A sudden shockwave spread through South Korea after President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in his country. It didn’t take long for Yeol’s declaration to be overruled and for a motion of impeachment to be submitted against him. While the South Korean president has so far managed to stay in office, he’s currently banned from international travel while an investigation is underway concerning potential charges of insurrection, abuse of authority, and barring citizens from exercising their rights.

As some have pointed out, the problem goes deeper than what meets the eye. In addition to the political turmoil, pastors and experts alike are putting a spotlight on the spiritual realities at play. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins explained on “Washington Watch” Monday that “the chaos and the worsening political paralysis in South Korea” begs an important question: “What role is the South Korean church playing in keeping the peace or helping to bring about stability?”

Pastor Kyung Won Song, the lead pastor of Tacoma First Baptist Church in Washington State, offered his perspective. In the 1990s, Song immigrated to America, but his ties in Korea remain strong. “As a Christian leader,” he said, one who was born and raised in Seoul, “I still have to pray for — not only for this nation — but also for Korea.” Song recognizes that “there’s a lot of spiritual … attack … through this political turmoil” happening in his home country.

Perkins noted that South Korea has been “a very prosperous country in the last 50 years,” and he believes much of that can be attributed to “a praying church that was engaged and was evangelistic.” But is there a sense, he asked, that “the church [has] become complacent there?” According to Song, the church in South Korea is dealing not merely with a matter of complacency but stagnancy.

“[C]hurch growth has completely stopped,” he stated, and “it’s pretty much downhill at this point.” In fact, “part of the reason is because of … all the materialism and secularism [that’s] kicked in.” This, he added, led to complacency which led to a lost sense of “fervency in terms of prayer.” Song insisted that the Korean church needs to be able to “refocus.” However, as Perkins pointed out, a complacent church in need of a more fervent prayer life is not exclusive to South Korea. He asked, what “lessons [can] be learned … for Christians here in the United States, [especially] when we have enjoyed such prosperity?” As he put it, even the American church has “lost, in many ways, focus on our mission.”

Song agreed, noting how as a pastor at his church, “I really emphasize the importance of prayer.” Particularly nowadays, Song feels as though the “younger generations … don’t really spend enough time to … present their requests to the Lord.” Whether in Korea or America, he noted, this seems to be “the trend and patterns that [the church has] been kind of experiencing these days.”

Moving forward, Song emphasized how Christians in the U.S. can be praying for South Korea and for Christians in the country by specifically praying against “polarization” within the region. “[P]eople don’t get along because of their political stance,” he explained, which “happens here in the States and also in Korea. [And] so, more than anything else, I do believe that the power of the gospel has to be displayed in this time of crisis. … [N]o matter what political stance you may have, we truly have to reiterate and emphasize the power of the gospel, [because it] can really unite us and reconcile us in Christ.”

Perkins added, “We want to be a witness to and a voice into the government [and] into the culture, while staying unified as a church. [W]e need to stay focused on the truth and our core mission, and I think prayer is one of the ways that we keep that focus.”

“Amen to that,” Song affirmed. “As we pray together, we definitely feel the presence of the Lord and the work of the Holy Spirit that unites us, regardless of all our different opinions and different political stances.” Song concluded, “we need to prioritize our values as born-again Christians” in order “to further His kingdom.”