‘House Church Seminar' For Lay Leaders’ Epilogue…
On the first day of the seminar, I remember a brother who introduced himself by saying that ‘he had been reluctantly persuaded by his pastor to attend the seminar’. Still in my eyes, he was precious and I could feel that the heart of God was behind his state of mind. On the last day of the seminar, when I met him again after the Sunday service, he was a different person. He shared an incredibly moving confession, and the tears falling from his eyes spoke thousands of times more than what words could say. It was not just him who has changed. There was a sister who had started the seminar with similar reluctance. But as the seminar progresses, the tone of her sharing has changed. Then finally at the end of the Sunday service, she knelt at the devotion table praying with tears saying she would devote herself to house church ministry.
At the first meal of the seminar, I noticed a sister who was just staring at the food. So I carefully asked her if the food was unappetizing. Her response was that “I have never served such a special dish, not even in a restaurant…, I felt I am being treated with the highest respect”. She was a sister with a precious heart. I prayed silently in my heart that God would use our hands to touch the heavy burden and pain of her life. The answer to my prayer was then spread to other brothers and sisters as well who attended the seminar. One after another, I could hear them declaring their heartfelt pledge to rise up for God. Also they gave sincere testimonies saying that “nowhere on earth had they received such love and caring.” Those, who were exhausted from their ministry work, were rejuvenated from the Hanmaum church’s Mokja and Mokyeo’s testimonies presented during the seminar. They all said they experienced ‘Heavenly banquet’ and ‘Kingdom of God.’ When I heard their testimonies saying “I never knew a church could be this good”, “I will work with the pastor of my church to build a church like Hanmaum Church”—my heart truly soared.
On the remote corner of the earth, our church has been steadily carrying out the house church mission, often unnoticeably. So these responses were even more surprising to me. We hosted the House Church Seminar For Lay Leaders, but as you know, our church remains thin and light. For the last twenty-two years, our church has devoted itself to house church ministry, seeking “to reclaim the non-negotiable essence of church’s identity.” However, the effort we invested and the resulting fruits were oftentimes not something tangible that we could grasp in our hands. So we had to be patient… and such patience required faith. Even when it took a long time for fruits to ripen, and even when some fruits were picked by other hands, we had to train ourselves to find our joy only with God.
As the seminar started, I could hear the gasps of awe from the seminar participants before the dining tables which were carefully ornamented with beautiful and delicate decorations. However, for me, as a senior pastor of Hanmaum church who knows the story of her who decorated the table, her ‘long and arduous journey of grace’ slowly sank into my heart. Her name was on the VIP list thirteen years ago when I became a senior pastor of our church. She then endured a difficult illness, brain surgery, and finally came to faith, accepting Christ as her Savior. Seeing her long journey reflected in the decorations, I felt my heart deeply moved. This experience led me to a powerful realization: ‘What God sees is not the same as what we see with our eyes, and God wants to use such unnoticeable fruits in this seminar.’ And surprisingly, the seminar participants are savoring those very fruits which we thought nobody could even see. I could see their souls reviving as they were enjoying these fruits. I give thanks and praise to God who works through us.
Following the shepherd…
Pastor JiWon Choi.