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In the past few months, life has suddenly gotten worse for dozens of South Korean missionaries ministering in China. From CT\u2019s report: In the past few months, China has expelled dozens of South Korean missionaries from Jilin, a northeastern province that neighbors North Korea. News media reported the raids, with estimates of the total expulsions ranging from 30 to 70. \u201cChinese authorities raided the homes of the missionaries, citing a problem with their visas, and told them to leave,\u201d one human rights activist and pastor told Agence France-Presse (AFP). He said that most were on tourist or student visas. The majority of South Korean missionaries working in China serve North Korean defectors who cross the border. There are at least 500 officially registered South Korean missionaries in China, though this number could be as high as 2,000. While missions took off in South Korea in the late 1970s\u2014making the country the No. 2 missionary-sending country by 2006\u2014its foreign presence has been on the decline in the last decade. In fact, 2017 marks 10 years since 23 South Korean church volunteers were abducted by the Taliban while traveling in Afghanistan on a medical aid trip. They were released 43 days later, but not before two of them were killed. The trauma caused by the event didn\u2019t shake the South Korean church\u2019s resolve on missions, said Julie Ma, a theology professor at Oral Roberts University. \u201cChurch leaders said they will still go forward with the gospel but with more caution and wisdom,\u201d said Ma, one of the first South Korean missionaries in the Philippines. \u201cI think this terrible experience taught the Korean church a lot of things.\u201d Ma joined assistant editor Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli on Quick to Listen to discuss the rise and decline of South Korean missions, the consequences of the 2007 Taliban hostage situation, and what led her to become a missionary.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices