From Monday 26th June to Sunday 2nd July 2017 in Luton, UK
[이 글의 한글 버전은 다음에 있습니다]
📣 Introduction
I served as an interpreter at the 6th UK Prayer Mission in 2017 and felt compelled to jot down my reflections.
Just a month or two earlier, I knew nothing about this sort of ministry and faced tough choices before committing fully. In April, I’d taken three weeks’ annual leave to host my parents visiting from Paraguay, leaving me with little left. It wasn’t easy to take another week off for the prayer mission, especially with our limited family time.
Yet the main reason I wanted to join was to revive the faith of my youth. Living and working in the UK while raising a young family, I’d struggled to keep a faith uncompromised by the world. I longed to reclaim the godly passion and pure prayer life from my university days.
I hoped this focused intercession for the UK would reset my walk with God. Looking back, I’m deeply grateful that He gave me far more than I’d hoped for.
🗓️ Week Itinerary
On Monday evening, I headed to Heathrow Airport to meet Rev. Kim Nam-jin, who oversees the UK Prayer Mission, and Pastor Joe Pienaar, senior pastor of St. Hugh’s Church in Luton. He’d come to collect the intercessor team.
Soon after, we welcomed nine prayer warriors from Korea, led by Pastor Kim Moon-su. We boarded Pastor Joe’s rented 16-seater minibus and arrived at St. Hugh’s Church in Luton, where we’d stay, sleep, and pray for the week.
On arrival, we entered the sanctuary first to pray, dedicating the week to God and seeking protection for our families back home, before settling in for the night.
From Tuesday, mornings involved visiting sites around Luton for special prayer meetings organised by local churches with Pastor Joe’s help.
These meetings followed a pattern: British hosts shared their ministries and prayer needs, then Pastors Kim Moon-su and Han Sang-gyu led Spirit-guided corporate prayer.
These are the venues we visited each day:
- Tuesday: various Christian charities in Luton, including Azalea;
- Wednesday: an inter-denominational prayer meeting for Luton’s diverse nations;
- Thursday: an inter-denominational prayer meeting for Luton’s church leaders;
- Friday: a morning prayer meeting for the Luton Evangelism and Healing team, followed by an evening prayer session for youth ministry in the town centre (at Youthscape);
- Saturday: street evangelism;
- Sunday: morning worship at St Hugh’s, followed by a final evening intercessory service open to all Luton churches.
From Tuesday, the team’s priority was nightly prayer sessions from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. (known as “pulpit prayers”).
We’d planned to rest on Saturday night, but the Holy Spirit stirred us to pray more. At 10 p.m., we gathered in the sanctuary and knelt as usual. Though tired and intending to finish by midnight, we prayed until dawn at 5 a.m.
Intense spiritual warfare marked the night, but from 4 a.m., we felt the joy of God’s victory. The sharing from 5 a.m. was a blessed time of mutual encouragement.
🏘️ Introduction to Luton
Luton doesn’t evoke positive images in the UK. It’s seen as one of the poorest areas, linked mainly to its airport and budget airlines.
In recent years, a surge in immigrants has raised the Muslim population above 30%.
We also learned during the week that Luton lacks any standout secondary schools. Until 1966, Luton Grammar School was elite, producing leaders, but it closed and split into others.
This drives educated professionals to nearby towns like Harpenden for better schools, leaving Luton without skilled residents in a vicious cycle.
Yet there’s hope. In 2014, a Korean prayer team stayed at St. Hugh’s for a week, interceding with tears.
After they left, God moved: dark spiritual forces started to lift, and investments flowed in, redeveloping poorer areas.
For instance, the 2015 ThinkLuton initiative brought £1.5 billion initially. St. Hugh’s grew from 100 to over 250 members.
Most encouragingly, everyone we met said changes began post-2014 prayers. They valued prayer deeply and craved more.
I still recall Urika, who organised a meeting, saying: “Because prayer is the most important ministry!”
🛡️ Spiritual Warfare
The week brought enemy attacks. Nightly pulpit prayers usually meant locked church doors for safety.
But on Wednesday, with St. Hugh’s members joining until midnight, we left them open. A demonised young woman entered and behaved oddly.
Team member Mrs. Kim noticed and began interceding at the back to confront the demons.
I tried approaching her, but she dodged around the pews and fled.
Next morning, we found countless strange objects she’d deposited throughout the sanctuary: small, black, irregular wooden balls, about 3mm across, hand-crafted—likely for curses.
We cleared the floor while praying, collecting enough to fill an empty water bottle one-eighth full.
Pastor Joe explained this woman, Estelle, had disrupted services, threatened violence, and prompted police calls.
Shockingly, Luton’s area around St. Hugh’s has deep ties to witchcraft and the occult.
Attacks persisted. Early Sunday morning, during our final prayers, we found demons hiding in praise flags behind the sanctuary.
This surfaced during prayers for the Pienaar family; Mrs. Jung saw the lead demon behind past attacks.
New to seeing demons, she panicked and struggled to breathe.
We surrounded her, waged warfare, and she soon recovered.
We marched the church, singing praises and praying in tongues. Mrs. Jung spotted the demon in the flags again.
Our pastors snapped each flag with their feet, expelling it in Jesus’ Name.
Once broken, the lingering discomfort vanished for many in the intercessory team.
📖 Praying through the Word
As interpreter, I wanted to be a full prayer team member, not just a translator. I hoped my spiritual immaturity wouldn’t hinder them and that they’d see me as an equal intercessor.
God answered this. For two months, as youth leader in Ealing Korean Church, I’d memorised 5-6 spiritual Bible passages with the group.
I was grateful to meditate on and pray through them all week. Turning God’s promises into prayers brought immense power.
On the first vigil, I clung to Isaiah 40:31:
“But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31
Frankly, the long sessions exhausted me initially. While others grew energised, I kept checking my watch, stunned at time’s crawl.
I cried: “Father, why aren’t I renewed like an eagle despite waiting on You? You promised strength—give it now!”
Next day, God seemed to say: “Child, last night you flapped like a pigeon, relying on your strength, so you grew tired. Tonight, spread wings like an eagle and ride My love’s thermal.”
I was reminded of Galatians 4:6:
“And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”
Galatians 4:6
Clinging to it, I prayed: “Father, this morning Iranian Christian Hamina shared visions of open heavens, gold rings, Your anointing hand, angels filling quivers. Show me, as promised in Jeremiah 33:3!”
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will show you great and hidden things that you have not known.”
Jeremiah 33:3
Even though I earnestly prayed this prayer throughout the entire week, I did not receive such visions. But one thing I am certain of is that during that week, I clearly saw the reality of spiritual warfare with my own eyes, and I could also understand a little more of God’s heart for the Luton area and for the United Kingdom. Hallelujah!
⏳ 2023 Update
After seven years of mission work in Paraguay, God brought my parents back to the UK to serve the country that had blessed us so much—where my family lived in Aberdeen, Scotland, during my secondary school years—and to take up roles as intercessors and evangelists.
To that end, He guided them to the very church where I’d spent a week praying in 2017: St Hugh’s in Luton, now led by Pastor Martyn Shea.
God even provided a house for them in Dunstable. They’re now active members of St Hugh’s, joining the congregation’s prayer warriors for daily early morning prayers from 6 to 7 a.m., preaching the gospel in Luton town centre during the day, and then heading to Harpenden to help with our children’s wraparound care—and even babysitting in the evenings!
