Ten years ago, the number of young adults who participated in worship was growing. At that time, it was suggested that unmarried young adults could actively participate in the worship preparation and administration of the worship and enjoy equal status with the married adult congregation. This idea created a 3rd worship service. However, to welcome not only single adults but also marrieds, it was decided to call the service the 3rd service rather than the service for young adults. This service is organized and served by single house church members. At that time, it was difficult to decide where to have the worship because at that time, there were ...

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Koreans have a tendency to rely strongly on the results of Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests, though to a lesser degree now than in the past. IQ tests an individual on language, arithmetic, abstract-reasoning or spatial imagery and if the score is over 130, the person is considered bright and if the score is over 140, the person is considered a genius. However, it has been demonstrated many times thatachievinga high score on an IQ test does not really correlate with the score’s success in life and achievements. One of the well-known studies related to this issue is that of Lewis Terman of Stanford University. He performed IQ testing of 250,000 ...

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From this year, there will be changes in setting up the church budget and its administration. So far, each department was allocated with a portion of the expected income and at the year's end, whatever was leftover was used to help others. Under this system, there was a tendency to inflate figures by appropriating certain amount for some ministry work which was not really intended to be carried out. Since it was common knowledge that there would be a surplus, often the budget was not followed. This practice possibly led to over purchasing since it was assumed that there would be sufficient funds. I am afraid that the spirit of prudence in ...

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Last week, right after my return from Korea,the church had its Mission Festival. This week, I am heading to Mozambique, which is in SE Africa. There are many trips scheduled for me until the early part of the next year and I want to provide some explanation for you. Originally, as the yearly plan was set up, I was to go to Korea in October of this year to teach ‘House church guidance’ at a conference and to be a speaker in revivals and shepherd retreat sat two churches. These two churches were both getting much attention as they convert to the House Church system. In addition, the senior pastors of both churches retired and the new pastors ...

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Nowadays, forthe pastor’s conference we have several speakers. However, it used to be that I was the main speaker for the NewLife (2nd course of Life series) andPre-marital couple’s Life. Those classes were developed and taught by me in our church for many years. The New Life class is a 13 week course, but during the conference it is presented in two days as an intensive course. This requires a lot of talking. After the session, my voice is hoarse and I am totally exhausted. After the class, participants would fill out the evaluation form for the speaker. Later, these evaluations would be handed over to me. They were mostly full of praises. ...

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When I started attending church, I used to think that maybe Christians were abusing the word “obey”. Whenever there were conflicts, I heard ‘Christians need to obey.’ Therefore, it looked like it was a method to manipulate others to have their way, or to just obscure the issue. After many years, however, I realized the importance of obedience. All human sins originate from disobedience. After all, the original sin of Adam and Eve was unwillingness to obey. The spirit which controls this world is the spirit of disobedience. (Ephesians 2:2) Therefore, it is more natural for us to be defiant than to be obedient toward anyone. To be ...

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On Koinonia on church website, there are many messages expressing gratitude and I want to express my gratitude which I felt through the recent seminar. I am grateful for all the participants but especially for those who came from far-away places such as Korea, Australia, and China. They traveled such distances but they did not go for a tour. They stayed for Seminar only and returned quickly to their daily duties. When I heard that, I felt sad and a bit painful. I was also touched. It is my sincere prayer that the over 200 participants including those who made such a great sacrifice of time and money found the seminar worthwhile. I am ...

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