Prayer Mountain

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Prayer Mountain is a Christian retreat in South Korea, operated by the Yoido Full Gospel Church, Korea's largest church. It is located in Jori-myeon, Paju, in northern Gyeonggi province near the Demilitarized Zone. It has facilities for 10,000 people.

A privately owned facility dedicated for the purpose of intensified prayer and fasting by Christians. They are built on a piece of legally acquired private property on a naturally elevated land formation.

The inspiration for the use of such facilities can be found within the pages of the Holy Bible where characters like Abraham, Moses and Jesus Christ were all led to fast and pray, or as in the case of Moses, spend a prolonged period in the wilderness to wait on God and to seek His will.

In the case of Jesus Christ, prayer is a regular feature of his ministry and spent every moment he can to pray away from the crowd and even his own close followers:

And it was at this time that Jesus went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to GOD. - Luke 6:12

The Prayer Mountain Movement in Korea sprang from a practice of the pioneering Christians during the latter days of the Korean church in the 1800s. Faced by strong opposition from the home religions and philosophies, i.e. Buddhism and Confucianism, as well as the mandatory practice of Shinto imposed by the invading forces from Japan, many Christians who resisted the imposition on their freedom of worship were persecuted and even killed. In desperation, the Christians who could not practice their faith openly adopted the practice of waking up as early as four in the morning to ascend the nearby mountains where they could freely pray until the first ray of sunrise. At the end of the day, before going home, the Christians would again ascend the mountains to pray and fast and ask God to intervene on their behalf.

It is said that anyone who passed by those mountains would hear the cries and weeping of the men and women who were storming heaven with their sad plight and asking God to change their situation. From then on, prayer and fasting have been the hallmarks of the strong South Korean Church.

The Choi Ja-Sil Prayer Mountain facility in Osanri, Jorimyun Pajucity Kyunggido South Korea, is only one of the many Prayer Mountain facilities in the region. It was established to provide a secluded place of prayer for those who desire a place to be alone with God. It is owned and maintained by the Yoido Full Gospel Church. Choi Ja-Sil Prayer Mountain can accommodate 10,000 guests at one time with both western or Korean-style sleeping facilities. It is open not only to Korean Christians but to other Christians from all parts of the world who wishes to come and visit.

In the Philippines, The Bread of Life Church and Ministries led by its Executive Pastor Caesar “Butch” Conde drew inspiration from his Korean Prayer Study Tour and the Prayer Mountain experiences in South Korea to acquire a piece of land in the mountains of Antipolo to build the Touch of Glory Prayer Mountain facilities.