I’m leaving for Korea this evening after finishing the Central Sunday service today. I’m glad to report that one of the purposes of my trip is to officiate the wedding of two people this coming Saturday, who met at our church and have been together for a long time. Additionally, just like last time, the body which publishes the daily meditation book QTIN, which our church uses, is holding a QT seminar for pastors called ‘THINK Pastor Seminar’ from Monday to Thursday. It’s a hurried trip but I’m looking forward to see how QT is connected to church ministry and small groups.

Our church has a lot of change in members, to the point where people say, ‘Even if you stay for 6 months, you’re staying for a long time”. Yet as families and young working adults increase, the number of people who are staying at the church for a relatively long time has increased. So now, I think it’s time to implement a discipleship training system that consistently meditates on and learns the Bible for the maturity of the church members.

Through the discipleship training seminar hosted by Hanmaum Church last time, I came back with a clearer definition of what the purpose of discipleship training and QT should be. It was a reaffirmation of my usual convictions, so it became clear which direction I should go. Disciple training should be focused on the ‘gospel’, the power of God that changes people, rather than simply systematic Bible study. Surprisingly, even believers who say they have been attending church for a long time have many misunderstandings about the gospel, so in order to bring about true change in life, we need time to intensively teach the gospel and apply it to our lives, and that should be done through disciple training.

QT is not simply a time to read and study the Bible and find good Bible verses that touch your heart, or a time to gain new intellectual insight. It is important to meet God, in His living form, through the Bible and have fellowship with him; a kind of personal worship. I was grateful to be able to confirm these two things during that seminar.

I was grateful to learn what the right direction was, but I will admit that there is some hesitancy in using the textbook as is. In all honesty, whilst I am confident in explaining the gospel in my own way, I am not completely satisfied with the explanation in the textbook used by other churches, so I hesitate to use it as is. With that being said I am worried that I do not have the capacity to reformulate it. However, direction is more important than the textbook or method, and I believe that there will be good results no matter what.

The seminar I will be participating in this time is being held at a church that has restored the church and family through QT. I expect that it will be an opportunity to learn something new about QT. QT often remains limited to personal devotional life, but this church has implemented it all the way to Sunday school, all small groups, and even the entire ministry, so I think it will be a good opportunity to experience the field of QT ministry. I hope that God imposes wisdom and revelation so that a good nurturing system which fits GVC will be created, and so many believers will be established as complete people of Christ. I will have a good trip to Korea. Please pray for me!