Celebration for the Nations 2014
Report

'And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared' (Luke 1:16-17).

This scripture was with me as I went to Korea for Celebration for the Nations. With it was a prayer that the Lord would raise up an Elijah generation who would heal families and call their nation back to God as Elijah did. Elijah repaired an altar of 12 stones, one for each tribe of Israel. He did it in a time when the nation was divided. The word 'repair' in Hebrew can also mean 'heal'. It was a proclamation that only as people turned to the living God would there be reunification. This truth is the same today.

Korea has suffered many invasions over the centuries. Of course this culminated nearly 70 years ago in the devastating division of the nation. However, there is something beautiful and indomitable in the Korean spirit that will not remain bowed under tragedy.

We are all aware of the terrible loss of more than 300 young lives when a ferry went down earlier this year. The 'fathers' at that time; those in responsibility, abandoned the children. In the 1980s there was a wonderful revival in South Korea and millions found a living faith. These fathers by and large have not passed on their faith to the next generation, and churches now are losing ground. However, compared to the UK, they are still thriving, so I do not come from a place of judgement!

I believe that the Lord has a great destiny for the united Korea. My brother and co-worker in the Celebration, David Koh puts his life prayer in a sentence:

One Korea for the World!

He and his team arranged for the Celebration to be on Ganghwa Island, known as the 'waist' of Korea, very near the demilitarised zone (DMZ) that divides the nation.

International worship
We had thought that this year there would be mainly Koreans with just a few foreigners singing to the ancient well in Pyongyang and in the Korean peninsular to spring up again. Actually teams joined us from Uganda, the Philippines, Wales, China, Israel and all over Korea! There was a wonderful atmosphere of service as well as worship.

This was our eighth Celebration and eight is always the number of new beginnings. The world was created in six days. Six is man's number, the day he was created. The seventh day the Lord God rested. Jesus died for man on the sixth day. The seventh day he 'rested'' in the grave. On the eighth day, the first day of the New Creation, He rose from the dead!!

We felt that for Korea we are at the beginnings of this eighth day. God's days always start in darkness, 'there was an evening and a morning the ….day' (Genesis 1). The night is still with us in Korea. It is very dark for those who are in the North. Yet the Lord has said to sing to the well, even in the darkness. One of the meanings of 'spring up' in Hebrew actually means to call in a new day!!

The Throne
For me, and I believe many others, we had a real awareness of the Kingship of Jesus as we were worshipping. Somehow the throne of the Lamb was very close. His glory and worth filled our hearts. Psalm 24 opened and closed the Celebration, quite without us planning it.

'Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors that the King of glory may come in' (Psalm 24:9).

There were times of jubilation and jumping, and times of quiet reflection. Prayer flowed easily as we opened our hearts to the King. You may catch a little of the flavour from the videos and photos we hope will soon be on the website.

DMZ
One afternoon two coach loads of us visited the border between North and South Korea, the DMZ. It was a sobering time when the harsh light of present reality hit us. Were we really doing anything to change this situation? How could singing and worship help heal a nation?

Signs
The next day we received one of three signs that the Lord gave us. That morning a father and son from North Korea had managed to swim and land on our island. I asked David Koh if this happened often. He said it was really really rare. When I told someone else who hadn't been at the Celebration, he could hardly take in that they had made it. He said that he had occasionally heard of people making it by boat, but never swimming before.

I was told that two intercessors had gone to that very beach where they landed whilst we were in the DMZ. They had felt led to sing over an ancient well there that is named after Robert Jermain Thomas. It is thought (though there is no documented evidence) that Thomas landed on Ganghwa Island. They then felt led to anoint the beach and pray for reunification. This was the very beach that the father and son landed at the next day.

As well as rejoicing in the salvation of this father and son, I feel there is a promise from the Lord in this: both generations will live, I will raise up those who will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children!

19 Pastors welcomed to Pyongyang
Our second sign was something we found out right at the beginning of the Celebration. For the first time in three years the North Korean government had allowed a contingent of 19 South Korean pastors to meet their counterparts in the North. These are Communist officials who are pastors of government approved churches. The fact that these churches exist allows the state to declare that there is freedom of religion.

The meeting took place as the Celebration was going on. Whatever the state propaganda, the fact that 19 believers were able to pray and talk of spiritual things in the North is an encouragement.

Lift up your heads O you gates!
Our last sign was the news that on the last day of the Celebration the DMZ was crossed for the first time in 69 years by a car rally!! These cars had been driven on a 3000 mile route across Central Asia by Korean Diaspora. Stalin forced many ethnic Koreans to move to various parts of Central Asia. Some of the descendants of these people wanted to make the drive right the way back to Korea. Can it be coincidence that the 'wall' was breached and the 'gates' opened on the final day of our Celebration? God is still on the throne!!

Next year in Korea!
We had thought to move the Celebration on next year, and my heart had gone to the most ancient well of all, Israel. However, in a very special night of worship on the Wednesday, there was a time when the worship leader called us to silence, to listen to what the Lord wanted to say to us. During that time, to my surprise I heard the Lord say 'dig deeper'. I knew He was speaking about Korea, and that we had not yet finished our work here.

The next day we had a leaders' meeting to discuss what we were announcing about Celebration next year. We had been in contact before, and all been praying for months, but it was our first time to get together about it. I shared what the Lord had put in my heart the night before and was met with wide grins! Each of us had received the same heart.

Next year marks 70 years since the Japanese left Korea. In fact August 15 is the actual day. We will hold the Celebration 10-15th August. So many are praying, that like the Israelites of old, the Lord would forgive their sins and restore their land after 70 years. We feel we are on holy ground. Lord lead us!

As far as we understand now, the 2016 Celebration will be in Israel.

Future
It seems as we travel further on this road that Celebration for the Nations is something that the Lord wants to continue. We have begun to pray for a small team that can give themselves to making this happen, and can co-ordinate communication etc.

The Lord has been speaking to the leaders about really building up the community of those involved in the Celebration so that we come to know and understand each other and can from that place can really support each other. The other thing that He is speaking to us about is mission. Throughout the years as people worship, the Lord has called many into mission or involvement in some way with mission. When we touch the heart of God, He gives us a heart for His world that He so loves. So from worship we are praying for the fruit of community and mission. I see this all as part of the waters springing up.

Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice
Paul's description, under the authority of the Holy Spirit, of what true worship is, must be our standard. We are aware that singing in itself can be a Cross-less worship. Our heart is to see people coming into a deeper and deeper communion with Father, Son and Holy Spirit so that we all may say, whatever, wherever, whenever, with whomever, and long as You are leading.

One evening there was such a call for people to come forward if they would make this commitment. Maybe about 200 did. As we waited before the Lord, David Koh felt that he should ask the 'fathers' to pray for those younger. It was one of those special times, when heaven is so close, and we just knew that our heavenly Father was delighted.

I am so aware of the inadequacy of this report. Some things just can't be put into words. However I hope that it gives you a little flavour of our time. Maybe you can join us next year?

With prayer that together we can hallow the Name of the King of all Kings with our lifestyle of worship.

Love Gail