Vision
The Day of Prayer is designed to mobilise both
awareness and prayer for North Korea. The level of knowledge about the
situation amongst congregations, churches leaders and ministries is
minimal at present and leaders will be targeted to encourage the issue to
be highlighted on an ongoing basis.
Structure
The Day of Prayer encourages churches across Canada
and the USA to speak and pray about the needs of North Korea on Sunday
29th. Awareness raising and prayer will also be encouraged for housegroups
and prayer meetings during the week. This structure endeavours to make the
issue reach a much broader audience than the small number of people who
would be able to attend a single meeting.
South Korean Involvement
The dates have been chosen to coincide with the
anniversary of the invasion by the north of the south on 25th June 1950.
The South Korean churches will hold a meeting on this date to pray for
North Korea and reunification. Their participation in the Week as a whole
is also critical.
Other Regions and Countries
Other countries participating in this special prayer
offensive include the UK, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, USA, Switzerland,
Norway, Australia, France and Hong Kong.
Personnel
Pastor Yonggi Cho has voiced support for the prayer
initiative. The event is organised jointly by Christian Solidarity
Worldwide, Evangelical Alliance, Release International, Asialink and the
South Korean Churches.
Format
There are five proposed areas of focus for prayer.
1. Denial of Religious Freedom
2. Punishments of Christians, including the Prison Camps
3. Refugee Situation
4. Famine & Medical Conditions
5. Re-unification.
Prayer Points for North Korea
Sunday 22nd June: On the
eve of the Week of Prayer for North Korea we would ask you to pray that a
great anthem of prayer for our suffering North Korean brothers and sisters
would be lifted to God throughout this week. Please pray that Pastors and
churches would catch a burden to pray for their North Korean’s brothers
and sisters in Christ.
Monday 23rd June: Please
pray against the statewide enforced idolatry and the complete repression
of religious freedom. Pray that the name of God would not only be allowed
to be spoken again in North Korea, but that it would be mightily
glorified.
Tuesday 24th June: Please
pray that the conditions will change so that the gospel can be preached
and pray for a great harvest of souls. Pray that the earlier revival would
be known once again and that the shed blood of the saints will be the seed
for a great harvest in the land.
Wednesday 25th June: Pray
for those who have managed to hold onto their faith through the gravest of
trials, unable to meet, speak or read about their faith, even with their
families. Pray that they would be strengthened and encouraged and that God
would supernaturally provide for all their spiritual and physical needs.
Thursday 26th June: Please
pray for all those suffering horrific persecution in prison camps. Pray
that they would be strong in their faith and would not give in to the
unrelenting pressure to abandon their faith. Pray for great courage and
power to resist all the evil attacks upon them and pray for divine
provision, grace and encouragement in their time of trial.
Friday 27th June: Please
pray for those who have escaped from North Korea and have heard the
gospel. Pray that those who return to the country will not be detected.
Pray for those who have been caught and are undergoing incredibly barbaric
torture and facing execution or life imprisonment and forced labour in a
prison camp.
Saturday 28th June: Please
pray for those who work with North Korean escapees, that they would be
wise and successful in all they do and that God will protect them and
their work from detection by the authorities. Please pray for those
missionaries detained in China for helping North Koreans.
Sunday 29th June: Please
pray for those missionaries who have been abducted by agents into North
Korea, including South Koreans Reverend Dong Shik Kim and Reverend Ahn.
Pray for them as they suffer in North Korea and for their families who
suffer great heartbreak and desolation.
We gratefully
acknowledge the assistance of Christian Solidarity Worldwide for the
development of this material.
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Home
Country Profile for North Korea
Making a Difference in North Korea
(What to pray for)
House Group & prayer meeting reources
Human Rights in
North Korea white paper pdf
Why Pray for North Korea?
Asialink Ministries, together with a number of other
agencies, including Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Release International,
Open Doors UK, Jubilee Campaign and South Korean churches around the
world, are orchestrating a special Day of Prayer for North Korea.
The Sunday Church prayer focus is designed to heighten awareness of the
desperate plight of the North Korean people and to galvanize much needed
prayer for North Korea and for it’s persecuted church.
The Silence must be Broken
Little has been known about North Korea over the
last decades due to its extreme isolationist policies. The communist
regime has sought to decimate the church and repression of Christianity
has been ruthless and thorough. As a result of the lack of information,
the situation of the church has remained a mystery and the church
worldwide, outside Korea, has forgotten the need to pray for these most
persecuted of our brothers and sisters.
However, we have now been able to conduct research that gives a much
clearer picture of the situation in the country. The information uncovered
is deeply sinister and unveils the need for fervent prayer for those
persecuted and imprisoned in this harshly repressive nation.
State Enforced Idolatry
The isolation of North Korea has enabled the leaders
to brainwash the population and teach them unquestioning obedience to
their authority. Kim Il Sung (the ‘Great Leader’) and his son, Kim Jong Il
(the ‘Dear Leader’) have instituted a personality cult in which they are
worshipped. No belief in a higher authority is tolerated and being a
Christian is viewed as one of the most serious crimes. Even the word for
God has been abolished in North Korea.
Horrific Persecution of
Christians
Before the communist regime was installed, the north
was a centre of revival and Pyongyang was known as the Jerusalem of the
East. Most Christians fled to the South during the Korean War, or were
martyred. Kim Il Sung, the ‘Great Leader’, ordered that three generations
of a Christian’s family must be eliminated. A few believers have managed
to hold on to their faith despite the horrific persecution. Many
Christians have been publicly executed and others have been taken away to
camps where they are subject to barbaric abuse and treated as sub-human.
They will never be allowed out of the camps, alive or dead, and are worked
to death in brutal conditions and terrible deprivation. Christians suffer
especially cruel treatment in these death camps as they are under ongoing
pressure to renounce their faith. They are subject to frequent torture and
abuse and are also forced to do the most grueling and dangerous work, both
by guards, as punishment, and by fellow prisoners, who despise their faith
as insanity.
Amidst all the horrific suffering that we encounter
on a daily basis at Christian Solidarity Worldwide, we believe that the
suffering of the Christians in North Korea may be the worst experienced
anywhere in the world. We are anxious that the Church should be aware of
the terrible situation of our brothers and sisters who are holding on to
their faith at such dear cost. We hope that through this awareness the
Church will be rallied to pray fervently for North Korea.
Spiritual Breakthrough
In this we join with many South Koreans who have
been praying earnestly for their brothers and sisters in the North for
many years. Pastor Yonggi Cho, the pastor of the largest church in the
world, endorses CSW’s call to prayer, stating: "We have been praying
fervently for North Korea for many decades now, specifically praying for
the peaceful unification of the two Koreas. We have many young pastors
preparing for the ministry who are planning to enter North Korea when this
door is open. It would be deeply appreciated if you would join us in
prayer for North Korea. God is not willing that any should perish without
Him."
Many of the South Korean churches that are known throughout the world for
their phenomenal growth were in fact planted by North Koreans. We pray
that this tremendous blessing will flow back into North Korea and that the
country will once again be known as a centre for revival. North Koreans
are immensely open to the gospel. Those who flee the country very often
accept Jesus with open hearts. They have been trained to such a level of
obedience in North Korea that they quickly become devoted disciples, even
ready to face death for their faith. It is our duty to stand by our
brothers and sisters who are ready to pay the ultimate price for their
love for God.
Prayer Focus
The prayer focus will take a variety of forms,
designed to enable as many as possible to become aware of the situation
and to participate in praying.
Resources
There are a number of resources that will be
available to help promote prayer. These will enable those who may not feel
that they have sufficient knowledge of the situation to present the facts
to a broader audience.
We believe the key way to mobilise awareness and prayer is through the
churches. For this reason we are providing churches with a PowerPoint
presentation on CD and we are encouraging churches to present this in a
five-minute slot during their Sunday service. We are also producing a
video that can be played in meetings, including prayer meetings and home
groups, to encourage understanding and prayer. Alongside this, prayer
briefings, discussion points and reports and testimonies will be available
for download from the AsiaLink Ministries web-site.
Prayer Meetings
We are encouraging small groups and churches to hold
a prayer meeting to pray for North Korea. Please join this worldwide
prayer movement as we convey the plight of North Koreans and as we pray
together for this country in great need.
How to Get Involved
We are asking all churches to incorporate the prayer
focus into their work and would recommend ensuring involvement by:
Arranging time in your Sunday services on June 29th to highlight the
need of prayer for North Korea.
Organising a meeting during the week to pray for North Korea.
Requesting prayer meetings and housegroups to focus on the issue during
the week.
Ordering resources to equip those leading the meetings.
‘See, darkness covers the earth and thick
darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory
appears over you’ (Isaiah 60.2)
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