Jerry Ho, a veteran Korean missionary and now a team member contributing to reconciliation efforts in Northeast Asia, recalls how his journey began with a simple but bold prayer: "Please send me to the hardest place."
At that time, he prayed to be sent either to the Soviet Union, then a closed country, or to an Islamic nation. "I wanted to discern God's calling for me," he remembered. "Ten years later, I went to Central Asia."
Since the early 1990s, Ho has lived in Kyrgyzstan for 13 years. His ministry there included church planting and developing relief projects such as vocational schools and refugee assistance programs in collaboration with the government.
He worked alongside 20 to 30 missionaries, while also training and raising up many local workers for the mission. "I really enjoyed the ministries and people there," he said.
One day, however, his supervisor invited him to join an international campus ministry. Out of love for Kyrgyzstan, Ho resisted the call for six years. It was only when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer that he recognized God's redirection toward international ministry.
In 2012, Ho moved to Malaysia, where the international ministry headquarters were based. There, he realized his role was to equip leaders to serve more effectively. He supervised work across 11 countries.
"I really enjoyed the ministry, and I could help other leaders become better leaders," he reflected.
In 2021, Ho resigned from the position due to health reasons and returned to South Korea. Yet once again, he was commissioned—this time to focus on reconciliation in Northeast Asia.
"I love young people because they can change society and the country," Ho said. "But they are not very interested in the unification of the Korean Peninsula or reconciliation ministry."
Emphasizing the need for cooperation, he urged, "China, Korea, and Japan are neighboring countries, so they should help, support, and live together."
From July 28 to August 2, 2025, he attended this year's 12th Christian Forum for Reconciliation in Northeast Asia in Okinawa, Japan. The forum centered on the theme "Reconciliation Through Resilience: Learning from the Okinawa Context and Beyond."
Ho acknowledged that history has often been marked by conflicts and invasions. Yet, working with country team leaders, he believes God desires reconciliation and peace in the region through collaboration. "We recruited a young woman from one country and sent her to another so that people from different nations could work, pray, and engage in peacebuilding together for God's kingdom."
Ho described his role as building bridges: communicating with international offices, supporting ministries, and sharing vision, values, and opportunities for new initiatives.
"Cross-cultural leaders need to develop their leadership style," he explained. "They should adapt according to the situation. Leadership in cross-cultural settings requires understanding others' cultures and being flexible."
From his experience, he noted that mentoring a Brazilian national leader required closeness and attention to detail, while a Canadian director, being more confident and experienced, only needed support and delegation.
Reflecting on China, Ho expressed admiration for its church history. He recalled how, after all foreign missionaries were expelled around 1949, many thought the Christian mission in China had ended. Yet, when the country reopened in 1979, the global church was astonished by the rapid growth of Christianity—particularly the house church movement.
(Jerry Ho is a pseudonym for safety reasons.)
