It has been almost seven years since Mokja Young-Kwan Cho was appointed as the children’s minister. After starting to receive a salary from his day job, he has served our precious children without receiving compensation from the church. Whether he was recognized or not for his service, he was content to serve when no one noticed. I believe God will remember all of his good deeds and thank him . From the early churches to now, through the 2000 year history of Christianity, the church, the body of Christ, was built upon good stewards like him. On behalf of God’s heart and the church, I offer my admiration and gratitude to Mokja Young-Kwan Cho and Mokyeo Nu-Ri Bae.
Mokja Young-Kwan Cho will now be departing the children’s ministry. It all started from Mokja Yeongwan Cho’s hope for having a sabbath year. He had been thinking that it would benefit both him and the church.
Recently, Mokja Young-Kwan Cho and Mokyeo Nu-Ri Bae’s Mokjang ministry has been progressing actively. Furthermore, juggling between the mounting workloads from his day job and many other things he had to take care of, he had been pushing himself relentlessly for many months. As a pastor, I came to the decision that I should help Mokja Young-Kwan Cho and Mokyeo Nu-Ri Bae to focus more on their Mokjang ministry.
The idea of a sabbath year is that you rest for one year and then continue on with the ministry in the next year. Although a year is not long, it is not a short time for children. Moreover, how Mokja Young-Kwan Cho’s mokjang ministry and his state of affairs will unfold a year after is something we do not know. And most importantly, it is my thought that it would benefit the church and stewards involved in ministries if they could no longer chain themselves to the assumed obligation. My belief is that raising Mokja Young-Kwan Cho again as the children’s minister requires a comparable amount of prayers from the church, and Mokja Young-Kwan Cho must also be able to respond again to the church's calling. Hence, instead of the sabbatical, we chose the path of having him put down the ministry.
For this reason, our church has been praying for a new children’s minister, and during the last ‘chord of three strands' prayer meeting, our prayers were answered. Mokja Jae-Hyuk Choi has decided to serve the children’s ministry, with Yeon-Jung Kim (pastor's wife) and sister Min-Young Kim also working beside him. This is such a grateful thing; the behind story I will continue more later.
I give a heart of respect and gratitude to both those who are dedicating themselves to a new ministry, and those who are departing. I pray that the grace of God will continue to overflow on them, and that our children will receive more grace in place of grace already given. I ask that our Hanman Church members all together bless, thank, and pray for them..
Following the Shepherd
Pastor Jiwon Choi