POHANG, South Korea – Around 5,000 Christian youth from 45 churches and about 10 organisations in the city of Pohang in South Korea were praying from Sunday evening to the next morning for the revival of churches in Korea.
The "Again 1907 in Pohang" Prayer Gathering, held at Pohang Stadium, witnessed the youth of Pohang gathering under the theme "One Holy Church" to pray for “the restoration of holiness” as well as the revival of the city and the whole country."The main goal of this prayer gathering is for Pohang to be a holy city focused on God and to meet the revival that God will allow through its changes and the changes of its neighbouring regions, and each Christian," stated the Rev Won Ho Park, a staff member for the prayer gathering.
"We hope for all the churches in Pohang to become one, and the youth – which are the center of churches – to go to other cities, to North Korea, and to other nations, spreading the fire of revival."
The event of Pohang was only one of several that are part of a city-travelling nationwide prayer initiative that began last year. In 2004, "Again 1907” started with the dream for the second great revival of Korean churches in the year 2007, the 100th anniversary year of Pyongyang Great Revival Movement, which is widely regarded to have established the base of Korean Christianity.
The gathering in Pohang was held in succession to the ones held in Seoul, Daegu, Chungju and Gwangju on May 15.
As was the case with the other gatherings, one of the major aims of the Pohang gathering was to break down the denominational differences between Christian youth and to carry out the commission of reconciliation, healing, communion, and evangelism among today's divided generations.
"Korean youth have the most heated passion out of any other people in the world,” said Rev Jong Tae Son from Yesuchon Church in a sermon delivered at the gathering. “The passion should be expressed through prayers to God and missions.""It is a great blessing that the Lord poured out ardent passion and the spirit of prayer on Korean youths," he continued, encouraging participants to serve for the revival of the earth through prayers.
During the time of prayer after the sermon, youth repented of their past lives that were lived without praying and following secular desires. Also, they made the decision to “be those who pray like kernels of wheat that fell on the ground,” in reference to John 12:24.
Participants also had a special time to pray for North Korea. They prayed for the sin of idolatry in North Korea to be cut off and for its people to consider one another as people created in the image of God.
Attendants Ju Yeon Park and Han Byul Jung from Handon Global University testified, "We didn't have the hearts of longing for revival before, but after we prayed in unity we came to really yearn for the Kingdom of God to come down on earth."
"We will keep praying so that we can live holy lives, separated from the world even after the prayer gathering is finished," they continued.
[Editor’s Note: Jae Il Ji reported from Pohang for this article]
Jae Il Ji
and Madison Y. Kim
Christian Today Correspondents
