Last weekend I had the chance to meet pastor Soo Kwang Kwak and his wife Jeong Mi Song. Though they had not yet adjusted to the jet lag, and were most likely incredibly tired, but they still invited us to a meal, and we shared a meaningful time in which they shared with us their personal lives, and they also encouraged us of our ministry. I was touched by their humility and attitude towards serving others.
They were both serving as speakers at KOSTA, and as they led lives that were intertwined with art and culture, they were acutely aware of the flow of the times, and sensitive to what the Holy Spirit was asking of the churches. As they were focused on influencing people in their workplace through the teachings of Christ, their recent focus was on leading sector-specific meetings at KOSTA. They began initially with arts and culture, but they are planning to expand to other fields as well. Furthermore, they have been working to grow this initiative by staying in touch with the speakers from all over the world that participated in this year’s KOSTA.
A few years ago, we had a retreat where in which the focus was the Kingdom of God. At the time, the Lord taught us that the Kingdom of God is on over which God reigns, and so the priority is to testify so that all nations are aware of God. In this way, each of our workplaces had a function that God had originally created for it, but after sin was introduced into this world, this function was distorted. Therefore, ensuring that the place we work once again functions as it should is what it means to work for the Kingdom of God.
After this retreat, our church began to become interested in the original purpose of each of our workplaces. Therefore, though it was important to create Christian groups within each of our places of work, we also wanted to support people who sought to serve their workplace so that it could achieve its original function. As there are many people who register at our church every year, though I want to help them meet Jesus Christ, I also wanted to ensure our church became one in which we teach how to serve God in our places of study or work.
During the pandemic, we held the café talk sessions which were determined based on where you studied/worked, but in order to further improve upon this, we sought to learn more about what could be done. We studied the programme created by the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, and also requested for help from All Souls Church in London. However, through there are teachings about work in the gospel, it was difficult to find any sector-specific teachings, philosophies, or textbooks based on the bible.
However, after meeting pastor Sookwang Kwak, and learning about how he gathered experts in each field and sector to begin a KOSTA, I became excited. Most of the ministry by Koreans churches have until now have centred around ministry within the church, but I believe it is now time for the church to further apply the Word and His influence outside the church as well. In order to do this, it is necessary to gather the hidden experts in each field. Therefore, it is necessary for us to prepare the direction and platform for the future generations to study and contemplate their role in each of their sectors. It is now time to act such that we can become the salt and light of this world. I hope that we can be used in this way.
