A minister of the Gospel who demonstrates a solution to korean churches in crisis
– Gyeongjaein(Economy magazine)
July 2011
As Crisis of Korean churches has been raised, it is being urged to work on measures. In Novemver last year, about two hundred pastors from twelve denominations participated in a Future Ministry Forum and resolved the declaration of self reform of pastors. At the Future Ministry Forum, they avowed their strong commitment to reform themselves by indicating issues needed to ve renewed in the declaration. The issues were classified into two sections of pastors and Korean churches. The sensitive issues pointed out throughout the declaration included ‘authoritarianism and mysticism of pastors’ ‘unjustice in a selection prosess for a replacement pastor’ ‘elder pastors’ ‘excessive intervention in church operation’ ‘pastor’s false degrees and desire for fame’ ‘senior paster-centered church management’ ‘reorganization of proliferating denominations’ ‘growing number of independent churches’ ‘exclusive localism and growth supremacy of church’ ‘missionary dilution’ and ‘bribing voters for an election’.
Nevertheless, Crisis of Korean churches is still being raised both inside and outside of churches. Of course, the issues cannot be resolved overnight, but lack of role-model can be considered as one of the reasons for the problem. Here Hanmaum Church in Choonchun (Senior pastor Rey. Sung-Row Kim, www.hmuchurch.com) is recommended as a role model for Korean churches.
-Hanmaum Church in Choonchun, a Roll model for Korean Churches.
The first impression of Hanmaum Church, located in Choonchun, Korea, was somewhat surprising. The exterior of the church looked too shabby considering that the church had been in a blaze of various media publicity for the attendance of the national women’s soccer team players So-Yun Ji and Hyun-sook Seo. As the interviewer and his company entered the entrance of the church, members of the church in small groups of three to five under shades greeted them first. All of them were unfamiliar, but they greeted very friendly. The greetings were so affectionate. Led by an elder Nong-do Kim, the interviewer went into an office of the senior pastor Rev. Sung-Row Kim. As if to reflect his character, the interior of the office was rustic and cozy. Any fancy sacred treasure of decoration was not seen at all.
Rev. Kim looked like uncle Sam in next door. He with a big welcoming smile radiated softness and warmth. Although it took just about one minute from the entrance of the church until to meet him, the reason why Hanmaum Church has been valued as a role model for Korean churches could be sensed to some extent. With the deep impression of the church, Rev. Kim was interviewed about his overall ministry.
-Jesus Christ of the Resurrection, the Lord of Mine
“I became a believer of Jesus Christ when I was 31 years old. Then, 7 years later, I began a campus ministry and had put all my efforts into disciple training. However, no matter how much trained, people did not change. Since then, I started deeply thinking about ‘Why don’t people change?”
Rev. Kim had agonized to find out the answer to the question for long time. Then, he could realize that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day from His death was truly the wo가 of mighty God. Soon, Rev. Kim found himself sincerely serving Jesus Christ of the Resurrection as his true Lord.
“The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the Gospel itself, proves that Jesus is God and that the words in the Bible are true. Thus, it is reasonable for us serve Jesus Christ risen from the dead as our Lord.”
Rev. Kim’s philosophy of ministry which is focused on the Good News of the Resurrection seems to be making Hanmaum Church in Choonchun to spread the Gospel and to reproduce disciples lively. The church preached the Good News of the Resurrection as it is called as a church of the Resurrection. Indeed, each of the over a thousand members of the church considers himself as a military of Jesus Christ. Believers who were evangelized by Rev. Kim repented the sin, according to John16:9, of not believing in Jesus but living as masters of their own lives and accepted Jesus Christ of the Resurrection as the Lord of their hearts. They are continuously causing changes in families, schools, work places, and communities where they belong to.
Ministry of the Gospel that Brings Miracles
“A change of ans individual carries over into the individual’s whole community. Thus, the Gospel that makes changes in an individual is the only solution to this era.”
In Hanmuum Church, Rev. Kim is concentrating all his abilities on raising workers of God for spreading the Gospel and serving the church. Nevertheless, this church does not have an artificial program or organization to train these workers. This is the difference of Hanmaum Church from other churches.
“I believe that everything is done by the Gospel. I don’t dedicate to a special program for evangelism or mission. I don’t want anything arbitrary or contrived for running a such programs. The sincere change of each individual solely by the Gospel builds up the Christ-centered community, and the evangelism and missions come after spontaneously.”
Rev. Kim’s philosophy of ministry is doubted by some because his church does not have any special program or organization for the evangelism, missions, and a revival. However, actually, his philosophy is powerful because it is the result of a great deal of efforts for several decades to restore the Gospel in church and the community of the Early Church, not the result of knowledge from curricula, books, or educational programs.
Even before going into the ministry, as a middle school teacher, he was so eager to evangelize college students in spite of his busy schedule. It was because of his belief that the more young members in a church are, the stronger is the church. However, to bring people to church was not as easy as his thought.
“I felt the previously learned methods for evangelization was not working well in reality. As nurturing disciples, I found the reason for the problem. It was overlooking the importance of the fundamental Gospel, which is the most critical. After realizing that the accurate Gospel must be seeded before any training us proceeded, I have placed all the focuses of nurturing disciples on the Gospel only. Then, I started community discipline to raise those who completely surrendered to Jesus Christ by the Gospel. Before long, the fruits of the Gospel began to appear in real lives.”
The key factors of the successful changes found by Rev. Kim were the Gospel of the Resurrection, the Gospel of life, and the Gospel of community. With the restoration of the original Gospel that Jesus Christ proclaimed and that was proclaimed in the Early Church, the power of the Gospel was enormous. The Gospel made transformation not only of an individual, but also of his or her family, work, school, and the society where he or she belonged to.
A good example can be found in the national women’s soccer team. So-yun Ji attended Hanmaum Church drawn by the Gospel in the life of Hyun-sook Seo, another soccer player in the team. Later, the Gospel was continuously spread to other players by these two, and finally, most of the players in the national women’s soccer team and their university soccer team became believers in Jesus.
In addition, the power of the Gospel has been revealed in other church members’ schools and work places. The members transformed by the Gospel perceived the true meaning of life, and turned away from selfish life to the life for God and others. The miracles of transformation are still occurring in Hanmaum Church.
Desirable Characters for Churches in today
Rev. Kim was anointed to be a pastor when he was 47 years old. Nobody thought his ministry would be successful because he was too old to enter the ministry and did not have reputation to get attention from public. There were many oppositions because he could take his rest of life easy instead of taking risks at such a late ago.
Nevertheless, Rev. Kim courageously started off the church with the firm faith in the Gospel and his calling to nurture the followers of Jesus Christ. After 22 years from the church establishment, he keeps on taking steps out on the path of his calling with the community in which people get transformed by the Gospel, and the community that transform the world with the Gospel.
“The Gospel is the only one key to solve all the problems of life. The Gospel is to repent the sin of the believing in Jesus Christ (John 16:9) and to accept Him sincerely as the Lord (Roman 10:9). Jesus who is God who came to the earth in person, died for us, rose again, and gave us all the everlasting blessings. In Jesus Christ, there are all treasures, joy, and peace. In fact, I had no fear nor worry in facing death because of the faith in Christ. Rather, I had joy overflowed and peace filled in my heart. The Gospel transforms a person. Morerover, it transforms the times and the society. I hope every single one in the world enjoy the everlasting blessings in Jesus Christ.”
By the way, professor Yeong-chul Park, a world authority on Cell Church, from Korea Baptist Theological University witnessed, “I have searched over the world for a church like the Early Church. I have never seen a church like Hanmaum Church in Choonchun before. Hanmaum Church is a model for a church in the New Testament times that is rarely found in this era. This church presents desirable characters for churches in today.”
A Message from Rev. Sung-Row Kim to CEOs
CEO is a significant position that determine the direction of a company. A decision of a CEO is very influential not only on his or her company, but also in the overall society. Discernment is the most important character for a CEO to have in the rapidly changing market environment and the harsh economic reality in which a misjudgement is never condoned. Roman 12:2 says about ‘discernment’ “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”(NKJV)
Discernment requires not being conformed to this world. If a CEO moves along the pattern of the world only for his or her company’s instant profit, the company will be backfired soon or later. Therefore, the CEO should make all judgements with renewed minds in the Words of God without being conformed to this world. Good judgement is given to those who fear God. Rev. Kim hopes that CEOs nonconform to the pattern of this world, renew their minds daily, run their companies within good and acceptable will of God, and be valued in favor with God and men.
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