Voice of the Martyrs Korea seeks to reverse decline in Bible reading among South Korean Christians through special Bible reading campaign with North Korean Christians
Research consistently indicates that Bible reading is in decline among Korean Christians. The Rev. Dr. Hyun Sook Foley believes the solution may be found in an unlikely place: North Korea. Foley’s organization, Voice of the Martyrs Korea, is launching a new Bible reading initiative called the 1+1 Campaign. For a donation of 50,000 KRW, VOMK will send you one North Korean Bible for your own personal reading and study as well as send a second North Korean Bible to a North Korean in one of the many places North Koreans are found. But in order to participate in the campaign you must commit to read your North Korean Bible within one year and to pray daily in your Bible reading time for the North Korean who received the Bible through your donation.
“When you are reading the Bible on your own in QT, it’s easy to miss a day,”
VOMK representative Foley explains.
“But you will be less likely to skip a day when you know a North Korean, typically in a dangerous situation, is reading this at the same time and you are committed to pray for that person’s wellbeing. Most North Koreans who will receive these Bibles will be in areas where owning Bibles is not only dangerous, but deadly,” VOMK representative Foley explains. “These North Koreans can be arrested, beaten, tortured, or even sent to concentration camps simply for having seen a Bible, let alone for owning one.”
But, according to representative Foley, the two things the underground North Korean church want most are Bibles they can read and prayers. These two needs are what the 1+1 campaign aims to meet—with your help.
Representative Foley explains that the printed version of the Bible will not be the only one distributed as part of our 1+1 campaign.
“Since owning a Bible can put North Koreans in danger and since printed Bibles are easy to detect, we often opt for electronic versions of the NK Study Bible when we distribute bibles to North Koreans in the mission field,”
representative Foley explains.
“This version is still the NK study Bible, but uploaded onto SD cards, USBs, and even (recently) recorded and uploaded onto MP3 players. This not only makes the Bible more difficult to detect but easier to destroy and distribute. “For security reasons, we cannot let you know who the recipient of the Bible was or how it was sent,” representative Foley says. “You will need to pray for the North Korean brother or sister without knowing who they are.”
According to representative Foley, this version of the Bible was designed specifically for North Koreans who know very little about the Bible but are in areas where it is too dangerous to seek out a mentor or teacher. Because of this, many find that the North Korean Study Bible is easier to read than most South Korean versions of the Bible—even though it is based off a North Korean translation of the Bible that academics consider to be one of the most accurate ever done in the Korean language.
“Through the 1+1 Campaign, you not only provide NKs with a Bible they can read through, understand, and easily hide during raids and searches, but you also provide them with the prayers that they’re constantly requesting—and growing spiritually, yourself, in the process,”
representative Foley summarizes.
“How else would you want to begin the New Year?”
Anyone interested in participating in the 1+1 Campaign can visit VOMK’s website at https://vomkorea.com/campaign/read-nk-bible/.