{"id":40670,"date":"2022-01-28T10:02:40","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T01:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=40670"},"modified":"2022-01-28T11:46:55","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T02:46:55","slug":"vomk-report-189","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2022\/01\/28\/vomk-report-189\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS: Jeju “Mayflower Church\u201d final asylum appeal denied"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”40681″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Pastor Pan’s “Mayflower Church“ final asylum appeal has been denied by the Gwangju High Court. The court denied the appeal without additional comment, referring to the previous judgment. The decision could mean the group is required to leave Korea in as little as two weeks, according to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr Hyun Sook Foley, whose organization has provided ongoing persecution-related training to the members of the church since their arrival. ” 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”][vc_column_text]T<\/span>he 60 members of <\/span>Shenzen<\/span> Holy Reformed Church<\/span>, including <\/span>its <\/span>Pastor <\/span>Pan <\/span>Yongguang<\/span>, have been<\/span> dubbed the \u201cMayflower Church\u201d<\/span> by global religious freedom advocates<\/span>. The group<\/span> fled China in 2019 for <\/span>Jeju<\/span> Island, where they have been <\/span>supporting themselves<\/span> by doing menial labor during their asylum <\/span>process.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

According to <\/span>Voice of the Martyrs <\/span>Korea <\/span>Representative Dr<\/span>.<\/span> Hyun Sook Foley, the <\/span>group\u2019s plans remain unclear. <\/span>\u201cSome difficult decisions lay ahead<\/span> for Pastor Pan and the congregation members,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span>. <\/span>She<\/span> says the <\/span>church members <\/span>continue to trust God despite <\/span>the denial of their <\/span>asylum request<\/span>. \u201cThey are a well-trained congregation, not only by us <\/span>through our persecution training <\/span>but also by Pan <\/span>Yongguang<\/span>, their pastor. The<\/span> pastor and church members<\/span> continue to pray that God may yet open a door for asylum in another country like the U.S., but they <\/span>are fully prepared to be faithful witnesses to Christ no matter what the cost if the Lord sends them back to China.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”40671″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”These Mayflower Church children practice the principles of worship so that their families can participate in daily family worship in their homes. ” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”40673″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Pastor Pan is pictured with one of the youngest Mayflower Church members.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|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]Representative Foley says that Pastor <\/span>Pan <\/span>founded the church <\/span>in 2012 <\/span>under the oversight of <\/span>Philadelphia Bible Reformed Church<\/span> in the United States<\/span>. <\/span>Because of his connection to the foreign religious group, Pastor Pan <\/span>began to be interrogated by authorities at least twice a week beginning in 2014. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>When Pastor Pan refused to affiliate the church with the <\/span>Chinese Communist Party-approved Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TPSM)<\/span>, <\/span>authorities pressured the landlord of the building where the church<\/span>-run <\/span>elementary school was located to <\/span>evict them. Church members didn\u2019t want <\/span>to send <\/span>their children <\/span>to state-run schools<\/span> to be indoctrinated into atheism and communism, so they voted to flee China as a whole church in 2019.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says that t<\/span>he group<\/span>, which consists of<\/span> twenty-eight adults and thirty-two children<\/span>,<\/span> posed as <\/span>tourists<\/span> and arrived <\/span>on <\/span>Jeju<\/span> Island with almost nothing.<\/span> \u201c<\/span>In order to avoid being detained during their departure, they had not communicated their plan to anyone, including us,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201c<\/span>We learned about them and met them for the first time <\/span>after they arrived<\/span>. A<\/span>long with <\/span>China Aid and other international organizations <\/span>which <\/span>help <\/span>persecuted Christians, <\/span>we\u2019ve done what we can to help them<\/span>. Churches in <\/span>Jeju<\/span> have also done a lot. Everyone who meets this group loves them, because they are completely <\/span>non-political<\/span> and they are all hard-working<\/span>. They really just want to worship God freely and educate their children <\/span>to love and serve the Lord.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”40675″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Pastor Foley of VOM Korea talks with Pastor Pan about the Christian persecution in China.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a|line_height:1.45em” google_fonts=”font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says that i<\/span>n June, <\/span>the <\/span>South Korea<\/span>n government<\/span> denied the<\/span>ir original <\/span>asylum<\/span> request<\/span>. The<\/span>y<\/span> filed an appeal shortly afterward<\/span>,<\/span> but <\/span>according to Representative Foley <\/span>they <\/span>were denied a second time on October 5th. <\/span>Facing a deportation to China on October 19th, they filed yet another appeal, <\/span>in order<\/span> not<\/span> be sent back to China. <\/span><\/span>\u201c<\/span>That appeal was rejected today<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span><\/span>, noting that South Korea only accepted an estimated 0.4% of refugees in 2020.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says <\/span>Voice of the Martyrs Korea <\/span>concurs with other China persecution watchdog groups <\/span>China Aid and Christian Solidarity Worldwide <\/span>that <\/span>if <\/span>the <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Mayflower Church<\/span>\u201d<\/span> return<\/span>s<\/span> to China, the<\/span>y will be subject to <\/span>extreme punishment<\/span>s<\/span> including imprisonments, forced disappearances, and torture. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Recently<\/span>, the CCP <\/span>ha<\/span>s<\/span> questioned three of the church\u2019s members <\/span>who remained in China when the group <\/span>fled<\/span>, demanding information about the group and also demanding that the members break off <\/span>all <\/span>contact with them.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Representative Foley says Voice of the Martyrs Korea will continue to stand with the church and share their story, no matter where they are sent. \u201cWe\u2019ve come to deeply love and respect Pastor Pan and each of the church members since we first met them and learned of their story when they arrived here in 2019. We\u2019ve trained not only the adults but even the young children again and again what the Bible teaches about persecution in the life of the believer. We know that even if God sends them back to China, it is only because he has an even bigger plan and purpose for them, and they will be faithful. Four hundred years after the original Mayflower Pilgrims, Christians still remember and are inspired by their story. We will do our best to continue to tell the story of these \u2018modern Mayflower Christians\u2019 to inspire and challenge people here in our country and around the world.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Individuals interested in donating to Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s work in partnership with the house church\u202fChristians\u202fof China\u202fcan\u202fvisit\u202f<\/span>www.vomkorea.com\/en\/donate<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u202f.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Please note \u201cChina\u201d on\u202fall donations<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>[\/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=”40681″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Pastor Pan’s “Mayflower Church“ final asylum appeal has been denied by the Gwangju High Court. The court denied the appeal without additional comment, referring to the previous …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":40682,"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-40670","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\/40670","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=40670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}