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With North Korea the subject of major newspaper headlines the world over, it is no surprise that one of the world’s few remaining Communist states is the subject of considerable international discussion lately. But that nation’s nuclear capabilities and weapons arsenal aren’t the main concern of Yoido Full Gospel Church, located little more than an hour’s drive away in Seoul, South Korea. Rather, the world’s largest church is preparing to evangelize its sister to the north.

“Reunification of this peninsula is the great desire of our country,” declares Rev. Jae Woo Chung, senior pastor of one of Full Gospel Church’s fifteen satellite congregations.

Pastor Chung speaks confidently of “when reunification comes” as if the historic date were already decided, but he admits “We can’t know the heart of North Korea, so we can’t say when this will happen. But we are preparing. Getting ready to evangelize North Korea has been a focus of our church for fifteen years already.”

Former director of the World Missions Department of the 700,000 member congregation, Chung describes a three-part strategy for evangelizing the country-infamous for its harsh repression of all religions, including Christianity; the deification of deceased leader Kim Il Sung; and a catastrophic economy that has resulted in the starvation of as many as three million people since 1994, according to Operation World.

“Our strategy is to work through an NGO called ‘Good People,’ our North Korea Mission and through intercessory prayer,” he explains. Good People was established by Yoido Church to help solve North Korea’s exploding hunger problem through providing corn seeds and fertilizer for planting projects, as well as corn powder for feeding programs.

Additionally, evangelistic efforts have targeted North Korean refugees who flee the privation of their homeland into China and South Korea. Although risking their lives to escape, more than 100,000 North Koreans have fled to China in the past three years alone, reports Operation World.

“We teach them job skills and also the existence of God,” Chung says. “After their difficult lives in North Korea, many are very open to the gospel. Perhaps seventy-five percent of those we have worked with through our North Korea Mission have been converted.”

While the opening up of its northern neighbor for reunification and evangelization is a priority concern of intercessory groups, the Seoul church has targeted other prayer concerns as well. Its World Missions Department oversees nearly one hundred missionaries serving around the world, not including another five hundred who lead congregations of expatriate Koreans. Full Gospel Church has its eye on the whole world-hardly surprising when one considers the fact that the number of Korean missionaries abroad is second only to that of the United States. Depending upon the statistics quoted, 8,500 to 10,500 Korean missionaries currently serve around the world.

“Korea has had the experience of being a colony of Japan and of belonging to the Third World,” says Chung, explaining why his country has been able to develop into such a strong sending force in the past fifteen years.

“These points appeal to other countries of Asia and Africa that also have been colonized and that belong to the Third World. We’ve been able to sympathize because of our own experiences, and we’ve been welcomed because we’ve known their suffering.”

Nevertheless, Chung has some words of caution for the church in Korea-home not only to Yoido Full Gospel Church, but also to ten of the world’s eleven largest mega-churches, including Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist congregations. He terms this admonition the “danger of success.”

“From the 1960s through the 1980s, Korea experienced God’s blessing through tremendous church growth,” he explains, pointing out that with a quarter of its population Christian, Korea is one of Asia’s most Christianized nations. “But since 1990, most of our churches have known only the status quo. Why? Just as in Europe and America, our weakness has come with economic development.”

Chung says, “When we were in a needy situation, we were eager to pray and have a deeper relationship with God. But as our economy has improved, our zeal for prayer and evangelism has gotten weaker. Our economic blessings have become a challenge for the church.”

Despite his warning, the Korean pastor declares emphatically, “I’m not disappointed about the church situation in Korea. Koreans are realizing that economic development doesn’t answer the search for meaning in life. We have become aware of spiritual warfare, and I see a glimpse of spiritual renewal coming once again in our country.”

Cheryl Johnson Barton writes for World Pulse from Kobe, Japan.