Fouling the Air for Peace

For years, activists, government agencies, and others have used large balloons to fly banned materials into North Korea. For 12 years now, Voice of the Martyrs has used balloon launches to send thousands of Bibles into the country.

However, just before the North Korea and US summit began, they abruptly stopped. Eric Foley with Voice of the Martyrs Korea, a sister branch of VOM USA, states, “What we’re facing now is a complete blockade for balloon launches and the justification for it that the South Korean government is giving to us is that is, ‘fouls the air for peace.’ And what they mean by that is the North Korean government doesn’t like balloon launches.”

 Don’t Bother North Korea

As the world watches and North Korea concedes to some talks with other nations, people are beginning to press for peace. But for Christians that is translating to tighter reigns on spreading the Gospel through means like balloon launches.

“For many years in our work the government has said ‘not now, wait, don’t do anything to bother North Korea.’ And now, unfortunately, the international community is kind of supporting that rationale. We’ve faced restrictions in the past on balloon launching that were temporary and for a time, but it’s pretty clear that this time these restrictions are different. The government has issued a comprehensive ban on balloon launching.”

Foley continues, “This is a particularly dangerous time for Christians in South Korea and North Korea because the agenda that is being set is being set by [the] government in terms of ministry. And we know historically in missions that governments setting agendas for missions has not gone well for the church.”

Close Monitoring

The South Korean government suggests a meeting for religious exchange. North Korea and South Korea would choose participants carefully and watch them closely. Foley explains that rather than angering their northern neighbor, the government wants to control who receives the Gospel and how. But the Word of God is not bound by human constraints.

So Christians in South Korea are faced with a difficult choice. Do they let the government choose how they witness or don’t they? If they don’t, then consequences may follow.

Continuing the Work of the Gospel

Foley explains, “And what we’re being portrayed is as anti-North Korea, anti-peace. Why? Because we don’t allow the government to set the agenda for the kind of work that we do.

(Image courtesy of Peteranta of Pixabay)

“Now the Bible says that we have to be obedient to the government and that’s true. But we don’t need to turn to the government to lay out our missions strategy for us. Our job is to do what the Lord calls us to do and accept the consequences. And that’s the situation that we’re in here now, is that we’re going to continue to do what the Lord calls us to do.

“We don’t do it violently. We don’t do it angrily. We don’t do it with confrontation. But we do it knowing that we may pay a price for that. So in that, we may join our North Korean brothers and sisters in paying a price for trying to freely carry out the work of God.”

Pray for Lasting Change

Since Voice of the Martyrs began Bible balloon launches into North Korea in 2006, the percentage of North Koreans to have ever seen a Bible has risen from 0.2 percent to 10 percent. God works in many ways, but balloon launches have played an important part in exposing people to the Gospel.

Please pray that God would continue this important work. Pray that the South Korean government would allow the spread of God’s Word to their northern neighbor unhindered. Pray that God would strengthen Voice of the Martyrs and South Korean believers to keep spreading His Word.

Also, pray that God would change the hearts of North Korean leaders to see Truth and allow their people to see it also. To see more ways to pray, click here.

It all started with a conversation between Prayercast’s Chris Ruge and other leaders in the world of missions.

“As we were discussing the incredible things that God’s doing in the Muslim world, there was a very clear sense that we want to be a part of not only sharing that with the Body of Christ around the world but in stirring the Body of Christ to pray,” Ruge says. “God is doing things in the Muslim world that are unprecedented.”

Enter LoveMuslims, a series of themed videos that will explore God’s work in the Muslim world and help Christians know exactly how to pray. The video series will get the usual Prayercast treatment, Ruge says. That means “As we look at what God’s doing in the Muslim world, we’re going to ask, ‘How can we use the arts to speak to the Body of Christ not only at a mind level but at a heart level in a way that touches their emotions?’”

(Photo courtesy of Prayercast)

The videos are based on feedback from missions workers who interact with the Muslim world on a regular basis. “We’ve asked them all the same question: If you could get people to pray anything from the Muslim world, what would you want them to pray? From that, we’ve generated a list of about 104 different topics that we’re focused on right now.”

“We’re going to create somewhere between 70 and 150 videos, and each of those videos is going to be focused on stirring Christians to pray for Muslims,” Ruge says. In all, that means 13 themed sets.

This hasn’t been an easy project to handle. Ruge and his team have been working for two and a half years to get it all together. Now, pre-production is finished and production is officially underway. Ruge hopes to have LoveMuslims launch by the end of 2018.

When it does launch, Ruge hopes the impact will be tangible right from day one. They’re partnering with hundreds of Muslim-reaching ministries so that “the day that this goes live, it’s going to reach in the millions of people around the world just because of our partners and their networks.” Translators are going to get materials into Arabic and Chinese so those numbers can grow.

Ruge says prayer for Muslims is something many Christians struggle with. “One of the most controversial things that I have found that I can say in church in America when I go and I speak is that God loves Muslims,” he says. “God loved us because we were all sinners. Anybody today who loves Jesus was a sinner, but he reached down and loved us. Right now, 1.8 billion Muslims are in the same situation.”

(Photo courtesy of Prayercast)

Want to find out more about Prayercast? Check them out right here. In the meantime, you don’t have to wait until the launch of LoveMuslims to start praying.

“If we’re going to be followers of Jesus, we need to follow him,” Ruge says. “It’s not ok for us to simply identify ourselves with Christ without listening to what he taught.”

(Photo courtesy of Secret Church)

Days later, Japan remains on high alert and launched evacuation drills along its west coast.  A missile defense system has been deployed to the west of Japan.  Tokyo also slapped additional sanctions against Pyongyang following repeated missile launches and other unresolved issues.

The most recent test was one of the most provocative and came as U.S. and South Korean forces conduct annual military exercises on the peninsula, a move which North Korea views as preparatory for invasion.  Meanwhile, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations’ member states.

North Korea’s latest exploits over the Sea of Japan bring the threat of nuclear warfare closer to reality.  Despite deterrents from the international community, Kim Jong Un has relentlessly pursued the development of an intercontinental missile capable of carrying a warhead.  The latest tests revealed the upgrades in the country’s ballistic capabilities.

In the wake of the 2011 triple disaster, Asian Access built up a large presence in Japan.  Many of their team members were on social media noting the rude awakening and asking for prayer.  Robert Adair, his wife, and family serve with A2 Church Multiplication Teams in the Tohoku region of northern Japan.

(Photo courtesy of A2)

Their ministry consists of coming along side an existing Japanese church and assisting them in reaching an area where a church does not currently exist.  They’re engaged in language study, relational evangelism, teaching English, discipleship, coaching, and doing whatever else is necessary to help build the Church in Japan.

Robert says they were jolted out of sleep at 6 am (local time) by a phone call that was part of an early warning system that usually references earthquake or tsunami.  “I rolled over and was kind of like, ‘Okay, how big is the earthquake this time?’  Then on the screen, it said, ‘Please evacuate.  Take cover.  A missile is coming from North Korea.’”

Those words took the issue from a casual awareness of the rantings from Pyongyang to the possibility of real warfare.  They weren’t alone.  Initial responses from friends and co-workers ranged from incredulity to fear to flashbacks on the March 11 disaster.  Although life was fairly normal with work commutes, classes, and normal household tasks, anxiety was simmering in the background.

“There is a tension in Japan right now between whether Japan should re-militarize and if their military should take part in various things around the world or not”, he says, adding that the issue has divided the country.  That mindset jars against this one:  “People just kind of have this expectation that there will be peace, and because Japan is a peaceful country, it won’t be affected by other events of the world, I think is the sense we get.”

(Photo courtesy of A2, Joe Handley)

Adair was discussing this with a pastor on Tuesday, who observed, “Even though Japan is a peaceful, safe country, that doesn’t mean that they’re safe from what’s going on around them.”  Yet, as the day progressed, he came back to the peace that passes understanding.  “For us personally, it’s scary, of course.  But our hope is in Christ.  Our hope isn’t in whether we live in a peaceful and safe country or not.  It’s just an opportunity — as people really feel alive, they feel alert, they’re very engaged — to have more honest discussions about ‘where do we put our hope?’”

In the end, Adair says it’s an uncertain time.  Everyone feels the miasma of instability and potential war.  As followers of Christ planting seeds of the Gospel in Japan, he shares a couple of the challenges ahead.  “Be praying for folks, that they would experience the peace of Christ.  The Church is small in Japan, well under one percent of the population, but the Church is here.  Pray that the Church would be able to respond with the love of Christ and to speak hope into the situation.”

This extremely closed country is firm in its position as the worst persecutor of Christians in the world, according to Open Doors World Watch List.

It’s estimated by Persecution.org that around 70,000 Christians languish in North Korean prison camps for their faith in Christ.

Last year the North Korean government began telling its citizens that the flyers coming from South Korea are coated with poison.

Two years ago they mobilized an entire army unit in an effort to gather flyers launched from China.

North Korea’s communist government clearly views the flyers as a risk to its control of information. Pray that these flyers will fall into the right hands and that many North Koreans will come to know Christ.

FARMS has been present in Cambodia for years and has long been formulating a program that will steer Cambodians away from dependence. After a great deal of planning and preparation, a program providing aid such as micro-financing and lessons in technical skills will launch through local churches.

"We have seen really a real glimmer of hope in the eyes especially of the Christian community," says FARMS Executive Director, Joseph Richter. "I believe Cambodians are looking for a much better future and have hope for that."

Christians are especially excited about the program and will be the ones to really get the program going. As other Cambodians see the progress Christians are making toward self-sufficiency, they will hopefully come to the church for help as well. In a previous interview, Richter explained, "FARMS really accomplishes evangelism through the changed lives of the people involved in the churches."

This program will undoubtedly spur on the already-growing church. "The church is growing very quickly, especially among the younger segment of the population (which is the majority of Cambodians anyway)," says Richter. More leadership will soon be needed in the church. In the meantime, FARMS is working with the current leadership to guide churches to financial stability as well.

The program should officially launch within the next month, provided all goes according to plan. Richter assures us "the need is very urgent" in Cambodia. "To effectively provide enough to make a real impact is our prayer. We're hoping people will come behind this project because it's an open door."

Pray for the leadership to catch a vision for the self-supported church. Pray also that FARMS would successfully be able to launch the program and that it would transform many lives for the glory of God.

If you would like to be a part of the project, click here.

Acted out by African kids, they hope that it will be used for evangelism in schools and children's ministries in various churches and organizations.    

JESUS Film would like people to partner with LIFE Ministry Malawi, known as Campus Crusade for Christ in the United States. "Use this tool as a way of transforming the lives of our children in this nation," said Tinge Msusa with JESUS Film. "Our motivation of translating the children's version of the JESUS Film is in obedience with the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20."

They made the decision to translate the children's film in 2007, and has now been released. At the launch, MK70,000 was raised, which is equal to about $500, from a DVD auction. Pastors, directors of other ministries, General Secretaries of Christian organizations, government officials and other Christians attended.

Life Ministry Malawi is working in 191 different countries, striving to fulfill the Great Commission.