We serve Christians around the world whose brave faith in Jesus means they are, beaten, threatened, imprisoned, tortured, falsely accused, disowned and hated.

NORTH KOREA: WHAT HAPPENED WHEN A SECRET CHRISTIAN TOLD HIS WIFE ABOUT HIS FAITH?

pattern

Imagine having to keep your faith hidden from your best friend, your brother or sister, OR WHOLE FAMILY, knowing that being discovered as a Christian could have HORRIFIC CONSEQUENCES.

Where would you read your Bible, if you had one? How would you pray? How would you suss out whether it was safe to expose talk about faith, when even your closest loved ones could report you to the authorities?

This is the awful reality facing our brothers and sisters in North Korea – and it’s why one secret believer’s decision to let his wife in on his hidden faith was an astonishingly brave decision.

Sharing a secret

After his first wife had died at a young age, the secret believer remarried, but he kept his faith hidden from his new wife.

“It didn’t feel right,” he told an underground Open Doors fieldworker. “I wanted to be transparent to my wife. I contemplated and prayed, prayed and contemplated. Then I decided to gather all my courage and tell her my deepest secret.

“She started to cry,” he continues. “Because she had been a secret believer all her life too. She desperately wanted to tell me she followed Jesus.”

What an amazing discovery!

Open Doors fieldworkers outside North Korea are helping this couple practically and spiritually. “They are in need of so much, but they rarely ask for help,” says the fieldworker. “And I know for a fact that they help many, many people around them. Even the ones who have hurt them, even the ones who would lock them up if they knew about their true identity as Christians.”

Worsening persecution

This remarkable story not only provides a glimpse into the everyday life of our North Korean family; it also gives an insight into how the Holy Spirit is moving in incredible and hidden ways in the country, and the vital role you’re playing when this happens.

North Korea is yet again ranked at number one on the Open Doors 2025 World Watch List. This is the 23rd time that North Korea has topped the list since 1993, and persecution in the country has worsened in the past year. It makes your support for our North Korean family more crucial than ever.

PRAY NOW...
1

Praise God for this couple and pray for their protection and wellbeing as they serve others

3

For continued wisdom, strength and protection for Open Doors fieldworkers.

2

For more moments and encounters like this to encourage our North Korean family

DO SOMETHING…
  • 1
    GET A FREE MAP

    Order a free Open Doors 2025 World Watch List Map to learn more and pray for Christians facing persecution.

    ORDER NOW...
  • 2
    FREE WORLD WATCH LIST YOUTH SESSION OUTLINE

    Download a free session outline to use in your youth/small group...

    ORDER NOW...
  • 3
    CHOOSE TO LOSE!

    Could you give up your bed for 48 hours to raise money and prayer?

    MORE HERE...
  • 4
    GET THE NEW SECRET CHURCH PACK...

    All new resource pack with fresh ideas, activities and stories...

    ORDER NOW...
NEWS
June 16, 2025

Meet Ethan, a church leader in Asia who came to faith as a teenager after stealing a Bible from his local church!

Find out more
June 9, 2025

Over 100 Christians are killed in a series of attacks after the local bishop spoke publicly to the US Congress about violence against the church in his region.

Find out more
June 9, 2025

Pastor Myint and his family have lived through death threats and displacement, but they are determined to keep serving God.

Find out more
June 2, 2025

See how your prayers and support are changing lives of people like Romi, who grew up as a ‘Christian’, but only truly started following Jesus in his 30s…

Find out more
June 2, 2025

Get inspired by Mira’s brave choice to choose to follow Jesus and get baptised, despite meaning rejection from her family.

Find out more
May 27, 2025

Read this incredible story of God’s miraculous protection over the life of a Central Asian house church leader and his congregation!

Find out more
May 27, 2025

Pray for Minh (name changed) and his family – they recently became Christians, a decision which has led them to be kicked out of their home and community.

Find out more
May 19, 2025

Please be praying for three Christian converts in Iran, including a pregnant woman, who have been summoned to the notorious Evin Prison to begin serving their sentences.

Find out more
May 12, 2025

Thanks to your prayers and support, over 800 families have been helped since the devastating earthquake in March.

Find out more
May 12, 2025

Please pray for Trinh and her children after they were forced from their home for their faith.

Find out more
btn-scroll