Last week’s Pastor’s column was about our children’s church that our children will own and lead. I will continue with that thought in today's column.
When I was young, I was attracted to the well-established church where I could just passively follow the program and get washed with grace without getting wet. However as time went on, I realized that if I just want things to happen to me, my spirituality and faith will be anchored in the same loop. In fact, such passiveness had undesirable side effects as well. On the other hand, I had friends who attended a church with challenges and difficulties. Looking back later, their faith had drawn a much longer trajectory than mine. The difficult situations in their church were enablers that led them to desire the Lord more and actively seek ways to circumvent the challenges. While walking with the Lord in this journey, they were able to experience His heart for the churches and know His work. They could not have enjoyed this grace just by sitting comfortably on a chair. This is why I am concerned so much about our children who are just sitting on church chairs as if they are the guests. This is the reason why I decided to build the church for our children with the hope that their faith can grow.
‘TOL congregation’ will become a church which will establish its identity as Korean-American. It will be a church where the children themselves are the owners and grow spiritually. Although the TOL congregation mainly uses English, it will not be throwing away its Korean identity. Instead it will grow as a congregation taking over the ‘inheritance of faith from Korea’. The grace of God that has been poured onto Korea is amazing. Passing that incredible inheritance of faith to our children and letting it flow toward the world is the mission that God has given us. As the TOL congregation develops, God will allow and lead us to serve people from the English community who are interested in Korean culture. Because God has blessed Korea, there has been a great increase in the number of people who like K-culture. This is the first time in the history of Korea where such an opportunity has risen. If we neglect this chance, I don’t think we will be able to face God. A multicultural church that receives an inheritance of faith from Korea.. I pray that the TOL congregation will be able to grow holding onto such dreams.
The Nashua Hanmaum Korean Congregation and the English congregation will be tied under the concept of “One church, Two congregations.” Because they are one church, the Korean congregation can pass on the ‘inheritance of faith from Korea’ to the English congregation, while the English congregation can transfer to the Korean congregation aspects that it does not have. In such a way, the Korean and English congregation will continue to walk together. However, as an independent congregation, the English congregation will grow in a way that differs from the Korean congregation. Endowing the TOL congregation with such an independent identity is the step we are on as of now. Realistically, the TOL congregation is still frail in a lot of ways to become independent; however, we are at a place where we should trust and lead them that way.
This is part of the reason why we have been giving the TOL congregation the main church sanctuary. The spiritual atmosphere of service has changed as the place of worship has been moved from the corner of the church to the main sanctuary. Nevertheless, as both the Korean and English congregation try to use the same sanctuary, the English congregation has ended up finishing later, raising an aspect of a timely burden. We are planning to look for a different place of worship for the TOL congregation this year in order to solve this issue. We are planning to search for a place of worship close by only for the TOL congregation. If it is not realistically possible, we are planning for the Korean congregation to have service at Fellowship Hall, giving the main sanctuary to the TOL congregation. The past few years, there were many things we could not do because of the pandemic; I believe that we can start to take actions now.
However, there is something more important than all of this. (To be continued..)
From, Pastor Jiwon Choi