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어떤 분의 요청으로 지난 날 영국 케직과 화란 암스텔담과 태국 좀티엔과 태국 방콕에서
영어로 발표했던 글 네 개를 여기 올립니다. 참고하시기 바랍니다.
"Report on the church growth in Korea at Keswick”
Sunday evening (July 16, 2000)
At the Sunday evening worship meeting (July 16, 2000) of the 125th anniversary Keswick Convention, the Rev. Phillip Hacking, the convention chairman, reported, to the audience of about four thousand, about the rapid growth of the Korean church as well as her involvement in mission and interviewed with me (Rev. Kim Myung Hyuk). He asked me a question. “What could we learn from the Korean church?” I answered and reported as the following.
First of all, I praise God for his surpassing blessings he bestowed upon the Korean church. I would like to present five lessons we could and might learn from the Korean church.
Lesson number one. Suffering and persecution was the first reason of the church growth in the Korean church. My father who was a Presbyterian minister in North Korea was imprisoned both under the Japanese and Communist North Korean government and finally killed by the North Korean government. I myself was punished at the primary school in North Korean for the sake of my faith in Jesus Christ. When I was 11 years old I left my family and country to gain the freedom of faith. Suffering and persecution played an important role to bring church growth in Korea.
Lesson number two. Prayer was the main resource of the church growth in Korea. In the situation of suffering and persecution, we were in a sense forced to kneel down to pray. I was led to go to the early dawn prayer meeting when I was 9 years old and I still continue to go to the dawn prayer meeting every day at 5 o’clock. Prayer played an important role to bring church growth in Korea.
Lesson number three. The rapid church growth has brought negative problems in the Korean church. Numericalism, materialism, moral complacency and depravity, excessive competition, division creeped in with the outward rapid church growth. Now we came to realize that church growth should not be the object of the church. Rather, renewal and maturity should be the object of the church, we have learnt.
Lesson number four. Mission is not the work of ours but the work of God. We now admit that many of the 7,000 Korean missionaries around the world are not qualified missionaries lacking in personal as well as spiritual qualifications. Yet, we have found out that God has abundantly blessed the ministries of the Korean missionaries. Mission is not the work of ours but the work of God.
Lesson number five. God has waited 55years until he begins to hear our prayers of petition to forgive our sins and give us reconciliation and unification between the North and the South Korea. Just last month God allowed the two heads of the North and the South to meet together and embrace each other. We therefore have a great expectation that as God liberated the Isreal people from the 70 years’ Babylonian captivities, he would also liberate us from division and hatred and make us a nation of priesthood and a nation for the world mission.
One more thing about the British mission to Korea. We owe much to the Wales and British church. One of the early western missionaries to Korea was the Rev. Robert Thomas from Wales. In 1866 he came to Pyungyang by a commercial ship. The ship was burnt by the arrows of fire. The Rev. Thomas hardly landed to the shore but was immediately killed and shed the blood of a martyr and a missionary. The blood became the seed of the Korean church. The revival of 1907, which is usually called the “Korean Pentecost” and the beginning of the Korean church, was closely related to the Wales revival in 1904. The Korean church heard about the Wales revival and was challenged and engaged in prayers of repentance and God extended his hand of blessing to the Korean Church. We owe much to the British and Wales church and we thank you very much. Please continue to pray for the church of Korea and for the unification of Korea. Thank you very much.
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“The Preparation of an Evangelistic Message” Seminar One Paper at the Amsterdam 2000
(July 30, 2000, Amsterdam)
Rev. Myung Hyuk Kim, Vice-chairman, KEF
I am Pastor Kim from Korea. Kim is the most common name in Korea. Three political leaders in South Korea have been all Kims. The president of S.K. is Kim, the premier of N. K. is also Kim. Billy Kim, the speaker last night, is also Kim. If you call any Korean as Mr. of Mrs. Kim, you would be probably right. I am also Kim, Kim Myung Hyuk, pastor of a local church, professor of a theological seminary and vice-chairman of Korea Evangelical Fellowship.
The subject of this seminar one is “Preparation of an evangelistic message”. Rev. Gottfried Osei-Mensah prepared an excellent teaching material on this subject. My presentation will be depending upon Osei-Mensah’s material as well as my own experiences. In preparing and delivering an evangelistic message, five points should be remembered.
Point One : You should remember who you are. You should remember that you are a servant of almighty God. He is sending you to take his message to a particular people. This fact of self-awareness carries important implications. That is why Dr. Billy Graham often stresses that evangelism is not a technique but a person. Since you are a God-sent, servant of God, you should be totally devoted to God, that is, to be set apart to God, and to be sanctified to God. This sanctity or holiness is an essential element of an evangelist. As a pastoral evangelist, I could say that person rather than words play more important role in bringing men and women to Jesus Christ. Since you are a God-sent servant of God, you should also be totally dependent upon God in prayers. You should pray that the Lord would prepare you and make you his effective messenger.
Point Two : You should remember who they are. You should know as much as about your listeners, about the people to whom God is sending you. There could be various kinds of people; young people, old people, rich people, poor people, intelligent people, and illiterate people. Yet, there could be some commonness: search for pleasure and happiness, search for wealth and fame, rebellious and restlessness, empty and hopelessness. A fair knowledge of your audiences will make you an effective messenger of God. You have to also remember that your listeners are the objects of God’s concern and love. This will motivate you to come deep into their heart.
Point Three : You should remember what to preach. You should remember that you are sent to preach the gospel alone and that the heart of the gospel is Jesus Christ and him crucified and resurrected. The apostle Paul wrote: “For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.”(1 Cor. 15:3-4) “I resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified”(1 Cor. 2:2). The purpose of the evangelistic message is not to magnify the evangelist himself but to flesh out the heart of the evangel, the gospel itself, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Point Four : You should remember who is doing evangelism. You should remember that it is not you but the Holy Spirit who is doing evangelism. The Holy Spirit is the supreme evangelist. “When the Spirit comes, he will testify about me”(John 15:26). Without his partnership, our witness to Christ will be fruitless. Therefore, we must seek his help in putting together and delivering our message.
Twenty some years ago I took college students of my church to a rural area to do summer evangelism to the children in the rural area. While the college students engaged in children evangelism, dozens of young people hindered and made fun of the evangelism ministry. I called them together and began to talk. I did not prepare or expect to preach. I just began to talk. They listened. I talked about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. I did not talk longer than 25 minutes. Yet, something happened. One youth came forward and repented. Another youth came forward and repented. On that night 14 youths came forward one by one and repented. I did not even give any initiations. Yet, they just came forward. I was totallly amazed to find out that it was not me but the Holy Spirit who did evangelism that night. I just kept praying about an hour a simple prayer, “Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord.” I had correspondences with the youths more than one year. We have to remember that it is not we but the Holy Spirit who does evangelism.
Point Five : You should remember for what you are doing evangelism. You should remember that the purpose of evangelism is not magnifying the evangelist himself or counting the numbers of converts. In 1983 Dr. Billy Graham confessed that he was before concerned about the numbers of the converts and the amount of money, but now ceased to be concerned. The purpose of evangelism is to glorify God and to magnify his mercy and love. If you keep this purpose in your mind, your evangelistic ministry will be healthy and faithful.
With these 5 points in mind, we could now write an evangelistic message in three steps as the following.
Step One : Describe and present a man as a person searching for happiness yet empty and hopeless. You could present one person from your modern society and another person from the Scriptures. You could choose a modern man whose empty life has been changed through the gospel. He or she could be an actor, singer, businessman, politician, or a sportsman, even a murder. You could point out some characteristics of modern man as wealth and pleasure seeking yet empty and hopeless. Luis Palau, when he preached an evangelistic message in an Open-Air Evangelistic Meeting at the Crow Park in Keswick England in the afternoon of July 16(2 weeks ago), he chose Paul Jones and Fiona as a model of modern man. They were successful singers, who slept together in sinfulness. They were rich and famous, yet they were empty and unhappy. Somehow they were led to hear the message of the gospel and repented. Their lives have been completely changed. They got married and became happy. They are now traveling doing evangelism as well as singing. You could now choose one relevant biblical person to bring your listener home in the message of God. You could choose the rebellious and selfish lost son in Lk 15, a pleasure-seeking empty woman in Jn 4, a greedy tax collector in Lk 19, a rich but poor man in Lk 12, 16, a self-righteous, rebellious religionist Saul in Tarsus in Acts 9, a demon-possessed Mary Magdalene in Lk 8, and a demon-possessed man in the tombs in Lk 8, and so on.
Step Two : Describe and present God as loving and forgiving sinners. Describe God as restoring the lost and broken sinners to be the dear sons and daughters of God. Describe God as loving the world so much as giving us his only begotten son. Describe Jesus as forgiving sinners such as the Samaritan woman, Cornellius the tax collector, and Saul the self-righteous religionist. Finally present the Cross as the only power and the only way to salvation.
Step Three: Stress the importance of repentance. The only request of us as sinners is repentance and belief. In the case of the lost son, he “came to his senses,” that is he came to change his mind (LK 15:17). He also changed his heart. He confessed that, “Father I have sinned against heaven and you”(18). He also changed his will. “He got up and went to his father”(20).
Now, please one Chinese, one Japanese, and one Korean, prepare and present a summary of an evangelistic message in your own context in about 5 minutes each. After that we will have time of free discussion. Thank you very much.
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Mission and the Kingdom of God - Teaching of Jesus in the Gospels
AMC II (Jomtien, Thailand, Sept. 29-Oct. 3, 1997)
Rev. Myung Hyuk Kim, Vice-Chairman of Korea Evangelical Fellowship
The mission of Jesus was to bring the kingdom of God.
"Mission and the kingdom of God in Jesus" is the subject of this morning. This is a very familiar and very important subject. At the outset, I would like to summarize this important subject in one sentence: "Jesus' mission was, is, and will be to bring the kingdom of God into the world and so this is also our mission." It is a glorious and blessed mission to bring the kingdom of God into the world which was invaded by the evil forces of the kingdom of Satan.
The heart and goal of Jesus' mission was to bring the kingdom of God to the world. It was in accordance with the Old Testament expectation of the messianic kingdom. The mission of the Old Testament prophets was to predict the coming kingdom of the messiah (Is. 61:1). Jesus' first message of declaration was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt. 4:17). Jesus then announced that in the very person of himself the messianic prophecies of the coming kingdom were fulfilled. "Today the scripture has been fulfilled" (Lk. 4:21). Jesus later explained that the very reason for his coming to the world was to bring and establish the kingdom of God. "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God; for I was sent for this purpose" (Lk. 4:43). The mission of Jesus' disciples was also to preach the message that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt. 10:7, Lk. 10:9). The major task which Jesus continued to carry out during the last 40 days after his Resurrection was also "speaking of the kingdom of God" (Ac. 1:3). In short, the heart and goal of Jesus' mission and of his disciples was to bring and establish the kingdom of God in the world.
Jesus did not, however, mean that the kingdom was to be fully established in the present world. Jesus meant that it was coming, was partially being established, and would be completed at his second coming. "The Son of man will send his angels... then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Mt. 13:41,43). It will be the mission of Jesus' second coming to bring and complete the kingdom of God.
What was, then, the kingdom of God which Jesus was bringing? Was it a kind of "political forms of justice and love" as Wolhart Pannenberg suggested ? (Theology and the Kingdom, p. 80). Was it a kind of "the community of the King to work to establish [social] justice on earth" as Waldron Scott suggested? ("Fullness of Mission," Witnessing to the Kingdom, p. 49) Was it indicating the contemporary occurrence of miraculous signs and wonders as the Pentecostals suggested? (Christian De Wet, "Biblical Basis of Signs and Wonders," Christian Life (1982), p. 28, Robert L. Saucy, "The Presence of the Kingdom and the Life of the Church," Bibliotheca Sacra 145:577 (1988), p. 31).
Peter Beyerhaus at the Lausanne Congress in 1974 interpreted the kingdom as meaning "mainly a spiritual event of redemption which takes place in the hearts of men." ("World Evangelization and the Kingdom of God," Let the Earth Hear His Voice, p. 283) Ernst Käsemann at the Melbourne Conference in 1980 interpreted the kingdom rather comprehensively as "the inauguration of the royal reign of God is essentially a saving event which brings the forgiveness of sins, relief for the tormented, freedom for the captive, and destroys the works of the devil." (Ernst Käsemann, "The Eschatological Royal Reign of God," in Witnessing to the Kingdom, pp. 62,67). Arthur P. Johnstone following Peter Beyerhaus also interpreted the kingdom as meaning "the present inner rule of God in the heart." ("The Kingdom in Relation to the Church and the World," In Word and Deed, p. 128). We would like to find out what Jesus meant when he proclaimed that the kingdom was at hand? We will somewhat follow Peter Beyerhaus' interpretation
1. It was destroying the evil forces of Satan.
What did Jesus mean by bringing and establishing the kingdom of God in the world? It was, first of all, destroying the evil forces of Satan. It was a judgment. "If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Mt. 12:28). The purpose of Jesus' coming was, as recorded in the Letter to the Hebrews, "that he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14). Jesus healed and saved the demon- possessed people by casting out demons from them and brought them into the kingdom of God. Jesus entered a strong man's house, bound him, and plundered his goods, that is, liberated the enslaved ones into the realm of freedom (Mt. 12:29).
It was, however, not destroying any political nation of evil forces. Jesus neither intended nor suggested to destroy such wicked political nations as Israel of Herod or the Roman Empire of Tiberius. He discouraged his disciples to engage in restoring the kingdom of Israel against the Roman Empire (Ac. 1:6). None of his disciples ever engaged in destroying any evil political nation in their lives. Jesus, nevertheless, expressed obvious criticism over against the evils of a Jewish political leader. He criticized Herod who wanted to kill Jesus, calling him a fox (Lk. 13:32).
The mission which Jesus committed to his disciples and us was to destroy the evil forces of Satan in the world. "Cast out devils" was the commandment of Jesus to his disciples. The means to use to cast out demons was the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. The seventy disciples reported to Jesus with joy that "even the devils are subjected unto us through your name" (Lk. 10:17). The mission to destroy the evil forces of Satan is a spiritual warfare "against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12).
Rev. Lee Kee Poong, one of the first seven ordained ministers in Korea, was sent to the Chechoo island in 1908 and made a victorious ministry of evangelism through destroying evil forces of Satan there. There was an evil tradition of offering a young girl to the snake god in the village where Rev. Lee was sent. Rev. Lee was brave enough to enter a cave where a young girl was offered to the snake god. Rev. Lee, who was a man of prayer and power, destroyed the snake that was about to kill the girl and saved her. That event made a great impact to bring the reign of God in the village and the whole island.
Rev. Kim Ik Doo was another example who had remarkable success through performing miracles and destroying the evil forces of Satan. He performed the countless miracles of healing as well as casting out devils in the 1910s and 1920s, so that his miracles were even called to be one of the three mysteries in the world. Rev. Kim Ik Doo did much in bringing the kingdom of God in the land of Korea which had been invaded and dominated by the evil forces of Satan. We will have to continue to launch out our spiritual warfare by prayer and evangelism in this last age of massive Satanic attacks.
The battle to destroy the evil forces of Satan today could also be fought on socio-cultural-political fronts where the Satanic forces are working actively. It could be carried out by launching out socio-cultural-political campaigns against various socio-economic-cultural-political evils. The 10th WEF General Assembly dealt with socio-cultural evils such as child pornography as a critical issue that the evangelical churches should deal with. The evangelical churches should be more concerned and concretely engaged in warfare against various socio-economic-cultural-political evils in our times. The major weapon to be used in socio-political campaigns should be the spiritual power of the gospel and the moral power of personal lives rather than merely political power and means. Jesus forbade his disciples to use the sword. "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword" (Mt. 26:52). The warfare against the evil forces of Satan in the world would not be completely won in whatever means, and therefore it would be an on-going battle. The warfare would rather become more intense as the end time comes near. The believers, however, will continue to engage in the battle against Satan to bring the kingdom of God in the world.
2. It was bringing redemption by healing and forgiving sins.
Peter Beyerhaus defined the kingdom of God as "God's redeeming Lordship" (Let the Earth, p. 286). Redeeming was the result of destroying the evil forces of Satan. It was delivering man from diseases and sins. After Jesus announced the coming of the kingdom, he manifested it, first of all, by healing sick people and forgiving sinners. The ministry right after the announcement of the "manifesto" of the kingdom of heaven in Matthew chapters 5-7 was the ministry of healing and forgiving. "Be clean, and immediately his leprosy was cleansed" (Mt. 8:3). "My son, your sins are forgiven" (Mt. 9:2). After Jesus healed the blind and mute, he announced that "the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Mt. 12:28). The purpose of Jesus' coming to the world was to redeem sinners by offering himself as a ransom. "The son of man came to minister and to give his life a ransom to many" (Mk. 10:45). Apostle Paul later interpreted that the entering into the kingdom of God was to receive redemption and the forgiveness of sins: "He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Col.1:13,4). Bringing the kingdom of God to mankind meant redeeming sinners by means of the person and work of Jesus. Wherever Jesus was manifested, the grace of redemption was given. And redemption required faith and repentance on the part of sinners.
The mission which Jesus committed to his disciples and us as the kingdom bearers was to preach the gospel of redemption, to heal the sick and to save sinners. The ministry of his disciples was to "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons" (Mt. 10:8), and to preach the gospel of "repentance and remission of sins among all nations" (Lk. 24:47). The obligation on the part of sinners to receive redemption was to have repentance and faith. It could be done by proclaiming and delivering the name of Jesus Christ and him crucified as written in the Scriptures by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In 1907 there was a great revival in the Korean Church. Many received the grace of forgiveness and redemption through repentance and faith. It was when Jesus was presented so vividly as "an Uninvited Guest" as described in Rev. 3:20 to the audience of about 1,500. The audience began to repent for their unbelief and wrong doings so earnestly that a movement of revival and repentance started to be spread throughout the nation, and as a result, many received the grace of forgiveness and redemption. The Kingdom of God was dawning in the land of darkness from 1907. The mission of ours should be the same, to preach the gospel of forgiveness and redemption by proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ as witnessed in the Scripture through the power of the Holy Spirit to bring the kingdom of God.
Jesus' bringing the kingdom of God and the grace of redemption resulted in forming a messianic community of the redeemed, that is, to build churches among the believers. It was what Jesus intended. Jesus told Peter that he was building his church upon his confession of faith. "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Mt. 16:18). The great commission also included the task of building churches as Jesus said to his disciples, "Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Mt. 28:19,20). The basic and ultimate mission of the redeemed community, the church, was to honor and worship Jesus Christ, the king of the kings, and to witness of him to the world (Jn. 4:24-26, 15:27, 17:21-24). We honor and praise our king.
It is generally agreed by evangelicals that even though the church is not identical with the kingdom of God, the church is inseparable from the kingdom. The church could be said to be "a sign of the kingdom of God" as the Melbourne Reports put it (Witnessing to the Kingdom, p. 120), or as "the transitory communal form of it [the kingdom] in the present age" as Peter Beyerhaus put it. (Let the Earth, p. 288). "Through his church Christ exercises a most important ministry towards the visible coming of the kingdom" (Byerhaus, p. 288).
Jesus told his disciples to gather together to form a new community of believers (Ac. 1:4), commanded them to build new churches (Mt. 28:19,20), and exhorted them to fill his house, his church (Lk 14:23). "Go out into highways and hedges, and compel them to come in that my house may be filled" (Lk. 14:23). The great mission to bring the kingdom which Jesus committed to his disciples and us could be well carried out by planting and growing local churches around the world. Church planting and church growth are the best means to bring the kingdom of God in the world, though it should be always remembered that church growth in some cases does not necessarily mean growth of the kingdom.
3. It was transforming lives and societies.
After Jesus announced the eight qualities of blessing to possess the kingdom of heaven, he introduced a new standard of life for those who possess the kingdom (Mt. 5). Possessing or entering into the kingdom of heaven meant a possession of a new standard of life under the reign of the heavenly Father. It was, first of all, a living of life as salt and light in the world (Mt. 5:13-16). It meant that possessing the kingdom of God resulted in a transformation of life of the redeemed as well as the transformation of the world in which he lived. The life of the believer was to be transformed to be as salt and light. The world in which the believer lived was to be transformed to be salty and bright.
It was then living a life of reconciliation (Mt. 5:21-26). It was living a life of purity (Mt. 5:27-32). It was living a life of humility and truth (Mt. 5:33-37). It was living a life of tolerance and help (Mt. 5:38-42). It was living a life of love and a life of imitating God (Mt. 5:43-48). Such transformed lives were not to be lived in isolation but in communal relationship to the world in order that they would be able to transform the world. "Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven" (Mt. 5:15,16).
Here I would like to confess a personal change which occurred in my heart and attitude towards the Japanese. Whenever I meet Japanese Christian brothers and sisters, even here in Jomtien, I feel encouraged and warmed. From the past political standpoint I would feel cold towards them. There were certain occasions through which I was compelled to accept the reality of the truth that they are my brothers and sisters who belong to the same kingdom of God. The more I meet Japanese Christians in a conference like this, the more I feel closer to them. I praise the Lord for this transformation in my life. The new standard of life in the kingdom was to grow and expand throughout the world like a grain of mustard seed and leaven, as Jesus explained in his teaching about the kingdom (Mt. 13:31-33). If this new standard of life of reconciliation and love between the Japanese church and the Korean church is established, it would become a powerful witness to the reality of the kingdom of God among us.
Jesus summed up the new standard of life to be a life of humble service. The king himself lived a life of humility and serve and exhorted his disciples to follow him. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mk. 10:45). "You shall not be so [like the kings of gentiles who exercise lordship]. I am among you as he that serves" (Lk 22: 26,27).
Our task which Jesus committed to us as ministers of the gospel and as the kingdom bearers is to exhort believers to live a new life which would permeate throughout the world. One of the great contributions which the gospel of Jesus Christ made in the early stage of the Korean church was the reformation and modernization of the old Korean society. The gospel brought a new sense of human dignity, equality of men, elevation of women, development of modern education, modern medicine, a new economic and political system, and the pursuit of goodness and truth. The transformed life of the Rev. Son Yang Won was a powerful testimony to the reality of transformation of the Christian life to the Korean people in 1950s. Rev. Son served lepers with love for six years and forgave a communist guerrilla who shot two sons of his, and later even adopted him as a son.
It is generally agreed by evangelicals that the transformation of society comes as a fruit of evangelism and mission. Peter Beyerhaus took this position: "If this new spiritual life develops in a healthy way, it will make itself felt in all spheres of a man's life and social involvement. The inter-human relations of the Christians are the links between personal regeneration and the transformation of society through the forces of the kingdom... Evangelical missions ought to develop convincing models of social and political involvement" (Beyerhaus, Let the Earth, p. 287,8). Beyerhaus then listed historical examples of fruits of evangelism such as the abolition of slavery, the social reform for the protection of widows and orphans, and the institution of the diaconate of charity. While I do agree with the position of Beyerhaus, I am more inclined to follow the position which John Stott took that mission included both evangelism and social responsibility. The total perspective of the teaching of the Scriptures, I believe, supports the teaching of the dual responsibility: to redeem the souls of men by proclaiming the name of Jesus by the Holy Spirit and to transform the society by practicing the life of discipleship.
We are now living in an age of unbelief and immorality. The Korean church has recently been deeply conscious of the lack of transformed lives and of moral decline. It has launched out a reformation movement in morals: to live a life of truth, temperance, and love. Such living should be practiced by Christians in order that they would be able to witness faithfully to others in the age of falsehood, intemperance, and indifference. Above all, we should follow the life of humble service in this age of selfishness. The modern age hardly sees good models of Christian living. The model life of Mother Theresa has been a big challenge to the evangelical churches around the world.
4. It was anticipating the coming kingdom of God.
When Jesus announced that the kingdom was at hand, he did not mean that the kingdom had already arrived in the full sense. Jesus did not mean that the kingdom which he brought as a present offer of redemption was to be fully established in the present world. Jesus meant that it was rather an eschatological promise of a coming kingdom which will be accomplished at his second coming. Jesus taught that the kingdom would come in the future and asked his disciples to pray that "thy kingdom come" (Mt. 6:10). As his earthly ministry was coming to an end, Jesus stressed the futurity of the kingdom. Jesus clearly denied the peoples' expectation of the immediate appearance of the kingdom in his parable of the nobleman. "He spoke a parable, because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, a certain nobleman went into far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and then to return" (Lk. 11,12). Jesus exhorted his disciples to watch and be ready for the coming kingdom. "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man comes" (Mt. 25:13). Bringing the kingdom meant the anticipation of the coming kingdom of God in the near future.
The New Testament church was, therefore, in earnest expectation of the coming kingdom. The usual Christian greeting in the early church was, "Lord, come" and the prayer of the apostle John was also "come, Lord Jesus." Such an earnest eschatological expectation of the coming kingdom did not make the early Christians slow down their obligation of missions, but it rather caused and inspired them to engage in missions with a sense of urgency. It was partially because of their belief that the coming kingdom depended on their work of missions. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and then the end will come" (Mt. 24:14). Eschatological perspectives inspired them to bring as many people as possible to the marriage feast of the kingdom (Mt. 25:1-13), to be alert (Mt. 25:1-13), to use and multiply the given talents (Mt. 25:14-30), and to serve the poor and the sick with their sharing (Mt. 25:31-46).
Our task which Jesus committed to us as ministers of the gospel and as the kingdom bearers is to actively engage in the mission of evangelism and social service with an earnest eschatological expectation of the coming kingdom. The early Korean church inherited this integral tradition of present engagement and eschatological expectation. Rev. Kil Sun Joo, the leader of the great revival of 1907 in Korea, established a tradition of giving Bible studies on Revelation wherever there were revival meetings and Bible studies, and stressed the coming of the heavenly kingdom. Rev. Lee Sung Bong, another great evangelist in Korea, always stressed the imminent coming of Jesus, and confessed that he was often looking up to heaven in anticipation of Jesus' coming whenever he heard a loud sound. Such an earnest eschatological expectation made the Korean church more fully engaged in prayer and evangelism and kept her less secularized. The Korean church today, however, has lost much of the early earnest eschatological perspectives of faith. It is time now to regain such an earnest eschatological expectation of the coming kingdom of God in order to be truly engaged in missions.
Our task is to proclaim the kingdom of God
We have briefly surveyed the important subject of "the Mission and the Kingdom of God in Jesus." Jesus is our King whom we honor and worship. Our King, Jesus, has come, brought his kingdom to the world, and delivered us to enter his kingdom by means of his person and ministry. He made us the messengers of his kingdom to proclaim it. He charged us to destroy the evil forces of Satan, to redeem the sinners, to build his churches, and to transform the society by living transformed lives. When he commissioned us, he also empowered us with the Holy Spirit. He also charged us to live an interim life of an eschatological expectation of the coming kingdom. The eschatological hope of the coming kingdom is one of the most glorious and blessed truths of the gospel, for which we should invest all our resources and effort. We will eternally honor and worship our King in heaven and earth. At this missions Congress, our King, Jesus, would again charge us as the kingdom bearers to proclaim the coming kingdom of God through evangelism and social services by the power of the Holy Spirit. We would do it by using all our resources and sharing them in partnership. May our King be glorified and proclaimed forever and ever. Amen.
[Rev. Myung Hyuk Kim, Pastor of Kangbyun Presbyterian Church, Prof. of Hapdong Presbyterian Seminary, Vice-chairman of the Korea Evangelical Fellowship.
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"Stewardship and Leadership Development”
(EFA Theological Consultation, Bangkok, Sep 4-7,2000)
Rev. Myung Hyuk Kim, Ph.D. (Pastor of Kangbyun Presbyterian Church, Prof. of Hapdong Presbyterian Seminary,
Vice-chairman of Korea Evangelical Fellowship)
We, the human beings, are God’s stewards in the sense that God has given us various gifts or talents to take care of and develop for using them to the will of God and to the benefit of man.
Among the various gifts God has given us as his stewards are, first of all, emotional, intellectual, and volitional capacities to feel, think, and decide to the will of God and to the welfare of man. There are also time/opportunities, space/environments, material/possessions, and so on. When we use and develop the gifts we come to develop “leadership” of encouraging others to use and develop their God-given gifts.
In the following, I will try to describe my own personal stories how I came to use and develop God-given gifts and develop leadership of encouraging others to use their gifts.
Among the many gifts God has given me was the gift of faith. “Faith is the gift of God”(Eph 2:8). God has given me the gift of faith by means of the pious environments of my family and church in Pyungyang, North Korea where many martyrs shed their blood and many forefathers of faith lived out their lives. I cherished and nurtured the God-given gift of faith and fear of God when I was small boy in North Korea. I was punished at school because of my faith in Jesus Christ. When I was 11 years old, I left my family and country in order to cherish, nurture, and develop the God-given gift of faith. After I came to South Korea I had the blessing of cherishing and developing the gift of faith as well as of encouraging others to keep their faith strong. Even when there were political hindrances to the Sabbath keeping I dared to protest and be arrested to proclaim the right and freedom to keep the faith and to keep the Sunday holy. Such determination of mine encouraged many Korean church leaders to stand firm and caused to launch out the movement to keep the Sunday holy by such organization as Korea Evangelical Fellowship and Council of Church in Korea.
Among the many gifts God has given me was also the gift of compassion for social justice. God has given me the emotional and volitional capacities to sensitively respond to social injustices. My positive and active reaction has usually brought in a moral/social movement launched out. When I was a senior student at the Seoul National University in 1960, half a dozen Christian students including me responded actively to the socio-political unrest and injustice and launched out a “new life movement” which soon developed a nation wide reform movement. The “servant leadership” of the student movement, as we claimed then, do still play active roles of leadership in the Korean churches and societies. Thirty some years later some of those student leaders played key roles in launching out the “reform movement of honesty, temperance, and love” in the Korean church both by means of K.E.F. and C.C.K.
Among the many gifts God has given me was also the gift of concerns for other people. This gift was not at first manifest. It gradually developed to manifest. In fact, this gift of concern for other people was repeatedly practiced to be developed. Gradually I came to enjoy meeting various kinds of people and came to love and respect even those people whom I did not like before. I played an active role of starting various movements of establishing partnerships and mutual help with other people. Among them are establishing partnership and mutual help with the people in Burkina Fasso, West Africa, the people in Bangladesh, the Afro-American young people in Los Angeles, the church leaders in Japan, and the suffering people in North Korea.
Among the many gifts God has given me was also the gift of mission and unity work. After I earned my doctorate, I went to the Fuller School of World Mission and there I was challenged to commit myself to the work of evangelical mission. Since then, I gradually came to devote the God-given gifts of mine to the work of evangelical missions. I came to involve establishing mission/unity organizations in Korea such as AMA, KEF, EFA, AMC, Keswick Korea, KPMF, KWMC, KWMA, Mission for CIS, CCK, and so on.
Among the gifts was also the gift of teaching at the Seminary and pastoring at the local church. Since I returned home from the over sea studies in 1974, I came to involve both in teaching and pasturing ministries and I still continue. During the past 25 years I have taught thousands of students and stressed the importance of possessing a balanced historical perspectives as well as involving in pastoral ministries and evangelical missions. Many responded positively and followed my exhortations. During the past 25 years I have also involved in pastoral ministries and experienced much joy of meeting and serving people in the local churches. And greater joy has been found when I watch the people in the local church grow and develop their own stewardship of serving the Lord and the people.
Stewardship is personal, communal, and communicational. Stewardship is something a person could and should develop as well as something a person could and should communicate others as a community to develop their own gifts. That is why the apostle Paul exhorted Timothy to develop his own stewardship as well as to communicate and encourage others as a community to develop their own stewardship. “And the thing you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others”(2Tim 2:2). Faithful stewardship, therefore, leads to developing leadership in the community. The development of personal and communal stewardship brings power in the life of a person and a community in manifesting the presence of the kingdom of God. A right sense of stewardship also leads a person to humble himself as a servant and to exalt Christ as the supreme Lord and King.
The task of us is to use and develop diligently the God-given gifts to the will of God and to the benefits of others as well as to encourage others to use and develop their own God-given gifts. That is the way how the community of the church is to be empowered to manifest the presence of the kingdom of God. May God give us grace and encouragement to carry out this task
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참고로 영국 카나다 한국 미국 대만 인도네시아 등 국제회의에서 발표한 논문이 실려있는
책들과 논문 제목들을 소개합니다.
D.A. Carson, ed. Teach Us To Pray, "Lessons from the Prayer Habits of the Church In Korea"
W. Harold Fuller, ed. Global Crossroards Focusing the Strength of Local Churches, "Prayer and
Church Growth in the Korean Church"
AMC, ed. World Missions:The Asain Challemge, "Cooperation and Partnership in Missions"
James Kraakevik, ed. Partners in the Godspel, Principles od Two-Thirds World Mission Partnership"
Bong Rin Ro, ed. Chrstian Alternatives to Ancestor Practices, Historicl Analysis of Ancestor Worship in the Korean
Churches"
ACC, ed. I Will Build My Church, "The Nature of the Church"
World of Life Press, Korean Church Growth Explosion, "Korean Missions in the World Today and its Problems"
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