Civilians of Severodonetsk have lived huddled in basements and bomb shelters since the Russian invasion began in February.

Pastor Turgunov

This photo shows members of the church, with Pastor Turgunov standing tallest in the back. (Photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs Korea)

Foley talks about the pastor. “His name is Alexander Turgunov. And he founded the church after his own battle with substance addiction. He went to a rehab center in Kharkiv in 2013. There, he heard about the Lord Jesus.”

He returned to his hometown Severodonetsk and ministered to people suffering from addictions. Foley says, “Of course, many of them were freed from drugs and returned to their lives. But these 12 guys joined him and formed the Church of the Transfiguration. Since the time the Church was founded, they’ve traveled around Severodonetsk, talking to young people and sharing with them the dangers of drugs and alcoholism.”

“They play sports or lift weights with the kids. They study the Bible with at-risk youth.”

The whole church lived in the pastor’s apartment, only leaving when a rocket hit the rooms next door. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Dispersing

Ukrainian forces started retreating from Severodonetsk in early June. But it was a trap. As Russian forces advanced, Ukraine counter-attacked hard. Heavy fighting continues over the city. Finally, the Church of the Transfiguration decided to leave the city.

Some of them went to Kharkiv, others to France. They all continue to serve. Foley says, “They’re working in prison ministry. They’re working in drug rehab ministry even amidst the war.”

They want to return as soon as possible. Ask God to strengthen them to serve where they are.

The header photo shows members of the Church of the Transfiguration preparing meals for their neighbors in front of a wrecked apartment building. (Photo courtesy of the Voice of the Martyrs Korea)

Registration

Pastor Eric Foley with The Voice of the Martyrs Korea, who has contact with these churches, says they have something in common that would cause officials to harass them: registration with the Ukrainian government.

When one church provided their registration papers, the officials actually took them away. Foley says, “A regional leader of the denomination told us that he’s encouraging church members to make sure they don’t present their original papers.”

Churches in the Russian-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk regions have seen similar treatment at times since 2014 when fighting first started in Eastern Ukraine.

Mariupol

But the fighting made things more difficult. Foley says, “The Central Baptist Church in Mariupol, which is one of these four churches, buried two church members who were martyred back in March. This was a group of five church members in the Mariupol area who were taking care of 200 people in the Central Baptist Church basement.”

“Those five were hit by a grenade as they were doing their deliveries and caring for those 200 people.”

Mariupol recently fell to Russian invaders after months of intense fighting. The church building was destroyed, and only the basement remains.

How to pray

Ask God to give these four churches endurance. Foley says, “The church leader was telling us that officials there present everything Protestant as American-planted. Only the Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate, has the right to operate. So we really need to pray for discernment for these churches.”

Despite harassment and destroyed buildings, the churches continue to pray and serve their neighbors. Praise God for their faithfulness.

The header photo shows the damaged Central Baptist Church in Mariupol. (Photo courtesy of the Voice of the Martyrs Korea) 

It’s often a different story for Russian Protestant churches, says Eric Foley. He serves with The Voice of the Martyrs Korea and has contact with many Russian and Ukrainian Christians.

He says many Russian Baptist and Pentecostal churches were originally planted by Ukrainians. “What happened in 1989 on through the turn of the century was that even though the Ukrainian Church, on the whole, was focused on establishing itself in Ukraine, God put on the hearts of certain young people, including women, this missionary vision of going to Russia.”

“They did it without mission agencies. They did it without training.”

New legislation in Russia

Despite close ties to Ukraine, speaking out against the war can get Russian Christians in a lot of trouble. New legislation criminalizes any “discrediting” of Russia’s military action.

This vague wording led to the arrests of thousands of protestors once the invasion started. Foley says, “There are Russian Christian attorneys who have advised Russian churches to be very careful, even in the prayers that they pray in their worship services. Because even a call for peace could be construed as a statement that was discrediting the Armed Forces of Russia.”

A difficult position

But in many villages and cities across Russia, Christians continue praying for their Ukrainian brothers and sisters. Ask God to protect them and give them wisdom.

This isn’t a new position for Russian Protestants, Foley says. “In some ways, you could say that being Protestant in Russia is a statement of support for Ukraine. Because the Russian position is premised on the idea that the Orthodox Church is the religion of Russia.”

Orthodox fractures

In January of 2019, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church split from the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. Read more here about how the split helped lead to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Foley says, “That’s created two Ukrainian Orthodox churches, one that’s autocephalous (self-governing) and the other that is connected to the Orthodox global community through the Russian Orthodox Church.”

The header photo shows a Russian rocket that was dug up and defused by Ukrainians. (Photo courtesy of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

The director-general of the World Health Organization says people in the Tigray region are at risk more than any other place on Earth. He encouraged the world not to forget the war, even as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to grab headlines.

A blockade has cut the region off from the outside world since the fighting began.

Local Christians

Eric Foley with The Voice of the Martyrs Korea says, “The interesting thing is that our local church contacts are not viewing this with enthusiasm and acclaim. It’s certainly not that they want to see the fighting continue, but the situation in Ukraine has been a good reminder that so-called humanitarian pauses in the war are often, unfortunately, used for strategic military advantage.”

Aid convoys into Tigray run the risk of being attacked by local militias or even roaming Eritrean soldiers. Since the war started, estimates say fighting has killed between 50,000 and 100,000 people. Even more have perished from starvation or lack of medical care. Foley says, “A ceasefire is no guarantee that these staggering statistics are going to be reversed or slowed. There has to be an intervention from God.”

How to pray

A new creation is breaking through the war and devastation. Local Christians are providing food and medicine to people whom aid convoys cannot reach.

Ask God to strengthen these believers. Foley says, “We sometimes look at big tragedies and believe that they need big solutions. But in many ways, the best solution to big tragedies is many small responses, and the wisdom of God has been that the body of Christ is composed of many members.”

The header photo shows a man walking past a destroyed tank in the Tigray region. (Photo courtesy of Yan Boechat/VOA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Experts say the tests are meant to capture attention and pressure Western governments to lower sanctions on the isolated country.

World Watch List

So why has Afghanistan replaced North Korea in the top slot on Open Doors’ World Watch List? Eric Foley with the Voice of the Martyrs Korea contributes to the World Watch List. He says, “What the survey is measuring is really the volume of information that’s available and that we have about the persecution of that country. Also, it’s measuring the change between last year and this year.”

In 2021, the Taliban overran Afghanistan, setting itself up as the government after the departure of U.S. forces. Many Christians fled. But it’s difficult to compare that situation to North Korea. Foley says, “One of the hundreds of survey questions says, ‘Did Christians in your country experience difficulty in registering for marriage as a Christian?’ Well, in North Korea, that would be completely incomprehensible. Because you wouldn’t experience persecution, you’d experience execution.”

How to pray

Continue praying for North Korean Christians, many of whom don’t personally know another believer. Foley says, “North Korean Christians say to me all the time that even though they have only Christ, He is sufficient. One North Korean Christian said to me, ‘Romans 8:28 works just as well here as it does on the other side of the DMZ.’”

Best estimates place about 100,000 Christians in North Korea. Foley says, “But if you were to ask any one of them about what other Christians were facing in other parts of North Korea (other than their own village or city) they would have absolutely no idea. The complete picture on persecution only can emerge in a place like Afghanistan, where communication is still possible.”

The header image shows the city of Nampo in North Korea. (Raymond K. Cunningham, Jr., CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons) 

Most concerning, though, is the involvement of soldiers from neighboring Eritrea in the conflict. In fact, Pastor Eric Foley of The Voice of the Martyrs Korea says Eritrean soldiers have destroyed two refugee camps in the Tigray region. “These are camps that we have visited. So the images are very fresh in our minds from when these camps were stable. But the Shimelba camp and the Hitsats camp are both camps that have been now destroyed because of Eritrean troops who came to the camp. They selected and took some people to Eritrea. That is to say, they took the ones who had escaped from Eritrea and were living in the camps. The Eritrean soldiers brought them back to Eritrea, and put them into prison.” Those who escaped the raids fled further into Ethiopia.

Foley says the Church in the Tigray region has been a beacon during all this chaos. “People are gathering in the churches, and they’re grieving at the churches. They’re bringing dead bodies to the churches to bury them in mass graves. The Gospel is still making a way for people to have hope. The Christians who are hearing the Word of God are acting on it. They’re opening their homes and sharing bread. They’re doing all of the things that Jesus taught us to do.”

The header photo shows a scene from the Shimelba refugee camp before it was attacked by Eritrean forces. (Photo courtesy of John Lavall, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

North Korea is the world’s worst persecutor of Christians. More on that here. Based in South Korea, Voice of the Martyrs Korea supports persecuted Christians through radio broadcasts and Bible launches. In recent days, South Korean officials accused the VOM Korea team of financial mismanagement.

The allegations have no merit, CEO Eric Foley says, but they still sting. “Activity that’s never been criminalized before is now considered a crime. We’re ridiculed on the media,” he says.

“It’s my job to present myself and the ministry to the Lord continually and say, ‘Lord, whatever You want, even if it’s to take us through deep suffering. Whatever brings glory to Your name, that’s what we want’.”

The price of partnership

VOM Korea smuggles Scripture and discipleship material into North Korea through shortwave radio broadcasts.
(Photo courtesy of VOM Korea)

In 2002, Pastor Foley and his wife met North Korean Christians for the first time during a trip to China. “We heard about the difficulties that they were facing; we were moved,” Foley recalls. When Pastor Foley asked how to help, the believers’ response was surprisingly simple.

“They said, ‘There are two things that we need. One is Bibles, and the other is radio’,” Foley recalls. “It took us a couple of years to get things together, but 15 years ago we did our first balloon launches, and we did our first radio broadcasts.”

As described here, VOM Korea comes alongside North Korean Christians in many ways. Partnering with these believers carries a cost – but it’s one Pastor Foley says he’s willing to pay.

“Anytime you work with persecuted Christians, you’re going to face a little bit of suffering. But my concern has been what would happen if we couldn’t keep the promise that we made.”

Moving forward

In this blog, Pastor Foley describes why he and his team continue partnering with North Korean believers despite difficulties. Pray for renewed faith as the VOM Korea team faces an uncertain future.

“Thirty-six men and women on our staff have laid down their lives for Christ. [I] hope that, in whatever way that I can, I can dignify their sacrifice,” Foley says.

“Doing these things doesn’t come from personal boldness or courage. It really does come from a deep sense of being connected with brothers and sisters in Christ in North Korea.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy Matt Artz via Unsplash.

Stress, however, remains high for Pastor Eric Foley and Voice of the Martyrs Korea.

“The governor of the province called for a formal police investigation into all four of the groups that do launching. Three of them do political launching, and Voice of the Martyrs Korea is the only one that does Bible launching,” Foley says.

“According to the governor, we’re guilty of fraud, mismanagement of donations, security risk, [and] possible air traffic violations. The amazing thing about it is we’ve been doing these launches for 15 years and none of these things [were] problems or issues before.”

To refute the government’s allegations, VOM Korea recently held a press conference highlighting its financial transparency and credibility.

Ministry meets resistance

Trouble began earlier this month following political maneuvering between North and South Korean government officials. The hermit kingdom pushed South Korean officials to “make good” on an agreement formed in 2018 banning cross-border distributions. Authorities complied and began focusing their attention on the four groups described above.

(Photo courtesy NK News via E. Foley)

“The government is pretending that we haven’t had this great mutual cooperative relationship for 15 years,” Foley says. “Suddenly, balloon launching has become dangerous and balloon launchers [are] criminals, and we’re considered crazy.”

Along with launching an investigation, Foley says police raided two ministry workers’ headquarters and leaders’ homes. “Our office has been under surveillance 24 hours a day. As I look out the window now, I can see the police who are stationed to watch this place 24/7.”

Use buttons at the bottom of the page to share this story on social media and make more believers aware of the situation.

“It’s very hard to get the message out in this country because of the limitations and the freedom of the press. Part of the blessing of being connected through Mission Network News is to get this news to Christians around the world,” Foley says.

“It’s an unusual time for us to be equally hated by North and South Korea. Even Christians, interestingly, have come out in condemnation of our launches.”

The severity comes as a surprise. “We’ve launched in the most difficult moments in recent inter-Korean conflict history,” Foley says, describing things like Kim Jong Il’s 2011 death and 2015 nuclear tensions.

“In each of those situations, we had a very cooperative situation with the authorities because they know that we only go out to launch on the 10 to 15 nights a year… and that we launch only Bibles.”

How to help

Pray North Koreans who discover the Bible balloons will encounter Christ by reading Scripture. Learn why North Korea is the world’s most difficult place to be a Christian here. Ask the Lord to protect Pastor Eric Foley and VOM Korea staff.

“My concern has not been getting arrested,” Foley says.

“We’ve had 36 martyrs from Voice of the Martyrs Korea since we began, and my wife and I never felt like we could exempt ourselves from that.”

Prayer is essential to their ongoing efforts, he adds.

“It was on the strength of prayers [from] around the world that we were able to execute a strategy [and] get four balloons in the air last [week]. I’m just really grateful to the Lord.”

Header image depicts Pastor Eric Foley launching helium balloons containing Scripture to North Korea. (Photo courtesy NK News via Foley)