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작성자 sydshi
작성일 2016-02-01 (월) 12:33
분 류 특별
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(영어) Feb. Senior Pastor's Column
Senior Pastor’s Column
“Lord, with there being so many church out there, please don’t just keep adding to that number.  Don’t let there be another church filled with religious arrogance and barren in producing new lives and new fruit.  Don’t let there be another church where people merely seek titles and positions, and  is otherwise irresponsible and incompetent in producing true disciples of Christ. Don’t let me degenerate into being part of a social club busy with various activities but with no clear recognition of being a warrior for Christ.  
Let our church be a “field bunker” in God’s strategic work of building Christ’s Kingdom here on earth; don’t let it be a mere petty government office involved in bureaucratic administrative work.  As I think about churches today, I feel a growing sense of crisis as these churches move away from their essential function.  They have moved from being gatherings that please God to gatherings that please people.  
There are few churches that seek God’s will, or seek to obey that will.  Prayer has disappeared. Evangelism has disappeared.  Sure, churches are marked by a love of gathering, a love of eating and being together, but these are not meetings of prayers or meetings of studying Scriptures.  
People are more attached to their titles and positions than they are to the work of the church.  They have no concern over how they appear before God, and yet only about how they appear before others.  They love things that are big and grandiose by worldly standards, without any particularly concern for spiritual or inner things.  
God is not present in such churches, and when a church is marked by the absence of God, it is no longer a church. My fear is that even our church can become like this.”
This was the prayer of the late Pastor Ok Han-heum, delivered in 1978 when he founded Sarang Church in Seoul.  It is also the prayer that I pray for our church these days.  
I feel a sense of crisis.  
When we founded this church in 1994, there were only four Korean churches, including our own, in the Columbia-Ellicott City region.  There are now over 40 churches in the area, if you include house churches.  Among all of these churches out there, I am concerned that ours may actually be one of those infertile churches that do not produce new life, that we might be a church that creates titles and positions but not one that actually trains disciples of Jesus Christ, that we might be a church where people gather for fellowship as club members to eat and drink together but we are not as soldiers of the cross. We might be a church that spins its wheels in debates over administrative and logistical matters rather than being a front-line unit carrying out God’s strategic plan to build His Kingdom. We might be a church that has lost its essence as a church of the Lord and is rather wasting its resources and energies on non-essentials.
Rather, we should be gathering in fervent prayer and praise, pouring our energy into evangelism and missions.  Each and every member should be not tied to the world and influenced by the world, but rather led by the Holy Spirit so that all of their attention is focused on spiritual things: the inner person being transformed to the image of Christ.  
Let’s think carefully. Is the Lord really present in our church?  Are we experiencing his touch?  Is God’s will being done in our church? Is the Holy Spirit abundantly working in our church?  
One thing of which I am certain, is that God truly loves our church.  
Subsequently, should each of us in GPC lay aside our titles and positions, as warriors of God’s Kingdom, with a strong sense of mission - commit ourselves with a loving heart to the church, then I am certain we will see continuous revival as a church loved by God. We will see a church - led by the Lord, and marked by the work of the Holy Spirit.  With the two wings of holiness and growth spread out, we will soar like eagles and reflect God’s glory.  
The famous theologian J.I. Packer said, “God wants you not to be successful, but to be faithful.”
In a similar manner, my prayer is that all of us would be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.  You should be faithful to God, and you should be faithful to His word.
While I was locked inside my home, as a result of the last week’s snow storm, I was unable to worship with all of you. I had time to reflect on our church and on my ministry. I had the time to pray for the church and all of its members, and to share with you what has been on my mind.  
It is my prayer and desire that our church will not become one more average, everyday church content with maintaining the status quo, but rather a church that is pleasing into God’s eyes and thus necessary for the world.  
To that I pray that we would all be faithful to the essence of the church and commit all of our hearts, minds, and souls to it.
   
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