How To Help Those In Financial Need

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 ...

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Why Many Conversions Occur In Our Church

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 ...

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Child Rearing Principles

Parents need to invest time and effort into child rearing. In the past, with large extended families living in close proximity, child rearing didn't require as much effort because children had many models to observe and learn from. These days parents are the only source children have to learn proper behavior. So young parents need to make a conscientious effort to learn about parenting, for example by reading books or taking parenting classes. If I had to list the two most important words for parenting, they would be love and responsibility. I think all good parenting ...

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With What You Have

"If my house church member called me at 2 AM with a flat tire I would be there right away... but I wouldn't have the first clue what to do for him." A shepherd admitted this sheepishly during his recent appointment ceremony. When I interview shepherd candidates I usually encourage them to be someone a house church member wouldn't hesitate to call, even if he has an accident at 2 in the morning. This shepherd was referring to that. I could understand where he was coming from - he's a scholarly type, and not particularly mechanical. He is currently in the PhD program in ...

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June Is Our Rest Month This Year!

Many of us will be going on a short-term mission trip in June. Our children's vacation Bible School will also take place in the same month. Therefore, we will rest from our house church ministry in June this year. We began this tradition last year and the response and the results have been marvelous. Please read last year's "From the Pastor's Desk" that I wrote to communicate and explain to you why we have decided to do this: Let's Rest from Our House Church Ministry in July! From the Pastor's Desk (69) / June 16, 2002 Our Heavenly Father created the heavens and the ...

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Let Common Sense Prevail

"Common sense must become commonplace before miracles do." Pastor Eric once made this remark while preaching to the Korean congregation. He was referencing a famous sermon entitled "The Church Where Miracles Become Commonplace". I agree with this - a church should be a place where members expect extraordinary things to happen. But a church should also be a place where ordinary things such as courtesy and common sense are respected. Some Christians, although few in number, seem to consider themselves above these kinds of things. So let me mention a few common sense things ...

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My Successor

Brother Lee quit his job as a district manager at LG at the end of March to concentrate on his seminary studies. He had actually submitted his resignation about 2 years ago to go into full time ministry. However, the company begged him to stay, promising to give him enough time to take a few seminary courses concurrently. So until now he has been studying part time. Now he will be a full time seminary student. Since he will serve as one our staff members, our church will support him financially. As for his ministry responsibilities, he will continue to serve as a ...

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