The eighth of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt not steal." But many of us Christians are breaking this commandment, perhaps without even realizing it. Soup bowls have been disappearing from the church kitchen. The last inventory check shows that the loss amounts to 200 dollars. One time a large rice cooker disappeared. I do not believe that people actually intended to steal these things. They were probably just borrowing them and forgot to return them. But from the kitchen staff's point of view, they are as good as stolen. A lot of other things are disappearing as well. Bowls, spoons, and knives from the kitchen. Pens, scissors, and staplers ...

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I just returned from the KOSTA (Korean Student Abroad) conference which I attended as a speaker. I shed many tears there because of a brother named Ja-shin Koo. He and his wife were driving with their 3 children to attend KOSTA and serve as intercessory prayers. On the way, they were involved in a serious car accident where their car flipped over several times on the highway. Mr. Koo's foot was seriously injured and his wife suffered a heavy concussion, falling into a coma. But the most severely injured member of the family was his 4 year old son Joseph. He was immediately flown by helicopter to a children's hospital but by the time he arrived, due ...

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Some of our church members half-jokingly complain that our church is too demanding. In a way this is true. We insist that people make a commitment to the church on their own. In many churches, visitors become members automatically as soon as they fill out a visitor's card. In our church people need to come forward in order to fill up a commitment card to become a member. To become full members, ones who can vote at church business meetings and become church officials, they must accept Christ as their personal Savior, be baptized, and apply for membership. Their applications must be approved at both the deacon and congregational meetings. "Pastor ...

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When we implemented the house church system about 10 years ago we started with only 23 house churches. Our church membership was not large either. So at that time, I had the luxury of being able to rotate through the shepherds and having lunch with one of them every other week. Now, as the church has grown, it has become impossible to do that. Our church membership is several times larger, there are now more than 100 shepherds, and I have become much busier. When I have lunch with someone I need to set aside 3 to 4 hours, including driving time. It is impossible to do this more than twice a week. And I generally use these two days to have lunch with ...

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Whenever I read the newspaper I can't help but feel sorry for President Bush. All the political cartoons make him look ridiculous. His physical features are exaggerated and they portray him as stupid. No mistake he makes is too small to be the subject of the cartoonists' jokes. Sometimes I wonder how his wife and daughters feel when they see these cartoons. I can say this for sure: I am glad I am not the President. People seem to feel it is OK to ridicule people or be extra critical of them if they are public figures. They have no problems saying something rude about these people, things they would not dare to say to them in person if they were just ...

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It is a blessing for our church that there are so many members who help those with needs in secret. I usually learn about them by accident from the people who received the help or a third party. God will reward these people richly because our Lord said, "Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matt. 6:4)." As the number of members in our church grows, the number of those in need grows as well. Some members have began to ask me what our church policy is concerning financial assistance. Before I talk about our church policies, let me lay down some Biblical principles. Good ones can be found in 1 Timothy Chapter 5. Apostle Paul ...

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Many traditional churches have been successful in converting themselves into house churches. But few of them are successful in soul winning. And a church that is not successful in soul winning is not a house church in the true sense because a true Biblical house church cannot help but attract and convert the unsaved. Many people have been saved through our church. I want our church members to why this is so that they can answer pastors who attend our house church seminars or spend time here as interns. First, our church places its highest priority on obeying the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) and on reaching the unsaved. Many house churches put ...

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