REAH Empower Conference Sydney

North Korea regularly makes international headlines for all the wrong reasons. Between reports on nuclear tests, human rights abuses and the eccentric behaviour of the regime’s leaders, the daily lives of the North Korean people most often go unseen and unheard. The common understanding is that these people are unreachable and untouchable. Despite thousands of North Korean defectors having escaped their home country over the last two decades, the regime continues to stand, and unification between North and South Korea seems a remote possibility.

However, in February 2017, a group of cross-denominational Christians with a very different perspective on North Korea, gathered in the northern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Their purpose was to pray, network and share testimony of God’s love and hope for the North Korean people. The three-day retreat and two-day Empower Conference organised by REAH International, in cooperation with local churches, brought together fieldworkers, researchers, pastors and members of churches and organisations from Australia and a wide range of international locations.

Founded in 2005 by Canadian-Korean, Jamie Kim, REAH International’s mandate is to empower Christians for involvement with North Korea, whether in the field or at home. It helps people find their role in the body of Christ for North Korea by providing resources, and organising North-Korea focussed prayer groups, leadership retreats and conferences. It also helps link Christians who have a calling for North Korea with strategic opportunities in-country, both long-term and short-term.

During the retreat and conference, attendees were reminded of God’s call for “unity in diversity” in 1 Corinthians 12: 12: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” They were also reminded of the responsibility that membership of the body brings, as stated in verses 24-25: “But God has put the body together, giving greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that it’s parts should have equal concern for each other.”

Coming together around this theme, the various speakers urged the local church – in Australia, South Korea, the United States and elsewhere – to pursue unity, under the leadership of Christ. Only when the body of Christ is unified, is it truly effective for the North Korean people. The presenters also spoke of being alert to the gifts that come with unity found in diversity. Highlighting the value of different spiritual gifts in an effective body of Christ, attendees heard first-hand about the importance of individuals and teams working in a spirit of love for the North Korean people by using their unique gifts – whether that be in business, healthcare, education, sports, Christian ministry or intercessory prayer.

Testimonies of both God’s powerful calling to North Korea for individuals and groups, as well as of his work inside, provided a clear reminder that God has a heart for his people in the North. The diversity of participants present at the gathering – in terms of nationality, geographical origin, professional background and specific calling – provided clear evidence of God’s call for multiple pathways of engagement with North Korea.

Although it is impossible to predict when and how inter-Korean unification may be achieved, the Empower participants were reminded of the need to engage in targeted prayers for the people of North Korea. As Oswald Chambers wisely stated: “Prayer does not equip us for greater works – prayer is the greater work.”〠

Jamie Kimㅣ Executive Director, Reah International