Pre-Covid, North Korea would allow a select few of its citizens to travel outside the country for work.

However, on a podcast with The Voice of the Martyrs Canada, VOM Korea’s Eric Foley explained, “North Korea has closed its borders since the beginning of the Coronavirus. They haven’t allowed their workers to return.

“That means that for now three years, workers have been stuck in Mongolia, China, Southeast Asia, even Eastern Europe — bad for them on the one hand, good for them from an eternal perspective because it’s given us three years of time to share the Gospel with them and do discipleship and evangelism.”

VOM Korea’s radio broadcasts are produced by North Korean Underground University students. In the broadcasts, students share Scripture — both in its pure form and in North Korean-style dramas.
(Photo, caption courtesy of VOM Korea)

VOM Korea is seeing ministry growth and new Gospel doors are opening to reach North Koreans.

Foley says, “Many workers are at home so they’re more interested in listening to the Christian radio broadcasts. We had to add another radio broadcast in. The number of Bibles that we’ve distributed to North Koreans, wherever they’re found, has doubled each year of the pandemic.”

When North Korean workers find new faith in Christ and then go home, they are able to reach their own people with the Gospel.

North Korean Human Rights Database every year does studies on human rights and religious freedom, gathering information from inside North Korea, from North Koreans abroad, and from defectors.

“In the year 2000, they found that for all intents and purposes, 0% of North Koreans inside of North Korea had seen a Bible with their own eyes. It’s actually like .0006% at that time,” Foley says.

“But…as of December 2021, about 8% of North Koreans had seen a Bible with their own eyes. That’s a staggering number. That’s upwards of 2 million in a country where to see a Bible with your own eyes is to court execution.”

Whether in-country or abroad, ask the Holy Spirit to continue moving among North Koreans. Pray for new North Korean believers to grow deep roots of faith before they potentially go home to reach others with the Gospel.

Header photo of North Korean flags, courtesy of Micha Brandli via Unsplash.

People will be allowed to quarantine at home instead of in a government facility. Additionally, people will no longer have to use apps on their phones that track their health. Lockdowns have been limited in frequency and scope.

Additionally, the government hopes to jumpstart the vaccination program, which has thus far gotten off to a slow start.

Xi Jinping

But Xi Jinping maintains his powerful grip on Chinese life. Kurt Rovenstine with Bibles for China says, “Xi was able to secure that additional term and open up the door for quite a long reign there. That may not be the word that he uses. But he will have a lot more time in office. We were on a pause just as far as activity during that time. Now that that’s all over, we’re kind of back up and active in planning for next year.”

“We hope to be able to do as much or more next year, in terms of Bible funding for distribution, as we did this year.”

Bibles for China works to get Bibles to Chinese churches, especially in rural areas.

Amid constantly changing regulations, Rovenstine says the ministry has to stay flexible. “Xi has a secular worldview and has doubled down on the atheist manifesto in terms of, if you’re a communist, you will espouse this. I think that doesn’t bode well for the church. You have an entity that is promoting allegiance to God before state.”

Ask God to give Chinese Christians creativity in a very fluid situation. Pray Chinese believers will have the boldness and strength to serve and proclaim Jesus.

The header photo shows police patrolling in China during the initial COVID-19 outbreak. (Photo courtesy of China News Service, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

The protests began after an apartment fire killed 10 people under strict lockdown. Videos of the fire appear to show firefighters taking more time to reach the victims due to the COVID-19 restrictions. The fire happened in the Western region of Xinjiang, in a city that had been locked down for over 100 days.

Kurt Rovenstine with Bibles for China says, “They just want to have some freedom to live life, even in the context of a communist government. Whether it’s religious freedom, the ability to visit family, to go out for a meal, or whatever the case may be, it reached a tipping point. And so people have hit the streets.”

CCP response

These are the most widespread demonstrations in China since the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

So far, the police have responded by detaining people and heavily patrolling the streets of major cities. Officials have also sent home university students, fearing they would stoke even more unrest.

Rovenstine says the protests could move China in a positive direction. “But as Tiananmen showed us, there’s also the opportunity for a response that is swift and harsh. So we’ll have to wait and see.”

“But the exciting thing for me as an observer of things going on in China is the opportunity for the Church to be a voice in all of this.”

Pray Chinese Christians will speak into the lives of those looking for significant change.

Pray also that Chinese leaders would not respond with violence but would listen to and understand their people. Rovenstine says, “National leaders have to do more than be iron-fisted. They have to live in a global economy. We no longer live in a world where information can be completely monitored. We are a connected global people.”

The header photo shows students holding a memorial for those who died in the apartment fire. (Photo courtesy of Date20221127, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

China’s “zero-Covid” policy puts immense pressure on regional leaders to eliminate the virus.

Meanwhile, Wuhan, the city where COVID-19 first emerged, has seen lockdowns over a case of Cholera. Kurt Rovenstine with Bibles for China says, “I believe it was a local official that decided that they would restrict travel. That incited some panic, which is the word that was shared with me by one of our partners.”

Churches and schools

Rovenstine says churches and schools often suffer the worst from lockdowns.

One partner in China said her son could only attend school in person six weeks out of the last semester.

Churches have been unable to offer the Lord’s Supper during services. Rovenstine says, “That’s sad for me, that people can’t choose to go to church and receive a Bible. So it continues to be a struggle for us. Our list is quite long of requests that people have made for Bibles around China.”

Rovenstine says Bibles for China have four Bible distributions planned for later in the year, but they have gotten pushed back.

Chinese Christians

Despite the challenges, Christians throughout China remain committed to growing in Jesus. They want to share His story with their neighbors.

Ask God to rest upon them. “At Bibles for China, we still are functioning as open and legal, trying to navigate that well and look for opportunities to fulfill the requests that have been made of us.”

You can also support Bibles for China here. “It’s been a tough year economically. We’re trying to manage our money well so that we can buy the scriptures that people request.”

The header photo shows a truckload of Mandarin Bibles. (Photo courtesy of Bibles for China) 

Brian Dennett with AMG International says, “So many students are probably not ever going to go back to their education. Many took jobs to help support their families during this time and have now tasted an income. And those families have come to rely on that.”

Impact of a 2-year closure

Many schools won’t even reopen for financial reasons. Thousands of teachers have turned to other work to support themselves, and won’t come back to teaching.

The situation looks even worse for girls who became pregnant while schools remained shut. The long closure may undo decades of educational progress in the East African nation. Under 50 percent of students participated in any remote learning programs.

Future closures

And the schools may not even stay open. Dennett says, “The government has already indicated that if this next wave continues to take off, then they could reconsider the schools being open.”

Uganda does not have a high number of reported COVID-19 infections and hasn’t since the beginning of the pandemic. But Dennett says unreliable reporting most likely hides the true case numbers.

AMG schools

AMG operates several different schools in Uganda, including a nursing school. Dennett says, “Through some provisions for medical study, we were able to keep that open.”

The strategy looked different for primary through high schools, Dennett says. “We were able to send teachers out to communities and assist with their homeschooling.”

Pray many would find hope in Jesus through AMG’s ministry. Dennett says, “As we educate in our schools, we’re not just teaching. We’re also sharing the only hope we have, and that’s the hope found in Jesus. And it’s really the greatest thing we can do.”

Want to support these schools? Visit amghelps.org.

Header photo courtesy of AMG International.

Samuel from Redemptive Stories says, “Everyone was stuck at home in many different countries for long, long periods of time. As people, we are very social. We still need to find some way to socialize. During the pandemic that has often happened online. That being said, it has also opened the opportunity for many, many people to come to faith and to be interested in spiritual things. Many more organizations are seeing this as an opportunity.”

Training courses

It’s a new frontier for Christian life and practice. Redemptive Stories has created a series of online training courses to help Christians navigate these new challenges and opportunities. Samuel says the courses explore what can be done virtually in the life of the church and what must be done in person.

Some communities have very limited access to other Christians in person. Samuel says, “Particularly for women in our culture, it’s nearly impossible for them to go outside of the bounds of a certain sphere: a limited geographical area but also a sphere of relationships. We see a need for women in particular to have opportunities to attend and to grow in their faith.”

(Header photo courtesy of Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)

This reflects China’s zero-tolerance policy towards COVID-19. Erik Burklin of China Partner says, “In China, they take this virus a little bit more serious than here in the western part of the world. The overall total numbers of positive cases are so minute compared to the rest of the population when you think of 1.4 billion people.” Wuhan has locked down neighborhoods with the most cases and even closed the airport.

Impact on China Partner

This strict view of COVID-19 has kept cases in China very low since the beginning of the pandemic. But it also means China Partner staff can’t travel to the country, and may not be able to for some time.

Burklin says it’s a frustrating process. “The government is not giving any visas to any foreigners. That’s us. So we cannot even legally travel to China and conduct any of the training that we normally do. However, we are doing some things here, in preparation for when the doors open up again. For instance, they have wanted us to do some zoom training or even some recorded training.”

Chinese churches

Some churches have had to close as well. Burklin says, “And yet, we are regularly in communication with them, and they seem to be encouraged. They are committed to the call that God has given them to minister. So they will continue to do so.”

In many other parts of China with low COVID-19 cases, Burklin says, churches remain fully open. No matter the restrictions, ask God to give Chinese Christians wisdom as they proclaim the good news of Jesus. “Pray for the Chinese church leadership and the churches there, that God would keep them strong, keep them encouraged, keep them focused on the Gospel, and not so much on what is happening in the periphery: in their case, what happens with the government or what happens with the virus.”

(Header photo courtesy of Chang Liu from Pixabay)

Juserdi Purba with Asian Access Indonesia says a Muslim holiday in May might have helped spread the delta variant around the country. “The government imposed the Emergency Public Activity Restriction, especially for Java and Bali Island because these are the most populous and popular Islands in Indonesia.”

Purba says hospitals on these islands have reached 80% occupancy. The government has begun converting other buildings to treat patients.

The Christian response

Meanwhile, Indonesian Christians have rallied to help those in need inside and outside the Church. Purba says, “[We have tried] especially to distribute vitamins and medicine to the people in quarantine or self-isolation in their house, and also to help the people who need treatment at the hospital.”

Christians in the capital Jakarta have even established a task force to provide for COVID-19 patients. Pray Indonesians will get access to more vaccines soon. And praise God for these Indonesian Christians as they bless their neighbors.

The header image shows people getting tested for COVID-19 in Indonesia. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

Guatemala has one of the worst COVID-19 situations in the Western Hemisphere. Only five percent of the population has been vaccinated against the virus.

Harsh crackdown on protests

Guatemalans have been protesting against the government’s response, but the president of Guatemala cracked down last week. Dennett says, “The president of Guatemala pronounced that the entire country was now in a state of emergency, or like martial law. And that due to this state of emergency, any protesters would be sent immediately to prison. Our leader there actually said he felt as though they were no longer a democracy.”

AMG works in 35 different Guatemalan communities to provide food and healthcare. Ask God to encourage the Christians there, and pray their love would lead many to Jesus. You can also contribute to this work at amghelp.org.

(Photo courtesy of codyvanscyoc from Pixabay)

Since July 1^st, people can’t leave their houses except to get basic supplies, and a curfew starts at 8 pm. Most businesses have to close, meaning no income for many people.

Restrictions will stay in place until COVID-19 cases fall below a certain threshold. And government help for poor families will arrive too late for many. Joe Handley of Asian Access says, “While Malaysia is kind of a middle-income country, and better off than some of its nearby neighbors that are lower-income groups, it is still hit hard. Small businesses and SME’s have been forced to close. And it’s really put a strain on the local families.”

Help from the Church

But Handley says churches have risen to the occasion, providing for their neighbors in need. “They do ask for prayer. They want the Gospel to continue to flourish. And they want to see the nation impacted both in terms of individual lives as well as holistically.”

Pray the love of these Christians would point many to hope in Jesus. And pray COVID-19 would recede across Malaysia. Handley says, “They would love to see a rapid rollout of the COVID-19 vaccinations. So far, only about 10-20 percent of the population is vaccinated. Ultimately, they’d love to see a proper recovery from the pandemic overall, along with a corresponding recovery in the economy.”

Header photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.