CHICAGO, IL (April 4, 2018) — Serve Globally is asking Covenanters to join with a diverse group of other evangelicals to pray for peace in the Korean Peninsula ahead of announced peace negotiations.
The group released an “open letter” on March 27. The effort is being led by National Association of Evangelicals president Leith Anderson, Faith and Community Empowerment founder Hyepin Im, Evangelicals for Peace chair John P. Hartley, Kairos Company founder Johnnie Moore, and Evangelicals for Social Action executive director Nikki Toyama-Szeto.
Among the more than 90 initial signatories are Korean American Covenanters Kathy Khang, Quest Church pastor Eugene Cho, and North Park University professor Soong-Chan Rah, and missionary Jamie Kim. The group notes that a majority of the 2 million Korean Americans in the US are Christians, many of them evangelical.
The full text of the statement reads:
We are heartened by proposals for dialogue between our national leaders at a time when increasing tensions seemed to be marching our countries perilously in the direction of greater conflict, if not war. We call on all Christians everywhere to join us in praying for a just and peaceful resolution.
We pray for wisdom for our political, diplomatic and military leaders as they work across differences toward a goal of peace, security and freedom. We pray that God will bless the efforts of citizens who seek to bridge the vast differences between our countries.
Decades of people-to-people contact between North Korea and the United States- through business, educational and other humanitarian exchanges – have put a human face on those who are sometimes characterized by one another as enemies. So, we pray with empathy and in a spirit of friendship, noting the image of God in every human being. However profound the differences between our governments, we do not view the North Korean people as our enemies. On the contrary, we desire only the best for the people of North Korea.
Most of the nearly two million Korean-Americans are Christians, and many belong to evangelical churches. This community too has contact with North Koreans through humanitarian and family ties. South Korea is also home to many evangelical churches, including some of the world’s largest. Many of these Korean brothers and sisters have been praying for North Korea for years and we humbly join them. These connections with Koreans in North Korea, South Korea and the United States strengthen our resolve to seek God for mercy and, so far as it depends on us, to pursue peace between our respective countries.
