I remember Pastor Hong Jeong-gil’s heartbreaking words addressing the problems in the Korean church: “The only way for the Korean church to change is for the older generation to die.”. This may seem too harsh, but it is not easy for members of the older generation in the church to be evangelical in their thinking and values.
Wealth, success, and advancement were important to the older generation as they lived through difficult times. Even if they accepted the gospel, it was not enough to abandon these values. This was also true for established pastors. Even though Peter was so filled with the Holy Spirit and even saw the vision of the cloth, he was reluctant to enter Cornelius’ house, and even though he saw such a great work of the Holy Spirit taking place there, when the men sent by James from Antioch later came, he was afraid of them and avoided eating with the gentiles.
It is that difficult to change people’s thoughts and values. The fact that the current Korean church, including members and pastors of the older generation, are at their current level is their own limitation. Rather than blaming them however, it is the era which they lived through and forced them to act that way. Instead, we should be grateful to them. Even in those times of great suffering, they held faith that allowed them to overcome hardship, risking everything for Jesus and the gospel, staying up all night in prayer, and building churches with their hard earned money – there is a spirit of sacrifice that we can never imitate today. They passed that faith on to us as a form of inheritance.
So, let us say you have already done the best you can. Before we fire arrows of criticism at the older generation when they show their wrong side – which is heartbreaking and sometimes upsetting – it is more imperative to prepare the current younger generation in the older generation’s stead, as they have an important responsibility to properly build the church that their forefathers built. do. Instead of criticizing the older generation by spreading articles condemning the church and pastors, we must establish clear values of the gospel within ourselves, and which are different from those of the older generation.
Like Daniel, it is important to differentiate oneself, deciding to live a holy life in the face of huge worldly pressures, and to make a choice to not drink the food and wine they provide. It is necessary to make a decision to regard things such as wealth, success, success, and abundance as extraneous; to strive to know Jesus Christ, and live a life of difference through the gospel.
If the younger generation does not adopt this mindset and make adequate preparations, the Korean church has no hope. You can’t change the world with such a juvenile attitude where the only purpose of life is to acquire qualifications, get a job at a large company, and buy a house. We must prepare ourselves to become a generation that works along with the gospel.
The older generation, who are the primary target for any current blame towards the Korean church, will soon pass away. Naturally the current problems with the Korean church will be buried together with them. If however the problems of the Korean church still remain and persist, or if they do not get any better, each of us must take responsibility for the criticism we instigated.
Looking at the older generation, we must thank our father’s generation for passing on the legacy of faith to us, bless them, and prepare the younger generation of today to bear the value of the gospel that they were unable to achieve because they could not afford it. I earnestly pray to the Lord that messengers of the Lord who proclaim that the gospel is 100% sufficient will arise and be abundant within this generation.
