{"id":50762,"date":"2024-07-30T14:00:28","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T05:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=50762"},"modified":"2024-08-02T14:38:08","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T05:38:08","slug":"vomk-report-311","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2024\/07\/30\/vomk-report-311\/","title":{"rendered":"LAOS: NEW VILLAGE CHIEF ARRESTS SIX CHRISTIANS DURING PRAYER SERVICE"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”50747″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Voice of the Martyrs Korea has confirmed the arrest of a Lao pastor and five Lao Christians during a prayer service held in the pastor\u2019s home on June 22 in Tahae village, Xaibouathong district, Khammouane province in Central Laos.” 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][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\u201cThrough our local partners we were able to verify that a new village chief, Mr. Lang, and other local officials arrested Pastor Mum and five other Christians at the pastor\u2019s home during a Saturday prayer meeting,\u201d says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr<\/span>.<\/span> Hyun Sook Foley. <\/span>H<\/span>er ministry <\/span>partners with <\/span>local Lao Christians <\/span>to privately hand-deliver individual Bibles and hymnals to church leaders who request them. She says the Christian population in Laos is increasing dramatically, but so is persecution by authorities who worry about the increase and persecute Christian leaders whose churches are growing.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]\u201cIn 1994 there were 400 Christians in Laos, but by 2020 there were over 250,000, and <\/span>today <\/span>Lao Christians believe there <\/span>may <\/span>be over 400,000<\/span>,<\/span>\u201d<\/span> says Representative Foley.<\/span> She says much of the growth is in tribal areas, where some leaders are <\/span>less <\/span>tolerant than others.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of t<\/span>he tribal people are animists<\/span>,\u201d says Representative Foley<\/span>. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>They also <\/span>worship <\/span>their <\/span>ancestors<\/span>,<\/span> like their deceased fathers or mothers<\/span>. <\/span>When families in their village become Christian,<\/span> other villagers <\/span>sometimes <\/span>claim to <\/span>experience things like sickness <\/span>as a result of<\/span> the local spirits being offended. <\/span>So<\/span> they <\/span>believe that <\/span>the Christian families <\/span>have to<\/span> renounce their faith or leave <\/span>the village <\/span>in order to<\/span> fix the problem.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”50739″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In the case of the recent arrests in <\/span>Tahae<\/span> village, Representative Foley says a change in village leadership appears to have precipitated the crackdown.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

\u201cPastor Mum <\/span>became a Christian in 2019 when his family experienced a miraculous healing through Christ,\u201d says Representative Foley. \u201cHe began to gather believers in his home at that time and now has a congregation of 40 to 50.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]She says there had not been any problems with <\/span>authorities<\/span> until May of this year, when a new chief, Mr<\/span>.<\/span> Lang, began to lead the village. Now, Pastor Mum and five of his church members are being held <\/span>in <\/span>Xaibouathong<\/span> district prison.<\/span> Representative Foley says that Voice of the Martyrs Korea is <\/span>monitoring<\/span> the situation <\/span>closely <\/span>through one of its local field workers.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Despite the Lao <\/span>constitution guaranteeing freedom of religion to citizens and the Lao <\/span>government<\/span> being a signatory on most United Nations statements on human rights and religious freedom, <\/span>Representative Foley<\/span> says <\/span>the experience of these <\/span>detained Lao <\/span>Christian<\/span>s is not unique<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]\u201c<\/span>Another <\/span>small rural <\/span>church <\/span>in Laos <\/span>faced a<\/span> violent <\/span>attack <\/span>from neighbors <\/span>in the past 12 months,\u201d she says. \u201c<\/span>During <\/span>the <\/span>morning worship service, villagers and relatives of the believers came and destroyed the church<\/span>.\u201d She says <\/span>further details cannot yet be shared due to safety concerns for the church members.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”50743″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”(VOMK file footage) Lao Christians (not those recently arrested) gather at a worship service.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%230f0f0f|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 Voice of the Martyrs Korea is supporting Lao Christians by quietly hand-delivering them the Bibles and hymnals they are requesting through the ministry\u2019s local field workers. \u201cOutside groups who come to Laos and do large-scale distribution of Christian materials can inadvertently add to persecution by enabling authorities to easily spot and track Lao Christian leaders,\u201d she says. \u201cAlso, Christianity is growing most strongly in the rural areas. The safest and most effective way to equip the pastors there with the Bibles and hymnals they need is to have those materials quietly <\/span>and individually <\/span>hand-delivered by <\/span>local Lao believers with whom they have a common connection.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Even then, says Representative Foley, Lao Christians know that persecution is likely to be part of their daily Christian life. She says Voice of the Martyrs Korea continues to provide care and support to families of Christians in prison, as well as those who lose their homes through anti-Christian violence. \u201cWe don\u2019t help them leave,\u201d she says. \u201cInstead, we make it possible for them to stay and make a witness for Christ where they are. One way we do that is through telling their stories and sharing their plight globally. When authorities know that Christians around the world are watching them closely, it makes a difference.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Individuals interested in learning more about Voice of the Martyrs Korea\u2019s work in partnership with Lao Christians can visit <\/span>https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/country-profile\/laos\/<\/span><\/span><\/a>. Donations can be made to <\/span>www.vomkorea.com\/en\/donate<\/a><\/span> or via electronic transfer to\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\uad6d\ubbfc\uc740\ud589<\/span> 463501-01-243303<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\uc608\uae08\uc8fc<\/span>: (<\/span>\uc0ac<\/span>)<\/span>\uc21c\uad50\uc790\uc758\uc18c\ub9ac<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Please include the word \u201cLaos\u201d on the donation.<\/span>\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=”50747″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Voice of the Martyrs Korea has confirmed the arrest of a Lao pastor and five Lao Christians during a prayer service held in the pastor\u2019s home on …","protected":false},"author":659,"featured_media":50746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[235,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-column","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":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50762","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=50762"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50782,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50762\/revisions\/50782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}