As I finished last winter’s retreat, a sudden thought came to me that in the new year our church should move outward a little more. While working together with several members from KODIAM who had come to serve at the retreat, I realized that our church is actually built more solidly than I had thought, and that realization gave me courage. When I think about our church, there are many things to be thankful for and many dreams I hope will be fulfilled in the future. Yet I have often thought that now was not the right time.
Since we do not have our own church building, everything revolves around Sunday worship and cell meetings. As for gatherings during the week, there are only the Wednesday service and Saturday street evangelism in central London. Even though we have morning prayer meetings, meditation groups, Bible reading groups, and Friday prayer meetings, they are activities that only volunteers participate in online. Overall, it is not as if our church has a large number of programs or gatherings. Even so, during the retreat I gained confidence that our church could begin reaching outward more actively.
Of course, when I think about our church, there are many areas where we are lacking. Yet if we say we will begin only after everything is properly prepared, I feel that we may never start at all. For that reason, while continuing to provide the care our church needs and encouraging inward growth through the Word, I felt that we should also move forward more actively in a missional direction.
At the start of the new year, we began a church-wide Bible reading program, and more than 120 people completed Part 1, the Pentateuch. Even including those who did not complete it but participated along the way, many members joined in this effort together. Our meditation seminar has also been running for a month now with two groups meeting on Thursdays and Saturdays, and it has been progressing well by God’s grace. This ministry will continue.
Our efforts to serve outside the church began with the middle and high school ministry. It was a sudden plan, but the teachers and students held a friend-invitation event with the purpose of evangelism. Regardless of the results, I was thankful that we attempted such an event. For the upcoming Bible conference next week, unlike before, we have advertised in the newspaper so that people from outside the church may also participate. We also commissioned Elder Anil as a missionary to the Nepali church in Birmingham, and many of our members generously contributed offerings to help purchase the sound equipment that church needed. In April, our church is planning to host UK KOSTA, and in June we are planning a short-term mission trip to India. Already many young people have shown interest.
In addition, we are going to participate in the Arise evangelism campaign, which focuses on selecting a church in London and supporting it through concentrated evangelism for one week. Earlier this week, Dr. Hwang Sung Joo asked to meet me personally, so we had breakfast together. He told me that in May there will be a two-day conference in the UK gathering one thousand international leaders from Britain and Europe to pray and work for the salvation of two billion souls worldwide, and he asked me to serve as the conference chair. Also this week, before the Wednesday service, I met someone who has long devoted himself to missionary work. He is planning a special mission ministry focused on London and North Africa, and he asked me to take on a leading role in that work as well.
If I were to take these roles on my own initiative, it would feel overwhelming and I would hesitate. Yet because of the conviction the Lord placed in my heart at the end of last year, I want to entrust these matters to Him, believing that God Himself will accomplish His work, and to step forward in obedience. I sincerely hope that our church members will continue to pray much for me, who is so lacking.
