by Dr. Jo**
We call her Esther* because God has called her to be a faithful witness “for just such a time as this” (Es 4:14). Esther is a pioneer leader making Jesus known in a forgotten community. How did God carefully push this vibrant, Korean woman across a significant frontier within the Central Asian nation where she has lived her whole life? Esther smiles back at me in the Zoom window on my laptop. She thinks carefully about how to answer that question.
My ambition has always been to preach the good news where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. I have been following the plan spoken of in the scriptures, where it says, “Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand.” Romans 15:20-21
The first time I visited Esther in Central Asia, I was surprised many of the Russian-speaking, evangelical pastors I met looked Korean to me. Having grown up in a multi-cultural urban centre, Korean friends have been in my life for as long as I can remember. The existence of Korean-looking, Russian-speaking brothers and sisters was new to me and fascinating. I wanted to know their story.
Joseph Stalin, in 1937, feared Korean immigrants living in the Russian far-east, mostly in Siberia, might spy for the Japanese. He forcibly exiled 172,000 of them across what are today the independent nations of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Many died in the brutal deportation, but some survived. Four generations later, approximately 500,000 Koryo-saram or “Korean people” are spread across the eastern extremities of the former USSR.
The paranoid dictator never imagined the God and Father of our Lord Jesus was sovereignly using him to scatter the seeds of the gospel throughout Central Asia. In the late 20th century, after the Iron Curtain fell, some South Korean mission workers focused their efforts in Central Asia on ‘local’ Korean exiles. Not having a religious identity of their own, thousands of Koryo-saram received the gospel with joy. Household leaders believed the good news and large extended families began to follow Christ together. A student movement also developed. Young people open to new ideas and eager to read the Bible in English connected with the South Korean mission workers in a special way.
Esther is a fourth generation Koryo-saram. The Russian language, imposed by imperial forces for over 70 years, has become these exiles’ first language. Esther doesn’t speak Korean and she answers my questions in flawless, American-accented English.
Why does Esther’s family speak Russian? She passes over the question quickly, explaining everyone who isn’t part of her nation’s ethnic majority speaks Russian. The story she would rather tell is of her ongoing adventure learning the language of 85 per cent of her nation’s population, a forgotten community that Esther wants us all to remember in prayer. She expresses the joy and privilege she feels to know and to make Jesus known in her nation’s heart language.
Last year, to launch a new Faithful Witness team, Esther moved to a city where very few people speak Russian and where, because of strict government surveillance, the population has had no access to the gospel. She explains,
When I first arrived here, my language was not good. There are words that sound the same to me but have different meanings. When I wanted to say ‘together,’ I would always say ‘to cry.’ When I wanted to encourage the new believers to follow Jesus together, I would say, ‘We need to cry.’ It’s funny but everyone here has been so patient with me. They really do want to grow in their faith and to follow Jesus together. And sometimes we do just have to cry together. Life is very hard here, but God has put his love in my heart for them and in theirs for me. Esther*
We invite you to pray for Esther, whose ambition is “to preach the good news where the name of Christ has never been heard” (Rom. 15:20-21). We also invite you to worship our sovereign Lord who has so carefully pushed this pioneer leader through a barrier into a community that otherwise would have no access to the gospel.
Pray:
- That many more Faithful Witnesses would join Esther and Team Tuz.
- For more and better Jesus-followers in Central Asia.
- For the protection of new believers often ostracized by their families because of their faith in Jesus.
- For God to raise up many more pioneer leaders willing and able to bring hope to communities where Jesus is least known.
Send a financial gift to encourage the Faithful Witness team in Central Asia
