Trapped between government troops and rebels, Cameroon pastors receive trauma care

Posted on January 28, 2020 by Pastor Foley

Dr. Foley and I traveled to Cameroon in December to conduct an emergency Christian trauma recovery training event for pastors from the western region of the country.

Persecution caught these pastors by surprise.

There is a civil war happening now in Western Cameroon between a secessionist rebel group and the regular army. The pastors there are determined to stay out of politics; to simply preach the gospel and care for their churches and families. But that has caused the rebels and the government troops to be suspicious of the pastors. Both sides treat them as spies. As a result, life has become extremely difficult for the pastors. As villages are burned down, pastors’ churches and homes are destroyed. The pastors move their families to the capital city, but they themselves stay in the war zone, without the support of their denominations. They live in tents in the jungle without a salary and minister to the people on both sides of the conflict. Gunfire is a daily occurrence. They are frequently interrogated by both sides. Sometimes they are kidnapped. This has gone on for almost two years. The result is an unimaginably high level of trauma for the pastors of Western Cameroon.

We received an urgent summons from a VOM sister mission late last year for Dr. Foley to come and teach Christian trauma recovery to the pastors. Trauma recovery for persecuted Christians is an extremely rare specialty. Our sister VOM knew that Dr. Foley had taught trauma recovery in similar circumstances to persecuted Christians from North Korea, China, Eritrea, and Sri Lanka.

It was a huge help to the 15 pastors in attendance, and it will be a huge help to the hundreds of church members these pastors will now be able to help.

“You saw us weeping,” wrote the pastors in a statement of appreciation presented to Dr Foley at the completion of the four-day intensive training, “but by the promises in God’s Word through your ministration has brought us hope to continue with the Word of God.”

Dr. Foley received her master’s degree in clinical counseling with a specialization in trauma care from Colorado Christian University in the United States. The program was started by Dr. Larry Crabb with an emphasis on biblical counseling but was further developed to meet the requirements for clinical licensing. In addition to teaching trauma recovery directly to persecuted Christians, Dr Foley has also trained individuals to counsel persecuted Christians at international events in Belgium and Thailand.

Dr. Foley says that both biblical counseling and clinical counseling are needed to meet the needs of persecuted Christians like the pastors of Western Cameroon. “These pastors are unarmed materially, emotionally, and spiritually. We must help them (and their families) recover in each of these areas of their life. and We must also train them to be able to help the families in their churches to recover.”

Dr Foley and I believe that the global church must treat trauma recovery as a foundational mission to countries where Christians are persecuted. Until pastors and church members in these countries recover from trauma, they cannot effectively use the humanitarian aid or church building assistance that is usually provided by the global church to places like this.

We are scheduled to travel to Africa again later this month to lead a trauma recovery session for Eritrean Christians, widely regarded as among the world’s most persecuted. Dr Foley will then lead a similar session at an undisclosed location in March for traumatized Chinese Christians.

If you’re interested in making a donation to VOMK’s trauma recovery ministry for persecuted Christians can do so at www.vomkorea.com/en/donation (select “Families of Martyrs and Prisoners” from the donation option menu) or via electronic transfer to
국민은행 463501-01-243303
예금주: (사)순교자의소리
Please include the phrase “FOM” (for “Families of Martyrs”) on the transfer.

Posted in Cameroon | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

New 2020 guidelines strengthen Communist Party control over China’s churches and public schools

Posted on January 14, 2020 by Pastor Foley

New guidelines are now going into effect to strengthen Communist Party control over what is taught in China’s state churches and public schools.

The State Administration of Religious Affairs released in November Order 13, the “Administrative Measures for Religious Groups” to go into effect February 1. Article 17 of that Order states: “Religious organizations must spread the principles and policies of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as national laws, regulations, rules to religious personnel and religious citizens, educating religious personnel and religious citizens to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, supporting the socialist system, adhering to and following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

Then on Tuesday January 7, the Communist Party issued guidelines for Chinese primary through high schools banning the use of foreign teaching materials. The guidelines also require that all curriculum undergo political review to ensure that it promotes the “spirit of Xi Jinping Thought” and traditional Chinese cultural values. 

Chinese Christians cannot turn to state churches for true discipleship, nor can they entrust their children to Chinese schools. At both school and church, they are now taught that Xi Jinping, not Jesus Christ, is effectively the Lord of China.

But the new policies may ultimately benefit the cause of Christianity in China. No matter what Chinese schools and state churches teach, Jesus Christ is Lord, and he is using all things for the good of Chinese Christians. For a while, there was a trend in Chinese churches toward Christian education being done in megachurches by pastors and trained professionals, just like in Korea. But we see God using the increasingly severe governmental restrictions to cause more Chinese Christians to take responsibility for the evangelism and discipleship of their own children.

Now the greatest need is to equip parents for this task.

Voice of the Martyrs Korea and its US partner China Aid become aware of this movement toward parent-led discipleship in China when leaders representing several hundred churches in 30 provinces of China approached us last year with a request to supply 5,000 “Sunday School in a Box” packages within 12 months. The church leaders envisioned a package consisting of materials that are still legal in some locations in China but not readily available: the leading legal children’s Bible in China, a compact video player, and a comprehensive curriculum of digital resources for parents and children.

Instead of importing foreign materials—which these new laws in China strongly oppose—Chinese church leaders developed a strategy that makes the project much more difficult for Chinese authorities to detect or shut down.

So far VOM Korea and China Aid and many of our sister VOM missions around the world have supplied funds for 2,500 boxes. The confidential acquisition and distribution efforts have begun inside China. The operation has begun not a moment too soon: Now that the new restrictions for state churches and schools have gone into effect, the wisdom and foresight of these the Chinese church leaders can be seen: Parents discipling their own children has always been Christ’s plan for his church. Now it is the only hope for the Chinese church. VOMK and China Aid are urgently raising funds for the remaining 2,500 boxes to be sent within the next six months.

The cost for one Sunday School in a Box is 75,000 KRW, or $75USD. Korean churches and individuals interested in making a donation to the Sunday School in a Box project can do so at https://vomkorea.com/en/campaign/ssib/ or via electronic transfer to:

국민은행 463501-01-243303

예금주: (사)순교자의소리

Please include the phrase “SSIB” (for “Sunday School in a Box”) on the transfer.

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What are you doing New Years Eve? Persecuted Christians are sharing their prayer requests with us in a 24 hour Facebook event

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Pastor Foley

May I challenge you to ring in the New Year by praying for urgent prayer requests from actual persecuted Christians in 24 countries that will be posted on our VOMK Korean language, Chinese language, and Russian language Facebook pages hourly beginning at 6PM Korea time on New Year’s Eve?

From 6PM on December 31 to 6PM on January 1, we will post a new prayer request at the top of every hour from a Christian in one of 24 countries where Christianity is either banned or heavily restricted.

This prayer campaign is unprecedented because we will be praying for specific persecuted Christians by name, using their specific prayer requests, and we will be providing actual photos from these Christians to help us pray. These are not general prayer requests for Christians in hostile and restricted nations. These are specific requests from specific brothers and sisters whose stories we know and have verified. They are partners with us and with our sister Voice of the Martyrs organizations around the world.

Preparations for the 24-hour prayer campaign began in early fall. First, our sister mission Voice of the Martyrs US had to identify persecuted Christians who were willing to share. Then they had to gather their prayer requests and related photos, carefully sanitizing them by changing names and blocking out details that could put them in danger. Then we at VOMK translated the requests into Korean, Chinese, and Russian for each of our Voice of the Martyrs Korea Facebook pages.

A partial list of the 24 countries from which we will be sharing prayer requests includes Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, China, Syria, and Cameroon. As I write this, Dr. Foley and I are in Cameroon, which makes the sharing of the prayer requests from here deeply personal to us. We are here providing trauma counseling and persecution training to church leaders who are caught in the crossfire between government and separatists but who are faithfully shepherding the flock of God at great personal cost. The thing the Cameroon pastors asked us for again and again was for Christians in other countries to remember them in our prayers. By doing this 24-hour Facebook New Year’s Campaign, we can begin to fulfill the promise we have made to them this week.

The campaign will begin at 6PM December 31 on our VOMK Korean language, Chinese language, and Russian language Facebook pages, with a new prayer request being posted every hour until 6PM January 1. You may not speak Korean, Chinese, or Russian, but Facebook’s own translation function along with the photos accompanying the prayer requests should make things just fine for you–a little bit of linguistic suffering to empathize with the far greater suffering of our brothers and sisters in chains.

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