{"id":30268,"date":"2020-09-08T14:00:49","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T05:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=30268"},"modified":"2020-09-08T14:41:30","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T05:41:30","slug":"vomk-report-120","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2020\/09\/08\/vomk-report-120\/","title":{"rendered":"VOICE OF THE MARTYS KOREA JOINS MULTI-AGENCY EFFORT TO PROVIDE 100,000 BIBLES TO LAOS"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”30260″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Rapid growth of the church in one of the last remaining Communist countries, Laos, has caused Voice of the Martyrs Korea to join together with several Christian organizations to meet a request from local believers for 100,000 New Testaments within the next 9 months.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” el_class=”headline” link=”|||”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span><\/span>In 1994 there were<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>400 Christians in Laos, but today there are over 250,000 and by 2023<\/span><\/span>, Laotian Christians\u00a0<\/span><\/span>believe there will be over<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>400,000<\/span><\/span>,\u201d says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Representative Foley says that is why\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u00a0<\/span><\/span>is joining Voice of the Martyrs Canada and US NGO Vision Beyond Borders\u00a0<\/span><\/span>in an effort to<\/span><\/span>\u00a0fulfill the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>request. \u201cOur Voice of the Martyrs\u00a0<\/span><\/span>global founder, Romanian pastor Richard\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Wurmbrand<\/span><\/span>, was himself persecuted under the Communists<\/span><\/span>,\u201d says Foley<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span>He often said to believers in free countries, \u2018Give us the tools, and we will complete the work.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Voice of the Martyrs is not a mission agency but rather the partners of local believers.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>In Laos, the tool\u00a0<\/span><\/span>that\u00a0<\/span><\/span>local believers\u00a0<\/span><\/span>are requesting is\u00a0<\/span><\/span>100,000 New Testaments by next May<\/span><\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley\u00a0<\/span><\/span>reports\u00a0<\/span><\/span>that i<\/span><\/span>n one area of Laos<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>more than\u00a0<\/span><\/span>50 new churches\u00a0<\/span><\/span>have been\u00a0<\/span><\/span>planted in six months<\/span><\/span>, with\u00a0<\/span><\/span>over 5,000 new Christians<\/span><\/span>\u00a0in attendance<\/span><\/span>. In an area in the<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>north, a\u00a0<\/span><\/span>p<\/span><\/span>astor who spent 11 years in prison for his faith was able to lead other men to Christ\u00a0<\/span><\/span>in\u00a0<\/span><\/span>prison.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span>After being released, these men planted 67 churches<\/span><\/span>,\u201d sa<\/span><\/span>ys Representative Foley<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span><\/span>M<\/span><\/span>ost\u00a0<\/span><\/span>persecution\u00a0<\/span><\/span>of Christians\u00a0<\/span><\/span>in Laos\u00a0<\/span><\/span>is done by\u00a0<\/span><\/span>family members or village authorities who are concerned that Christianity offends the spirits<\/span><\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span>The central government\u00a0<\/span><\/span>also\u00a0<\/span><\/span>persecutes Christians occasionally,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>because<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Christianity is viewed as an American religion or as a tool of the CIA.<\/span><\/span>\u201d Representative Foley notes that h<\/span><\/span>ouse churches and church buildings exist, but the majority do not have a trained pastor.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span>Most pastors have little schooling<\/span><\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/span>The church leader is typically the oldest or wealthiest person in the community. In most villages, no church buildings are allowed. If village leaders notice that a house church is growing, they will try to stop it.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Christians have difficulty providing for themselves and their family. They often are unable to get jobs, most of which are through the government. Christians commonly are denied medical treatment,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>education<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and other social services. There are no open Bible schools in the country.<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Representative Foley says that t<\/span><\/span>he Lao Evangelical Church (LEC) is the only government-recognized church.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”30264″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”A new Laotian Christian is baptized” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%23000000|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]According to Representative Foley, the Voice of the Martyrs organizations around the world have partnered with local believers for several decades. \u201c<\/span><\/span>VOM\u00a0<\/span><\/span>provides the local church leaders with<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Bibles,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>in addition to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>print<\/span><\/span>ing<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Christian\u00a0<\/span><\/span>literature and provid<\/span><\/span>ing<\/span><\/span>\u00a0audio devices loaded with Scripture and other Christian materials, particularly in minority languages.<\/span><\/span>\u201d Representative Foley says Voice of the Martyrs has also helped to<\/span><\/span>\u00a0relocate\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Christian families\u00a0<\/span><\/span>evicted\u00a0<\/span><\/span>from their villages<\/span><\/span>, provid<\/span><\/span>ing<\/span><\/span>\u00a0food and other immediate needs, and provid<\/span><\/span>ing<\/span><\/span>\u00a0additional help on a case-by-case basis.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Access to Bibles remains a challenge for the growing Laotian church, says Representative Foley. \u201c<\/span><\/span>Bibles are not sold in bookstores<\/span><\/span>,\u201d she says<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201cThe\u00a0<\/span><\/span>LEC churches sell Bibles, and other organizations bring Bibles in with legal permission. It\u2019s not a problem to bring one or two Bibles across the border, but Christians encounter problems when they bring in large amounts of Bibles or distribute Bibles in larger numbers.<\/span><\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Representative Foley\u00a0<\/span><\/span>says that New Testaments are popular among Laotian believers because they\u00a0<\/span><\/span>are\u00a0 more<\/span><\/span>\u00a0easily concealed from authorities, family members, and neighbors.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says that the cost to provide a New Testament through this multi-agency campaign is\u00a0<\/span><\/span>2,250 KRW per New Testament, including printing, shipping, and distribution.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor the sake of the security of local recipients, we will not be releasing the printing and distribution<\/span><\/span>\u00a0details<\/span><\/span>, but we look forward to\u00a0<\/span><\/span>r<\/span><\/span>eport<\/span><\/span>ing<\/span><\/span>\u00a0on the use of the<\/span><\/span>se<\/span><\/span>\u00a0New Testaments by Laotian believers.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Representative Foley says that donations given through September 30 to Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s \u201cCommunism is Not Dead\u201d (CIND) fund will be used for Laos New Testaments. Interested individuals can give at www.vomkorea.com\/en\/donation<\/a> or via electronic transfer to:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\uad6d\ubbfc\uc740\ud589 (KB Bank) 463501-01-243303<\/p>\n

\uc608\uae08\uc8fc (Account holder): (\uc0ac)\uc21c\uad50\uc790\uc758\uc18c\ub9ac<\/p>\n

Please include the name \u201cCIND\u201d on the donation.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”30260″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Rapid growth of the church in one of the last remaining Communist countries, Laos, has caused Voice of the Martyrs Korea to join together with several Christian …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":30262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[857,235,869,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russian-special","category-special-column","category-china-special","category-vomk-report"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}