Northern Asia-Pacific

Division Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department Hosts Online Prayer Meeting

Representatives from the Northern Asia Pacific Division virtually join to pray for issues in their region.

Seoul, South Korea | Kim SunHwan, NSD PARL Director

Since the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 has become one of the most prolonged worldwide news topics in human history. The virus has changed the whole world drastically, and every detail of our individual lives fundamentally. 

In Korea, children have been staying home since Christmas without going to school. Most Adventist churches in Korea didn’t have face-to-face meetings for almost two months and have resumed with simplified services. And, although worship services could be provided online, other church activities, such as evangelistic meetings, Pathfinder activities, pastoral home visitations, and various fellowship meetings among church members have not been possible for a long time. Who could have imagined this would happen? I am not still accustomed to this change, and I doubt if I will ever be used to it. 

What makes us more worried is the high possibility, as many specialists are foretelling, that we may not go back to our past normal lives. We cannot wait helplessly for the end of this disaster. We need to find alternatives to carry out our ministries because the urgency of the mission God has entrusted us has not diminished or disappeared. Rather, the importance of our mission has become greater in this critical situation than in times of peace. 

As director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty (PARL) for the Northern Asia Pacific Division (NSD), I asked myself what we could do within my department to bring attention to the urgency of our mission. 

It has been more than four months since all division directors’ domestic and international business trips were banned by the Executive Committee of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD) due to COVID-19. The NSD started a series of Thursday evening Zoom prayer campaigns for NSD-dispatched missionaries. Kwon JohngHaeng, who was coordinating this prayer series, suggested to me that we have a prayer meeting for religious liberty. When I heard his suggestion, it came to my mind that this prayer meeting could be the starting point of alternative ministry activities for PARL during this time of physical isolation.   

I invited the PARL directors of the Korean Union Conference (KUC), the Japan Union Conference (JUC), the Taiwan Conference (TWC), and the Mongolia Mission (MM) to join the call. They were each given five to seven minutes to give a presentation on a religious freedom issue in their country and share their prayer requests. I also asked all directors of the entities to invite one coworker in their PARL ministries, either pastors or laypeople so that all the issues that would be discussed at the meeting could be shared with at least one person involved. 

I invited the directors of the five local conferences under the KUC to pray for the prayer requests given by the presenters. Kang KiHoon, the representative of the “Society of Religious Freedom and Equal Opportunity,” had taken a lead in the legal process for Han JiMan’s Sabbath accommodation case in the last two years. In the same vein, Shin MyungCheol, the attorney who fought for Han, was invited for a short testimony. Some of the NSD officers and directors as well as a staff member participated in the prayer meeting. Most importantly, four translators were involved in efficient communication among attendees. 

NSD President Kim SiYoung opened the prayer meeting with an encouraging welcoming remark and an ardent opening prayer. Then, we had time to introduce the participants so that they got to know each other first in order to make the prayer meeting atmosphere more relaxed and familiar. 

Toshio Shibata, JUC PARL director, reported on religious statistics in Japan to show the status of the Adventist Church in Japanese society. He shared some pending religious liberty issues, such as having university entrance exams and medical qualification exams on Sabbaths and having school make-up classes on Sabbaths because of the corona situation. 

Taiwan has similar issues on the Sabbath exams. Since the Adventist Church in Taiwan is small in the country, our appeals were not significantly heard compared to other Christian churches. Mark Tseng, TWC PARL director, also asked for prayers for Taiwan Adventist Academy. Pastor Nyamdavaa from the MM asked for special prayers for Adventist churches to get government certificates. Recently, the Mongolian government has placed severe restrictions on Christian churches. There was also a prayer request for Mongolian Adventist youth who are in military service to be able to keep the Sabbath. 

The KUC shared several recent issues, such as various kinds of Sabbath exams and the Alternative Service Bill for military services. Middle school and high school graduation qualification national tests are scheduled on Sabbath two times this year. Lee JiChoon asked for a special prayer for our appeal to be granted by the government. Dr. Kang appealed for corporate prayers for religious accommodation for Sabbath observers to be systematically recognized and protected by the legislators, judiciary, and government administrators. 

He also requested prayers that all those involved will experience God’s grace and grow in faith through this process. I understand that this is the reason why God allows His people to go through difficulties. He permits trials for His people to stand firm in faith advocating their freedom of conscience. Furthermore, this is also the reason why we need to continue to pray for our church members in tribulation. 

The Online Prayer Meeting for Religious Liberty was a wonderful time where we were able to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit. We just took the first step of Religious Liberty Ministries in times of a pandemic. I believe that God will lead us in every step when we go forward as agents for His freedom until Jesus comes. Please remember church members who need our prayers. Thank you.

You can watch this prayer meeting on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfTqo0XI8CA&feature=youtu.be

 

This article was originally published on the Northern Asia-Pacific Division news-site.

 

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