Hope Inspiration Hope a STRING of from Korea MIN GYOO SHIN
Copyright 2017 by Min Gyoo Shin Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City PO Box 419527 Kansas City, MO 64141 beaconhillbooks.com 978-0-8341-3649-6 Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Cover Design: Mike Williams Interior Design: Sharon Page Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Sin, Min-gyu, 1958- author. Title: A string of hope / Min Gyoo Shin. Description: Kansas City, MO : Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, [2017] Identifiers: LCCN 2017001392 ISBN 9780834136496 (pbk.) Subjects: LCSH: Sangam-dong Kyohoe (Seoul, Korea)--History. Pastoral theology. Church. Seoul (Korea)--Church history. Classification: LCC BX8699.N37 S46 2017 DDC 287.9/9095195--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017001392 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from the King James Version of the Bible. The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS Preface 7 1. Give All You ve Got in Every Situation 9 2. Harmony for Church Growth 12 3. Priority 14 4. From Laziness to Patience: The Key Is Prayer 17 5. Overcome Challenges through Dawn Prayer Worship 20 6. Harmony between New and Old Members 23 7. Keep the Companionship 25 8. Weak but Valuable 27 9. Kingdom Citizens 29 10. Look Far Ahead 32 11. Before Blaming Others 34 12. First Love 37 13. Love Others as They Need 39 14. This Too Shall Pass 41 15. Forgive First 43 16. Depression, Friends, and Firm Relationships 45 17. The Language of Christians 48 18. The Best Gift 50 19. Honest before God 53 20. The Church s Responsibility for Its Children 56 21. Beautiful Sacrifice of Couples 58 22. The Holy Spirit s Church 61 23. Happiness Is Near 64 24. A Noisy Church Is a Servant Church 67
25. Ministry to the Elderly: Silver School 70 26. Expression of Care through Practical Sacrifice 72 27. Righteous Ministry Decisions 74 28. We Are God s Masterpieces 77 29. Disability Ministry: SNTC 79 30. When You Give, Give All 83 31. Church Is a Sanctuary with Kindness and Trust 86 32. Giving Immediate Help 89 33. Helping to Solve Heart Issues 92 34. Passion: Crisis Turns into Opportunity 95 35. The Most Precious Being 98 36. Give Thanks with the Heart of a Debtor 101 37. Effective Ministry 103 38. A Vision for Remote Areas 106 39. Rebuild the Collapsed Temple 109 40. Recalling the Days 111 41. A Church Raising up Another Church 113 42. The Budget: Never to Be Grudged or Spared 116 43. Being One with People 118 44. A Sending Church 120 45. Overcoming Limitations 122 46. Sponsoring Seminarians 124 47. Wishes for the Future Pastor 126 48. Dreaming for One More Righteous Man 129 49. My Wish for Korean Churches 132 50. My Wish for Korean Churches (Part Two) 134 Epilogue 136
1 GIVE ALL YOU VE GOT IN EVERY SITUATION The inscription on Ruby Kendrick s tombstone reads, If I had a thousand lives to give Korea should have them all. Ruby came to Korea as a young missionary but passed away from a disease on June 19, 1908, at the age of twenty-six after just eight months in language school. Yet her death was not in vain because it led a number of young missionaries to come to Korea to follow her example. They brought the gospel to this land and led its people to Jesus Christ. Another story of a young but impactful death is found in Anne Frank s life introduced through her book The Diary of Anne Frank. Others include Joongseob Lee, a brilliant Korean artist who passed away at the age of forty; Bruce Lee, a well-known actor from Hong Kong who died at the age of thirty-three; and Sowol Kim, a famous Korean poet known for his work Azalea, who died at the age of thirty-two. There are many other examples of young but impactful deaths in this world, and Jesus Christ is chief among them, only thirty-three when he died on the cross. In spite of their short time on this earth, the lives of these people yielded abundant fruit evidenced by the influence they have had on the people of our time. You may know of other examples of lives that were short but fruitful. None of us knows how long our life on this earth will be, but one thing we need to remember is that our lives have great eternal value. With that in mind, we need to focus on giving our best and using all our strength in every situation in which we find ourselves. If we value our lives, it is essential for us to eat well to keep in good health. More importantly, we need to give everything we have, using all of our strength and abilities in the positions we are in. Doing so adds even greater value to our lives. 9
Give All You ve Got in Every Situation In my early years of ministry, shortly after dawn, I routinely went to the church to have a time of worship in prayer until it was time for work. Although it only took about five minutes to get home, I chose to stay at the church instead of going home to rest for two reasons. First, with my wife teaching at Korea Nazarene University (KNU) in Cheonan City and my son studying in a province, I did not have anyone to welcome me home, and I did not have any desire to go into a cold house that was empty most of the time. Second, I told myself, I would rather rest or take a nap in the church! So I always came back to my office after the earlymorning prayer and worship time. There, I could continue my prayer time, or sometimes I dozed off. My breakfast was a simple cereal or grain drink that I prepared myself. Then my day started and typically lasted until late at night, focusing on the ministry in the church. Some might take pity on me to hear about those days and the situation I found myself in. Indeed, how miserable it was to arrive home after a tough day just to find out I was alone with no one to welcome me home! Pastoral ministry is a wonderful gift from God, yet I know family life is also a great gift from him. After I quit my job teaching at KNU and came to pastor the church, I was not able to enjoy my family life for a time. Although it was lonely, I did not let myself get discouraged. I discovered I could find advantages in the situation I was in. Having spare time as a functionally single man, I began to focus more on ministry. This period of time was God s gift for me when I was just beginning my pastoral career. I believed that the position assigned to me was directed by God. I knew he would never leave me in a place where I was not supposed to be and that he would take me out of it if he wanted. So I was standing where God had set me. The conditions seemed difficult, but it was just what God had prepared for me. What is left, then, but to give it all you ve got in every situation? No conditions, no ifs. We need to control each situation we 10
Give All You ve Got in Every Situation find ourselves in and not be controlled by it. If we give everything we have in every situation, we will be properly utilizing the gifts God has given us. It is not a matter of how many years we have left on this earth. Rather, in every role we have, we ought to put all of our strength into building up our family, our church, and our community. If we do everything we can, using every bit of strength we have even if the fruit of our efforts appears after we have passed away rest assured, we will receive our crown from God. 11
2 HARMONY FOR CHURCH GROWTH In his book Pensées Blaise Pascal, a French Christian philosopher, wrote that human beings need to harmonize with three subjects. Pascal explains that we can never be happy if any of these relationships gets broken or becomes problematic. The first subject for people to harmonize with is themselves. Those who do not understand what they want and are dishonest or deceitful to themselves cannot be happy. Next is harmony with our neighbors. Happiness will be impossible if we fail to build harmonious relationships with our neighbors. When we know how to cooperate with others, we get to share mutual help and the joy of relational growth. Lastly, Pascal emphasizes that harmonizing with God is even more important than the other two. Yet our sin hinders us from obtaining harmony with God. And the problem of sin cannot be solved without Jesus Christ. When Pascal talked about growth, and when we talk about church growth, we are not referring only to external growth but also inner, spiritual growth. This principle of harmony is critical to growing the church. Sangamdong Church of the Nazarene listed four criteria for its pastors to meet in order to ensure harmony and growth in the church. Most of these values are equally important for both pastors and laypeople and should be implemented in everyone s lives. First, many hours should be spent reading the Bible and in prayer. These hours will never be spent in vain but will help you reach your goals. Also, for pastors specifically, never neglect or put off preparing your sermons. Second, set high expectations for your church and its members. Setting high expectations includes being sensitive to the needs of your church members while also firmly encouraging 12
Harmony for Church Growth them with biblical teaching. We would say bring the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Third, evangelism must be a priority. Nowadays, a lot of people in Korean churches say that evangelism is not working anymore. However, I believe the kingdom of God will surely be expanded if we evangelize with perseverance and long-term vision. Fourth, do not be absent from your office. Pastors need to set a good example of arriving at the office on time and being there during the workday physically separating the parsonage from the office. I humbly share these statements with my mentees when they ask me for advice. There may be other obligations that individual pastors must focus on, yet these four points should not be overlooked. If these four criteria became the philosophy of every pastor, then their congregants would be influenced to live Godcentered lives themselves. When applying these four statements to laypeople, the first and third statements would be applicable as stated, but the other two would need to be reworded. The second point can be reworded to state, Set high expectations for your church to meet the needs and expectations of nonbelievers. If the pastor builds up the church with high expectations for church members and then those members, along with the pastor, set high expectations for themselves to meet the expectations of nonbelievers, the church will have no choice but to grow. The fourth point also may be restated for an individual as, Give all of your strength in your church, in your home, and in your workplace. We bring glory to God when we give our all to everything we do, and we influence nonbelievers in a good way as they see Christians exemplify what it is to be a good citizen. These tenets are the very basis of church growth. 13