A YOUNG woman from a pre-Korean War Christian family relates: “My mother and her friends continue to gather in worship secretly.”
Another believer relates: “I also had a pre-Korean War Christian mother who continued to worship in secret with two relatives, using a Bible that her grandfather had brought back from Japan years ago.”
Another Christian said: “I participated in an underground Church of 12 members, all relatives, who sometimes had missionaries visit from China.”
Korean sisters and brothers meet under the most secret circumstances to avoid detection. They also meet any time that is available and not only on a Sunday as is the practice in countries not yet persecuted.
These Christians worship their Lord when their circumstances permit it. There is a great doctrinal split in many evangelical churches over what day is the Lord’s day, meaning which day did the early Church meet to worship. This freedom to try to attempt to practice worship on a specific day is not possible in North Korea where if they are found worshipping Jesus Christ, they will be arrested and even killed for their testimony. Thus they meet at all different times and in different places. As we look at the Book of Acts we can imagine that the early Church especially under times of persecution would meet in different homes at different times to avoid detection.696
In an underground Church in China in one area the people wake up at 4:30 to come together for two hours to pray and worship, they do this every day. There are Churches that meet in the only place they are safe, a cave! There are Churches that meet on farms far away from prying eyes.
Another testimony on the Underground Church in China: “One thing I quickly realized about the Chinese Church is that it is a lot different from the American one. For one thing they think a four hour sermon is short, but more than that is how different their services looked from ours, I mean, see for yourself what happens when a desperate people plug into a powerful God.”
Dear believer, will you argue over what day to meet in your country when believers all over the world in underground Churches are surviving persecution, and are hungry for the Word of God, and are spending hours at the feet of Jesus Christ and His Word?
There are those denominations who feel very strongly about the sabbath or Sunday. During the time of the Book of Acts there were two Jerusalem councils where the Apostles discussed the applicability of the law under grace. The first council is described in the Book of Acts.697 It was declared that the New Testament Gentile Church is under grace and not the law except to abstain from certain sinful practices. The second Jerusalem council is described fourteen years later in the Book of Galatians.698 Again grace was confirmed and not the law. In the Book of Colossians the Apostle Paul made it very clear concerning the sabbath saying: “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”699 The Old Testament practice of keeping the sabbath was a “shadow of things to come” where Jesus Christ became our Sabbath—our Rest. He “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”700 Therefore, we are rejecting Him when we believe we must observe a day which was only intended as a shadow of Him. Such a trust in a day to be our salvation will only make us estranged from Christ Himself.
Even though in the early Church believers would try to assemble at the same times each week to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was there desire to meet on the first day of the week where possible701 yet at times it was not possible. When the disciples were scattered from Jerusalem702 their first thought was not to try and persevere the Lord’s day meeting, but share the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to be open as believers in Jesus Christ, in the non-persecuted countries, to learn to meet often, regularly and not necessarily at a set time on Sunday or other days. When we meet with as few as 2-3 individuals at a home we can have a time of Bible reading, discussion, prayer and worship. This will prepare us for persecution, as we learn from our dear brothers and sisters in North Korea.