women.  We gathered together in a common place (a hotel conference room), and we worshiped the Lord together using the “100 Days of Worship” booklet.   People from the U.S. stood side by side with Christians from persecuted countries, and we worshiped the Lord in unity.  We served each other communion, we confessed our sins together before God, and the Holy Spirit met us through the example and faithfulness of the persecuted Christians in North Korea.

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