A ministry lived in secrecy

Brother Sung-Eun is a quiet man. Some would describe him as withdrawn. Others would say he blends easily into a crowd. In his line of work, those are good qualities. Getting through your day unnoticed is 90 percent of the job. And that is becoming increasingly difficult. This third country has the most advanced population monitoring system in the world, and North Korea continues to dispatch agents to infiltrate any network that might be involved in helping defectors.

Not long ago, those agents tracked down one of Sung-Eun’s team members. The risk of him being hurt, kidnapped, or killed was so high that he had to go into hiding. “It was a tense time for all of us,” Sung-Eun says. “But we also experienced God’s providence. He had prepared an escape route and a safe house for our fieldworkers. His family couldn’t follow immediately, but God protected their home as well. They were reunited later, and our brother has been able to resume his work from a different area.”

The lesson? “It taught me that God deeply cares about this work and lovingly protects those who serve Him. He had already provided what we needed. We have witnessed many times how God resolves situations that cannot be resolved by human means.”

Finding trust in dangerous places

We asked Sung-Eun how he would describe the work Open Doors does through him. He replied: “Our ministry is focused on North Koreans who are away from home and in need of help. Working alongside them, we look for people in that situation and arrange discreet meetings where we can share the gospel with them. For those in crisis, we provide shelter in safe houses, along with practical help for their daily needs. Over time, that care grows into genuine relationships, and many of the people we meet come to faith. Some of them eventually go back, and they carry that faith home with them.”

Sung-Eun uses another word that is essential to his ministry: discreet. It means meeting another person in a way that will never look suspicious. The workers need to be as local as possible. “North Koreans are suspicious of almost everyone. The closer someone is to where they come from, the more likely they are to trust. Working through local people is therefore vital, because the North Korean will feel more at ease. Even so, we keep the meetings short. Even when we have built trust, it is still possible that we are being watched. So, we must be careful. These meetings are far from safe, even for other fieldworkers. Surveillance and the persecution of Christians are growing more intense, and the people who do this work are risking their lives.”

Even with all these precautions in place, there is a limit to what Sung-Eun can do—for the safety of the people they are trying to help.

“No matter how much we long to share the gospel and offer people a helping hand, there are many times when we simply cannot act as we would like, and that leaves us frustrated and weighed down. But these are not obstacles that can be overcome by human effort alone, and that is why this ministry depends on the power of prayer more than anything else.”

When every encounter may be the last

Prayer is needed most during each encounter. Meetings themselves are short by design, and everything hangs on them.

“We take extra precautions every time we have an opportunity to meet a North Korean, because that meeting can cost them their life if it is ever discovered. They can be sent to a political prison camp, the harshest place anyone can end up in this world. So, these meetings are only for people who are desperate for help, and most of the time they are very short. The fieldworker always must be ready to share the gospel clearly and well in a very small window of time. And we never know whether we will have the chance to meet that person again, so we share the gospel knowing that every encounter could be the last one.”

It is here that Brother Andrew’s words take on their sharpest form. “We have no choice but to share the gospel with this thought in mind: I may be the first and last Christian this person will ever meet in their lifetime. When you approach every encounter that way, it becomes very clear what you have to share. There is nothing else but Jesus Christ.”

Almost no one arrives wanting to hear it. “At first, they are usually very guarded, and you can tell they have come reluctantly, because they need our help. Most of them come because they need material assistance and feel they have no other choice. But when we share the gospel with a clear sense of purpose, they seem to sense that purpose too. Something happens when the urgency in our hearts meets theirs. We have met many people who seem to be wondering, ‘Why is this person so serious about wanting to tell me something?’ They can be reserved, and sometimes they push us away. But as time passes, we begin to notice that the Word is finding its way into their hearts. When they start to listen seriously and to understand what they are hearing, we can feel the atmosphere change.”

The Scriptures that guide the work

Two passages go with Sung-Eun into every meeting. The first keeps him in his place.

“I think of John 21: ‘Feed my sheep, tend my sheep.’ I am helping these people, but ultimately, they are not my sheep. They are the Lord’s sheep. He entrusts them to us and works through us. That is why I can go to a meeting confident that the Lord Himself will make a way for us to meet.”

The second is more sober, and it reveals something unexpected about the people he sits across from. “The other verse I try to share is Hebrews 9:27: ‘Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.’ Most people never become indifferent to death. The people I meet live with the conviction that they cannot afford to die — not because they are afraid for their own lives, but because they are deeply worried about what would happen to their families if they were gone. They left home on behalf of their families, and they feel responsible for finding whatever means they can provide for the ones they left behind. So, I talk with them about death, and I share the gospel with them.”

Because every meeting must be checked and verified before it can go ahead, the moment it finally happens carries a weight of its own. “We cannot simply meet any North Korean we would like to, because a meeting can endanger not only them but also our fieldworkers. So, we verify everything first. That is why the moment we actually meet is always filled with deep emotion and gratitude. We think about how this precious man or woman could have lived an entire life and died without ever hearing the gospel, because of the oppressive system and the ideology of their country. And yet God chose them and gave them this opportunity. In those moments, I can feel that God is working through me and speaking through me. I am always honored to be part of this and to witness these moments in God’s work.”

One of those moments was a baptism. “I once had the opportunity to baptize two young North Koreans. I felt God’s presence powerfully throughout. They had been trained and had studied the Bible with the purpose of sharing what they learned with their families afterward. They gave their lives to Jesus. That meeting gave me hope that the Kingdom of God will expand through young people like these. In that barren land of darkness, God is planting seeds, and one day they will bear fruit.”

“The land looks dark and without hope,” he adds, “but God prepares people like Ruth and Boaz, who are like shining jewels in His sight. How thankful I am for that. And it is not only those two. Many other secret believers are studying the Word with the resolve: if I am caught, so be it. If I die, so be it.”

A call to stand with secret believers

Sung-Eun carries risks of his own, and not all of them are dramatic. Some are administrative and never go away. “Simply living and staying in the field is dangerous and risky. I have seen God work out my visa situation, but it is still something that must be resolved.”

We asked him what he would want to say to the people who pray for North Korean believers and support this work. “First of all, please remember that they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are one body in the Lord. They are the people we are called to pray for, to care for, and to embrace with love. And please remember that these stories of persecution are not distant or imaginary. Just because we cannot see them with our own eyes does not mean they do not exist. The secret underground church exists, and so do the believers. When we hear about their persecution, if we who share the same faith in Jesus do not stand with them, who will?”

“The situation may feel so far removed from life in the free world that it can seem almost unreal. But this is their reality, and it is far worse than most of us imagine. The intensity of the persecution increases day by day.”

It is also the reason this article can only tell part of the story. “There are many stories we cannot tell, because a person’s life may be at stake. Sometimes details must be changed, and we cannot give real names or locations. But please remember that these are things our brothers and sisters who secretly follow Christ are experiencing right now. That is why their need for our continued support and prayer is so great. Through your prayers and support, they are able to remain faithful and to share even one more word about Jesus. I want to use this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude. Through your prayers and support, you help to protect them and preserve their lives.”

And how should we pray for Sung-Eun himself? “I feel your prayers moment by moment. We know there are prayer partners standing behind us, faithfully supporting us. At every dangerous moment we have seen God make a way of escape, restore our health, and protect our ministry. Every time, we are amazed at how faithfully you are praying for us.”

“God works through people. But finding sincere and faithful people who will commit their lives to this ministry is not easy. We know God has prepared people to work alongside us. Please pray that good and faithful workers will be raised up and committed to this ministry, and that the workers God has already prepared will be connected to us, so that we can serve more secret believers.”

“And please pray that the Lord will hold our partners and our workers securely in His hands, protect them, and enable this work to be carried out safely. Pray that the field team, the Open Doors family, and prayer partners and donors around the world may be united in one mind and make a beautiful melody together in God. My hope is that many more will gather to pray for the persecuted church.”

*Name changed for security reasons.