We will be appointing ten new deacons today. That makes 21 in total, as we currently have 11. 21 deacons in 2021 – a coincidence, but it seems quite meaningful. =D
Back when I was in Korea, churches that I served at used to appoint their members as deacons if they regularly attended church on Sundays and if they tithed. We of course could have followed that same approach, but I didn’t want to do so for our church. So at first, we appointed members as deacons if they attended both of our Sunday and Wednesday Services, tithed, and served our church in a meaningful way. Of this criteria, we did allow exceptions for our Wednesday Services as many lived far away from the church and had young children, but in my heart I did wish that they would come attend, even if it meant they had to bring their children along.
Deacons need to be an example to the congregation in terms of serving and attending church services, but I also think they need to place the church at the centre of their lives and who are able to work together with me with a sense of responsibility. This pandemic really shaped my thinking on this – while we weren’t able to hold face-to-face meetings or engage in as many activities, our church was able to unite thanks to our leaders uniting first. This helped me realise the importance of having good leaders.
Our current 11 deacons also serve as cell leaders and also in various different teams of our church – even when they aren’t able to due to personal circumstances, they continue to pray for our church out of pure love for our church. The 10 deacons we are appointing today also love the church and devote their time and energy to it in the same way.
YJ Kim and DY Hwang, who are deacons in their home Korean churches but have humbly worshiped God and served as cell leaders and teachers of the bible; DE Lee, leader of the Welcome Team who meticulously does her best to ensure that newcomers to our church settle in well; TK Yang, who pulled all-nighters in order to make our online services possible during this pandemic; SK Kim, who has and continues to diligently serve our Evangelism team, Finance team and as a cell leader; KW Kwak and EB Jung who have created and have served our English cell for the past six years, after serving as cell leaders of our couples cell for 5-6 years; HY Min, who out of love for Christ shares Jesus with even those who deliver to her house, and teaches the gospel as a B2 course teacher; HJ Kwon and JY Park who have served the church since before my arrival through all sorts of difficulties, as a Sunday school teacher and as part of the choir and now as cell leaders – I feel truly blessed and can only thank God for sending our church each and every one of our amazing deacons.
When I was serving in Korea, one of my colleagues used to care a lot for me and prayed for me a lot as well. One of the things she said to me was “Pastor Lee, pray that God will send you Christians to help you as he sent David 33 mighty men”, so I had prayed over this for a while. Looking at the 21 deacons at our church, and several other potential deacons at our church, my heart was touched out of the realisation that God has answered that prayer. “Lord, thank you for sending and appointing these amazing Christians to our church to help cover my inadequacies.”
