Once upon a time, many prayer centres like this in beautiful Korean countryside would be filled with noises of people either praying or singing hymns and pouring their hearts to the Lord. With long history of persecution and suffering, Korean Christians took to the mountains and ravines to cry out to God and thus, the concept of "Prayer Mountain" came into existence. When freedom came to Korea, when the churches began to flourish; these mountainside prayer centres also came to life. Even in the remotest part of the country, people could be seen spending days, weeks and even months seeking God in prayer and fasting in these isolated places. Many successful pastors and their ministries were birthed in some of these places.
Sadly, things have changed so much in so short a period of time. Starting from the 1990s, the Church that was once no different from the church we see in the book of Acts suddenly began to enjoy the material prosperity brought forth by the industrial revolution of Korea birthed under the dictatorial leadership of strongman, President Park Chung Hee.
Today, many of such beautiful prayer centres and once hallowed mountainsides have become so deserted. In one place, we asked the keeper as how often their senior pastor comes to pray there; we were surprised to know that the pastor hasn't visited the place in years. Though few people visit these places, some of the beautiful chapels are still standing but much of the real-estate has run down with no maintenance. My wife and I often visit these places and feel the loss of Korean spirituality so deeply. The picture you see is our last visit to such holy place before we head to India. As we walk into these abandoned but beautiful places, we could imagine how a few decades ago, people would be crowding there for prayer; hymns would be blasting through the speakers and even people would be shouting out loud their prayers either from the inside the chapels or from the mountain tops.
If the Korean church leadership does not wake up and begin to seek God, a very sad future awaits for the Korean church and that too very soon. The hierarchal power structure of the society has heavily influenced the church leadership; the elders and senior pastors who control the church do not appear to be willing to lose their powerful positions by obeying God's will for the church. They want to continue to enjoy the perks and the powers that come along with it. Hearing God's voice is a dreadful thing for them because he might call them to relinquish their powers and positions. Losing power and position in Korean society is a very disgraceful thing and church leadership knows no better alternative.
I wish and pray that once again, Korean Christians will be hungry for God even if their pastors and elders failed to create that hunger in them. I wish and pray that once again these prayer mountains will be filled with people who would come there to spend the extended time with the Lord. I wish and pray that the true Korean church we heard about in the 70s and 80s will once again be brought back and give the glory to God that duly belongs to him.
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