Bringing the Gospel from Korea to Middle East

Continued violence targeted at Christians in Iraq has driven a mass exodus of 40,000 Christians to neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Syria. Many have lost hope in the future of Christianity in Iraq, claiming that Iraqi Christians will come to extinction by next year, however the history of the salvation of God is still advancing through the work of groups of Korean missionaries.

John Jung, from a church in Korea, which is well-known for training missionaries, is planning to open a seminary at the National Protestant Evangelical Church in Baghdad. He has been working with an Iraqi pastor named Estawri Haritounian.

“Saddam Hussein’s regime allowed Christians to gather in private houses, so it was difficult, though possible, for us to evangelise,” said Jung, who has been travelling in and out of Iraq for several years. “But now it has become even more difficult for Christians in Iraq. Christians are afraid of Muslims for the first time. We are frustrated we can’t be in Iraq at this important time. But as soon as the security allows, we will go back to Baghdad.”

Despite the persecution, Jung is determined to start the seminary with faith. “We’ll start with only 15 students, but we hope to grow in the future,” he said. He added that they hoped that the classes can be started as soon as the security improved in Baghdad.

One Korean missionary shared his mission strategy: “low voice and with wisdom”. He will first approach groups of Muslims with an apparent intention of making friends. Later, he will try to change to the theme of Christianity. To avoid extreme persecution, many missionaries also focus on bringing Arab Catholics or Chaldeans into the evangelical fold.

Amazingly, the missionary delivers English sermons that are translated into Arabic in a local church in Amman. He said, “There are so many ways to do our work.”

Pastor Haritounian, who is co-working with Jung, explained that there is a change of mission trend in Iraq. He recalled that half a century ago, the church in Iraq had been founded with the help of British missionaries, later American missionaries replaced them. However, after the U.S-led events in Iraq last year, American missionaries have been disadvantaged to work there because of the aggregated hatred among many of the Iraqi people. South Korean missionaries in turn succeeded.

In the past, Western missionaries from America and Europe planted the Gospel to the vast ends of the earth through the spread of colonialism. However, in only a couple of decades, Korea, a country in the East whose root is Confucian and Buddhist, and whose population remains two-thirds non-Christian, has quickly risen to become known for aggressively evangelising the hardest-to-evangelise corners of the world.

According to the Korea Research Institute for Missions, compared with South Korea’s 12,000, there are about 46,000 American and 6,000 British missionaries.