2002.10.13. 51st Church Anniversary - Rev. Young Jin Cho

Why Should KUMC of Greater Washington Exist?

Acts 6:1-7

Today is the day of joy and thanksgiving. It is the day of praising God and giving glory to God. During the Korean War, our church began in Washington DC, 51 years ago today. We thank God who has guided us for half a century. We thank him for his deep and wide love and his sustaining love.

Nearing our church anniversary, I preached a sermon on the fundamental questions of faith and church life. On the Sunday of September 15th, I talked about why we need Christ. When we understand men in the Christian perspective, we need Christ because we are sinners who lost the original image of God. On September 29, we examined the issue of why we should believe. In one word, because Jesus is the Savior that God sent to sinful man. And because belief in Jesus is the best and wisest answer to God's love. Last week, I talked about why we need church. I discussed church as the body of Christ, the place where we show God's love in this world. Today's sermon will be the last of this series. It will be focused on the purpose of the KUMC.

I

Brothers and sisters, why is our church needed? What is the reason for the existence of our church? In civil law there is the principle that things that nobody owns belong to whoever claims them first. Do you believe that we should exist because our church was founded first as a Korean church in the Washington Metropolitan area? Do you believe that our church should exist because it was started half a century ago? Surely, it's a long history we can be proud of. But it doesn't explain why the church exists. Occasionally, we find that even churches with long histories in the UMC close their doors. In Europe, some of these places have been turned into amusement places.

Why should our church exist? Of course we must say that we need our church because Korean immigrants in America need a church. But we should find the purpose of our church in the Lord's will and purpose. We are not masters of a church, it is Jesus Christ. Because of his will and plan, he built our church and led the church until now. Therefore we should examine the reason for the existence of the church in the will of the Lord.

II

Then why did the Lord found our church? What is his vision and expectation toward us? What kind of church does he want us to be? Before these questions, I meditate on Acts 7:1-7. Today's scripture shows how the early church overcame their first crises. Apostles turned the crises into a new opportunity with the Lord's guidance. The church was built firmly and could take off firmly through these crises. Let's look into this scripture in detail.

The first problem in the early church happened as the numbers of disciples were increasing. While apostles distributed food for the widows and the poor, people being overlooked complained. The church was in turmoil. The Apostles overcame internal complaining by choosing seven faithful men. This way, the Apostles could give their attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. Seven disciples took over the work of distributing the food fairly. In today's terms, they solved internal complaints by developing the lay ministry and they went into the taking off stage.

Why is our church needed? Because we choose the lay people and turn sleeping churchgoers into devoted church workers. There are only a few churches that have the potential power of lay people like our church does. If we bury our potential power without using it for the church, we are going to be scolded as lazy and evil servants who buried our one talent that we received from the master.

Responding to a call of mobilization of lay ministry, we made a five years long term plan, and we have worked on them. We changed the structure of administration and developed the institute of lay ministry. We have also held ministry fairs. However we have a long way to go. In the process of mapping out new directions, we have experienced confusion and wondering. However, we will keep going this way. Walking up and choosing lay people is not an option. It is the real Biblical image and the reason for the existence of our church.

The second message of today's scripture is that the early church helped and supported wounded people in life and under-privileged people through the act of helping widows.

Why should KUMC of Greater Washington exist? The Lord built our church for us to do this work, helping church members who live in pain and suffering. He called us to pray and help extend the hands of love. We should extend our attention to the people outside of church as Jesus prayed for sheep out of the fold in the Gospel John.

Throughout church history, a lot of church members have participated in this work. They have served food to lonely people in foreign lands and encouraged them. They founded the Washington Family Counseling Center for broken families. They started a Korean-American scholarship foundation. Nowadays, even with a small budget, we support various kinds of organizations, like the Washington Korean Service Center. We support the Left Over Mission Fellowship for poor children and the Sharing Church and the Korean Healing Ministry Institute and more in Korea. We also work with Bethany House, a shelter for battered women. We are directly involved in their ministry as well as sending funds.

Why should our church exist? Because our church is here for helping the tired, wounded, crying neighbors with the love of Christ. This is the will of our Lord who built our church.

Third, today's scripture shows us direction and understanding by their wisdom to overcome crisis facing the early church. Fifty-one years of our church history was not even. Our church was split four times. We experienced the pains of separation of opinion over important issues. Once we didn't respond progressively to the need of new Korean society from a mission perspective. For forty years we didn't found any new churches. However these painful experiences became fertile soil for today's prosperity. We thank God for his love, and for turning around our pain and adversity in spite of our weakness and insufficiencies.

Brothers and sisters, why has our church existed over half a century? Because we share lessons of the history and transfer our experiences and grace to our next generations. As the early church showed us the wisdom of overcoming crises, we should share God's grace of turning around and transformation with other churches that want to learn from us willingly. We should not forget this mission before our Lord. It is our responsibility to share the positive experiences and assets as well as the negative experiences, and encourage them. Here is the reason why we held the Vision Conference for pastors on the 13th and 14th of September. The Vision conference was our response to the Lord's call.

Fourth, as the early church overcame crisis of internal conflicts, the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Why should our church exist? So we can spread God's word rapidly. The Lord built our church in order to spread words of life and the ways of salvation. The lord wants our church to spread God's words rapidly.

According to the survey we did last week, 323 members throughout 3 services responded to the survey. First question was, how did you come to our church? The responses were that 50% came because of recommendations from friends, 41% came because of the good reputation of the pastor, 24% came because of family members, 21% came because of the good reputation of our church, 20% came because of our being a Methodist church, 5%, which was 16 families came because of radio broadcasting, and 2%, which was 8 families came because of the internet. Second question was, why do you continue to come to our church? The responses were that 79% continue to come because of the pastor's sermons, 53% continue to come because of our gracious worship service, 21% continue because of the love and encouragement of our church members, 17% continue because of short distance to travel, cell group and our program for children. Interestingly enough is that 15% come because of less interference. When asked to choose one answer to the questions, among 276 that responded, these were the responses. 64% said they attend our church for the Pastor's sermons, 10% said because of our gracious worship service, 4% said because of family, short distance to travel and because of our loving and caring among our members, and 2% because of the less interference.

This survey proves that witness of God's words in a church should be alive. We realized the importance of living words and spreading words rapidly through the survey. Witness of words is not limited to sermons in worship service, but includes all aspects of evangelism.

Why should KUMC of Greater Washington exist? So it can spread words rapidly and it can do the work of saving souls through words, also because it preaches the words of truth and life to wandering people.

III

Nearing the 51st anniversary of the church, KUMC of Greater Washington is not a simple gathering of men. The Lord founded KUMC of Greater Washington and he is the master of the church. The Lord has entrusted us with a mission. The Lord built our church for us to treat the wounded and encourage tired people and to share the experiences and lessons we have learned through our church history by spreading his words rapidly. In the age we exist in today, KUMC of Greater Washington must achieve this mission. When a church becomes a real church, it can influence. When the early church overcame internal division and stood firmly, the number of disciples increased, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. On this 51st anniversary, all of us receive homework, and that is to recover the influence of the gospel and the power of the gospel by being an authentic church. Our Lord who has lead us for 51 years has an expectation toward us. He asks us to pursue this mission sincerely.

I would like to introduce Sister Lee Kwang Sook, who is one of the fruits we harvested responding to his expectation. She will witness the works of God in her life through KUMC of Greater Washington.

My Name is Lee Kwang Sook . I have attended KUMC of Greater Washington a little over 2 years. Some of you already know my story through the Agape. But I would like to share my story with you as a token of the renewal of my faith.

One day I was locked out of my house. I knocked on the neighbor's door but there was no response so I decided to go to the nearby Korean church I passed all the time in order to use their telephone. After I solved my imminent problem with the help of a man in the church office, I would like to say thanks to the owner of the church (at that time I assumed the owner of a church is a pastor)but at that time the senior pastor was on vacation, so I thanked an associate pastor, His name was Rev Lee. He presented me with a sermon tape (the great truth) and a drinking mug. He then showed me around the church and asked me to attend his church. In the hallway I happened to meet Deacon Lee Sung Ja whom I knew before from business reasons.

I passed by KUMC of Greater Washington as I passed by one of the buildings for 3 weeks without any thought. On the third Friday I received a memo with a receipt from one of the stores I have business with. Deacon Lee Sung Ja had written a few words on the memo. It said, "Please attend our church and create a new life with power and capability that God provides."

I put the memo on the table and read it on and off. One day I picked up the telephone and called her as I wanted to know the meaning of new power and capability out of curiosity. She told me that she couldn't explain through the telephone and the next day three ladies paid a visit to my business and they asked me attend the church service if I wanted to know the meaning.

Two days later I attended Friday Praise Worship service. At first I didn't know what was going on. Also I attended a second Worship service on Sunday because they encouraged me to attend.

After three weeks of attendance I experienced continuously flowing tears from my eyes when I sang songs that appeared on the screen during Friday night worship service. I couldn't finish the worship service without tears every time. I became more curious about the new power, ability and the reason for the flowing tears in my life. I was very busy with the new church in my life while I also worked 12 hours a day, but whenever I heard the sermons, I shed lot of tears in spite of myself.

How does he preach as he knows what I think? Whenever I had time, I read the Bible, testimonies of faith, attended early morning service, seminars on Christianity and revival services at other churches. I did my best to find the answer. Still the answer was not clear to me. I repented all my sins as long as I could remember and I gave away a lot to my neighbors without asking in return. I read the Bible with an expectation that I would find an answer whenever I flipped page by page. Sometimes I kept reading in half abandonment.

One day while I was praying, the answer came to me as the blind opened his eyes and as the deaf heard and as the lame started to walk again. I found that the heart to adore him and the mind to get an answer are the power and ability, and God was with me always. Do you remember the play we watched last year? The last lines in the play were my confession to God. On that night I proclaimed that KUMC of Greater Washington was my father's house by his guidance. Clearly he taught me that this house was mine and I was a daughter of God.

Faithful elders and exorters encouraged me always. Gracious deacons and cell church members listened to my foolish words patiently. Church sisters like my sisters welcomed me in spite of my weakness. Pastors made me cry with their sermons. This wide and deep love was one of many things that happened in our church.

Recollecting the last 2 years, that day 2 years ago was the day of my salvation. I was hopeless without future, giving up everything and complaining while the house was on fire. I was in despair as a sword was flying toward me. God saved my soul as he already knew my situation. A church I had passed by opened new doors for my life. As I give thanks for the grace of the salvation I experienced, I urge you to believe and attend with hope. God bless everybody.