Since March last year, after all meetings were brought online, we have been actively responding to this pandemic situation thinking it would continue for the next five years. Many young people returned to Korea, but since it is difficult to gather in Korea as well, they participated in our worship and cell meetings. Leaders’ meetings were also divided into London and Korea. At first, people were not familiar with having a cell meeting online, but with leaders’ devotion and commitment, deep sharing has been taking place. B2 courses also have continued to take places online; thanks to B2 leaders we have constantly nurtured people of Christ.
The ministry teams, who had always gathered in person to do work together, were at a loss how to do the work online. In the case of the praise team, Pastor Park Juyoung first came home and led a praise with a guitar, but as time passed, the team members started to record their own part, edited, and aired the edited video. Then, a small number of people started to gather and praise, and as the place of worship was moved to the church, more team members could attend.
It was even more difficult for the choir team to sing in harmony. First, they gathered online and started praying. Then, they began to air an edited recording of one or two songs a month at the service. Now, however, with the increased number of team members, the team now gathers every Saturday – where deep shares take place and where our conductor explains in detail how to sing a song. The choir team has given the Lord valuable praises every week.
For Sunday school, in the case of middle and high schools, whether they are in Korea or in the U.K., teachers and students meet at 12:30 p.m. For the kindergarten and elementary schools, teachers gather first on weekdays to prepare by prayer, and on Sunday, they conduct worship and studies at 12 p.m. At first, praise and preach were being used from what already existed, but now most of them are being produced by our own – making the study section more engaging.
The Welcome team has always been busy locating new people to a cell, and although it was difficult to adapt to the sudden absence of newly registered people, it became a good time for the team to share deeply and bond with each other. As new people started to increase via online again, the team has been serving them well with the stronger teamwork.
The mission team, as they were unable to evangelize at a street, moved their session from Saturday to Monday and started an online study session where they would read books related to evangelism, with the last meeting of each month to share news related to the mission. The translation team also began interpreting live for the first time, with the help of a few devoted team members. Members had a difficult time at first as they were not familiar with software related to translation, but now, with a number of new members joining the team, the translation team has become more active that they are holding translation related study sessions on Saturdays.
The media team also devoted itself to produce news reports and video thumbnails every week with a small number of people. However, now that the new team members have joined, the team has been working hard to create various new contents. The finance team has also been working hard. Moreover, even if it goes back to offline in the future, as it seems that we will have to continue our online service, we decided to establish a production team related to broadcasting and purchased proper equipment, looking forward to the next five years.
It has not been an easy time, but all the leaders and teams united and devoted themselves, and the church has become stronger than ever. Our church is a church that we build together. ‘Lord, thank you very much.’
