I have been sharing the three major visions of our church (Multicultural church, Diaspora Mission, Workplace Mission) whenever there was an opportunity. The things that seemed vague at first are now becoming clearer and more concrete and with the passion given to me by God, I have been trying to attend as many external meetings as possible that has any relevance to our visions.
I did not know initially, but I have learned that these three visions are closely connected to each other, and it is becoming clearer that these are important trends of missionary work around the world. According to the UN report, by 2050 70% of the world’s population will live in cities and more and more conflicts and wars that Jesus prophesied are accelerating the missionary work.
During these times, there will be people leaving their countries and fleeing to other cities. I read an article that stated 200,000 Ukrainian refugees have come to the UK since their war. So now, cities have become the important centre for missionary. With the fertility rate declining and with an aging population, Korea must also eventually recruit foreigners if the country is to survive.
The reason people gather in cities is that all the important resources are there. Even for missionary work, the churches and missionary organisations including the necessary finances are all in the city. If people from these diverse countries live together in one place, cultures and languages will mix and eventually combine into similarities for the next generations. By gathering people and presenting a vision, we can complete missionary within our lifetime. given the immigration history of the UK, now is a great opportunity.
Non-English speaking countries like Korea are worried about the great language and culture barriers between the first generation and the generation of their children. If you only look at your own circle, you will see nothing but problems, however if you look at all the ethnicities in the city, we can see them positively as the growing generation who will be able to end the missionary work.
Therefore, the vision we have for a multicultural church is not only for Koreans but also for the next generation of all families living in London. English churches will not know the suffering of immigrants and so as a foreign church in London, we are more suitable to build a multicultural church. Diaspora Mission is to create an organisation to promote the same work in a larger framework. If the next generation gathers and supports the church continuously, there will not only be next-generation pastors who will lead each nation among them, but also people who will enter the mainstream British society and play the role of leaders. This is closely related to the Workplace Mission.
God continues to attach important people to me for these three visions and he is pushing me to keep doing what I lack for this important task. Therefore, I believe our church members were not sent here by accident but were sent by God for me to work with in this vision, just as he gave Aaron to support Moses. I will continue to share my thoughts with our church so we can all become one in our vision.
