---------------------------------------------------------------------- Missions Insider Report by Christian Aid June 25, 2003 Vol. 4 No. 25 Visit our website at http://www.christianaid.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------- John Lindner, Editor Sarah Carter, Writer ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Nepali Believers Released After Four Months 2. Lao Authorities Issue Stay Order for Evicted Families 3. Russian Mission Celebrates 11 Years of Ministry 4. June 29 Set as Prayer Day for North Korea 5. Testimony of Soon Ok Lee of North Korea 6. Free Book, "God's Special Agents," Tells of Modern Missionary Heroes from the Two-Thirds World 7. Photo of the Week: Children Looking at You Note: Missions Insider refrains from mentioning names that could make the subjects targets of anti-Christian activity. Names are sometimes mentioned of ministries conducting work commended by authorities or located in areas of greater religious freedom. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Nepali Believers Released After Four Months Three Nepali Christian workers who were jailed four months ago were released on June 20, according to a report received by Christian Aid. As previously reported by Missions Insider, the three had been on their way to visit a Christian family in Pyuthan district when they were stopped and interrogated by police. After finding Bibles and other Christian literature in their bags, the police arrested them on charges of carrying Christian literature, preaching Christianity, and attempting to convert others to Christianity. The believers never denied their Christian faith throughout all of their hearings, but they did deny ever attempting to force others to become Christians, which is a crime in Nepal. False witnesses were brought forward during their trials to try to condemn them. They were facing three to six years in prison. Fellow believers brought appeals to a higher court that overturned the decision of the lower court that sentenced the Christians in the first place. The higher court ordered the believers released immediately without bail. The believers are now with their wives and children, yet their ordeal is not completely over. They must still report to the district court for the next few months until their release becomes permanent. The Christians thank God for the prayers of the saints around the world that led to their release. They request continued prayer as they continue to maintain their faith in an increasingly hostile environment. To learn more write and put MI-425 702-GOC on the subject line. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Lao Authorities Issue Stay Order for Evicted Families Prayer and public awareness seem to have gained a victory for the five Christian families ordered evicted from their homes in Laos recently. On June 9 five Christian families were given 10 days to leave Kang village in Sanamchai District, Attapue Province, Laos. Attention to their plight was made known in last week's Missions Insider, as well as in a special e-Alert sent out by Christian Aid on June 12. Last Friday Christian Aid learned that the Lao National Department of Religious Affairs in Vientiane considered the eviction order illegitimate and ordered the Attapue Provincial Department of Religious Affairs to Vientiane for a special meeting. Meanwhile, the five Christian families of Kang village were told by the national department to ignore the eviction order from the province. "I see the Lord's mighty intervention in all of this," Christian Aid's confidential contact said. "Please keep praying that we will see religious freedom in Attapue and in all of Laos." For more information see last week's story, "Lao Authorities Evict Five Christian Families." To learn how you can help, write and put MI-425 730-CFL. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Russian Mission Celebrates 11 Years of Ministry An evangelical and church-planting mission in Russia celebrated its 11th year of proclaiming the gospel on June 10 as 3500 people gathered for celebration. The people came from 150 branch churches the ministry had planted in the Udmurtia Republic since it began in 1992. The ministry also rejoiced as 37 students graduated from its Bible school in early summer. These young people have been trained in church planting and evangelism and are setting out into Russia to preach the gospel. The celebration was conducted in the midst of real work being done for the Lord. On June 1, the mission held its first children's summer camp with 40 children. Seventeen came free of charge, including ten street children. The ministry plans to hold camps throughout the summer for an expected 100 homeless children to experience the love of God. This outreach also recently held six tent meetings that reached over 1000 Russians with the gospel. The work began in 1992 when a young Ukrainian Bible school graduate packed his belongings and headed to the Russian Republic of Udmurtia. He felt called to this cold industrial area, the birthplace of the Kalashnikov machine gun, to plant churches and train new Christians. At first, he could find only four evangelical believers. But by now, the mission has planted 150 churches throughout the area. The main church has 2000 members and must meet in a rented building on Sundays to accommodate the nearly 5000 people who come. Seventy students are training at the Bible school. The ministry suffered a setback in July 2001 when the leader of the ministry's drug rehabilitation center was kidnapped in front of his house by two masked gunmen and was never heard from again. It was presumed the successful program was cutting into the drug trade. Christian Aid sent assistance to the widow, and the ministry carried on. By God's grace, this ministry will continue to see such growth in the middle of a harsh environment. For more information, write and put MI-425 361-WOF on the subject line. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. June 29 Set as Prayer Day for North Korea Christians are being asked to make this Sunday, June 29, a special day of prayer for North Korea, one of the most repressive regimes against Christians today. The prayer day is being urged by AsiaLink Ministries and a number of other ministries including Christian Aid, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Open Doors (UK), Jubilee Campaign, and Release International. The day was chosen as being the Sunday nearest the date North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. "Our desire is to see thousands of churches and believers around the world impacting one of the world's most closed and repressive regimes--communist North Korea--in a worldwide Day of Prayer on Sunday, June 29, 2003," said Rev. Dale Hiscock, executive director, AsiaLink Ministries. "Prayer remains our greatest avenue of touching the lives of [that] country," he said. "The communist government has sought to decimate the church and repress Christianity with great ruthlessness. As a result of a 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." Pastor Yonggi Cho of Seoul, pastor of the largest church in the world, urges churches to participate. He said: "We have been praying fervently for North Korea for many decades now, specifically praying for the peaceful reunification 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." This article was condensed from an article by Michael Ireland circulated by ASSIST News Service http://www.assistnews.net/ on June 18. Additional information and resources are available at http://www.asialinkministries.org. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Testimony of Soon Ok Lee of North Korea Soon Ok Lee, North Korean defector and survivor of its brutal political prisoner camps, testified before the U.S. House Committee on International Relations on April 30, 2003. Missions Insider presents her testimony as a resource for Prayer Day for North Korea this Sunday. My name is Lee Soon Ok and I defected from North Korea in February, 1994, with my son and I arrived in Seoul in December 1995. From 1987 through 1992 I was in the political prisoner camp of Kaechon. In addition to this statement, I would like to formally request that my additional written testimony be submitted into the record of this hearing. Human rights are a universal criterion to measure and evaluate the political and social development of mankind. Today, human rights are most violated and least tolerated in North Korea, a blind spot of the world. Worst of all, the crimes against humanity that have been perpetuating in North Korea for decades have destroyed the humanity and personalities of all North Koreans. The personality cult of the leaders, the father and son, was the norm that came to replace respect for humanity. To achieve this purpose, the North Korean leadership operates secret concentration camps and prisons for political prisoners in at least 12 locations. Their goal is to eliminate all forms of opposition. Over 200,000 innocent victims, including women and children, are detained there for life without a judicial process. The secret concentration camps and all forms of prisons in North Korea are the sites of the worst crimes against humanity in the 21st century. Some 6,000 prisoners were in the Kaechon Prison when I was imprisoned there for 7 years. All the prisoners were deprived of all forms of human dignity. From the moment of imprisonment, prisoners are treated as being lower than beasts. I experienced a living hell there during the seven years that I was there. The ordeal at that time was to such an extent that even today I am not sure whether I am alive or merely dreaming. Kaechon Prison was one of the first prisons constructed by the North Korean regime for political offenders. As the economic situation rapidly deteriorated and food shortage became widespread in the 1980s, even petty commercial offences, such as buying or selling food in the black market, were treated as political crimes. Consequently, large numbers of innocent citizens were sent to prisons as political prisoners. Kaechon Prison was only for men until 1982. After 1982, the increase in the number of women arrested for trying to find daily provisions in the black market, or for traveling without an official "pass" to find food, made it necessary for the prison authorities to accommodate women prisoners in Kaechon Prison. Some 2,000 housewives were serving prison terms in Kaechon Prison when I was there. The women were typical victims of the North Korean political system. They were arrested while trying to find food when the government discontinued food rations. The women's appeals were considered an expression of political discontent and they were sentenced as political prisoners. Many of them did not have knowledge of the charges against them or what their sentences were. In prison, they found out for the first time that they had been given sentences of 10 or 15-year terms. To read the rest of Soon Ok Lee's testimony, how prisoners were treated in prison, click here. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Free Book, "God's Special Agents," Tells of Modern Missionary Heroes from the Two-Thirds World Christian Aid has just published a book by Missions Insider editor John Lindner describing the life struggles and victories of 12 mission leaders from the two-thirds world. "They stopped the mouths of adversaries, triumphed over injustice, and traversed mountains and gorges to bring the gospel to the unreached," Lindner said of those whose biographies he has been compiling for ten years. "In so doing, they established a witness for Christ among peoples that knew Him not." Lindner personally interviewed all 12 mission leaders, who have ministries in Kenya, India, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Haiti, Colombia, and the former Soviet Union, and personally visited many of them on the field. The book also contains a never-before-published letter from the underground churches of the former USSR that was sent to then President Mikhail Gorbachev shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union. "This is another example where the truth is far more interesting than fiction," Lindner said. The book, "God's Special Agents," is available free on request to persons living in North America and U.S. territories. (Sorry, we are not prepared to handle international requests at this time.) A free copy can be requested at the Christian Aid website http://www.christianaid.org. Anyone not able to access the website may write to and put God's Special Agents on the subject line. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Photo of the Week: Children Looking At You http://www.christianaid.org/pow/pow-4-25.asp These children attend one of the schools run by Army of Christ in Haiti. Begun and directed by Cebien Alexis, the ministry has planted 130 churches with over 500 additional outstations. Some 7000 children attend the day schools housed in 70 of the group's churches. About 70 children, including these, are cared for in an orphanage. To read the entire story, request a copy of Missions Insider editor John Lindner's book, God's Special Agents. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Mission Statement: Missions Insider is a free weekly email report from Christian Aid Mission, your link to the world of indigenous missions. We seek to establish a witness for our Lord in every tribe and nation (Matthew 24:14) by supporting highly effective native missionary ministries based in poorer countries overseas, or where believers are persecuted. Christian Aid has contact with more than 6000 indigenous ministries that have a total of 300,000 missionaries on the field or ready to go when support is available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Permission to Republish The content of Missions Insider is Copyright 2003. You have permission to share this newsletter with any evangelical Christian whom you think would be interested in reading it. Permission is granted to reproduce articles in whole or in part on websites, e-mail networks or print media as long as the stories are faithfully replicated and credit is given to Missions Insider at http://www.christianaid.org. Please send notices of publication to . Thank you. ------------------------------ Contact Us ----------------------------- Check us out on the web at: http://www.christianaid.org. Christian Aid can be reached by phone at 434-977-5650, or by writing Christian Aid at P.O. Box 9037, Charlottesville, VA 22906. In Canada, visit http://www.christianaid.ca or write to .
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