April - May, 2005

Text Box: New Church has New Name Finally, after much deliberation, conversation, and prayer, we decided on a name for our new congregation.   We call ourselves, the ¡°HanMee Church of Christ,¡± which in English means ¡°Korean-American Church of Christ.  ¡°HanMee¡± is a combined from ¡°HanGook,¡± the word for Korea, and ¡°MeeGook,¡± America.  This is appropriate since, to this point, our members are mostly Koreans with a few Americans.  We had thought about other names, such as location names, or even ¡°International Church of Christ.¡±  All the place names in town were already taken, and ¡°I.C.O.C.¡± would be confusing since another group wears that name.   At any rate, we have had a good reception to this name, and  perhaps will be a draw for some.   (Photo at left shows our meeting place.  We are on the 7th floor of this office building.  After clicking on the picture, you will be able to see the word "B.C.C." in the window.) Our attendance continues to be around 20, sometimes more, sometimes less.  A few months ago, we had two large Christian families attending with us on a regular basis, and they often brought with them cousins or other relatives.  Recently, they cut back their attendance to once a month or less.  Since they stopped coming so abruptly, we were very curious what happened to them.  Finally, we found out that their minister had talked with them and told them not to meet with us any longer.   Our guess is that he was afraid he was about to lose them to us.   Both families told us later confidentially that they are enjoying us more, but felt a loyalty to their minister.   We understood their situation.   Our goal as a new church in Seoul is not to just ¡°steal sheep¡± from other churches of Christ, but to really be an outreach to those seeking the Lord. Our next step is to complete the paperwork necessary to be an official tax exempt organization.  This will provide us with certain benefits as in the States.  Another goal we have is to sometime this year put together a church website.  This will be useful to members and others who might have questions about us.   One of the things hindering our work here is that we are so ¡°non-traditional¡± that many are suspicious of us.  Most people in Korea hear the word ¡°church¡± and think of buildings, church positions, or certain rituals.  We have none of those things, as church in the New Testament also lacked them.  More teaching needs to be done in this area.  We feel that perhaps articles on our congregation¡¯s website, as well as private or public instruction will help.   Korean Language School I have just completed 10 weeks of the next level of Korean language instruction.  I mentioned to you previously that last year I felt qualified to enter a Korean pre-school.  Now, I have advanced where I feel I might be ready to enter Korean primary school.   Seriously, the language is a difficult one, so unlike any language in the West.  While the 24 letter alphabet can be mastered in an hour or so, it will take a few years to master all the vocabulary, grammar and levels of speech appropriate to the age and position of the person you are addressing.   My classes this spring met Monday through Friday from 9 am to 1 pm.  Our group was truly international. In our class were 3 Americans, 3 Japanese, 2 Russians, 1 Denmark, 1 Germany, 1 Philippines, and 1 student from Indonesia.  Some were here on business, others were here to teach English, while others were here because one of their parents was Korean, and they wanted to learn the language of their heritage.  It made for an interesting mix and I thoroughly enjoy meeting all of them.  Having such a daily schedule made the last 10 weeks fly by (one of the reasons I have delayed in getting to this report).  After class, I had to run to catch the bus, grab a quick bite of lunch on the way, and then be back on the campus of KCU by 2:30 p.m.  This was the time when I did my duty as host of the International Zone.   In case, you have forgotten the purpose of this area, it is one spot in the lobby area of the fourth floor of the main building allocated to helping anyone learn English better.  Four of us serve as volunteer greeter/hosts to stay in the area several hours a week and practice with any one who wants to improve their English.   This semester has seen an increase in the number of visitors, probably due to the fact that several English courses required visiting the area, and getting us to sign a slip saying that they had done so.   It is a wonder how a little academic pressure can improve things.   We continued to hold several events in the Zone throughout the week as well, such as special times of grammar instruction, English songs, English movies (with sub-titles) and English Bible studies.   All in all, though this area was a drain on our personal schedule as teachers, we can definitely see the value in such a program.   My classes at KCU As I write this report, I am in the middle of grading my final exams.  So I don¡¯t know yet how well my students understood what I taught them.   My upper division in the Book of Acts seemed to understand English a little better than my freshman, ¡°Basic Christianity¡± course.  I tried to help them by speaking slowly (a challenge for this fast Northerner), by using Power Point, occasional videos, and making my notes available on a class website prior to the class meeting.  I really pray that I was able to make some impact on the lives of these young people.  Since my course is a required course of every KCU student, this means that most of them are not Bible majors, and some have no interest in the Bible or Jesus at all.   I felt particularly concerned about one freshman student.  His name is Yoo Sung Jae.   He had spent 4 years in the States, so his English was the best in the class.  However, whenever I saw him in class or on campus, he was never smiling.  In fact, his demeanor looked like he would rather be somewhere else.   Finally, towards the end of the course he began to open up to me and even came to me during the International Zone time.   I still am not sure about his private Christian beliefs, but I know that he needs more of Jesus in his life.   Every week at the Zone, to encourage a few more visitors, there is a weekly drawing for a small prize.  The last week was the final drawing for a DVD movie of the life of Jesus.  This is a special DVD that also contains a multitude of video questions and answers about basic beliefs in God, Jesus, etc.  It is designed to help an agnostic or anyone struggling with faith.  The winner of final prize drawing was Yoo Sung Jae.   He seemed very pleased to get the prize.  Perhaps this can be the tool to bring him closer to the Lord.   Future plans and challenges After seeing some of you this summer, Lord willing, I will be back here in the fall.   I have continued to be in contact with Ko Seok Hyun, the man I met while hiking last year.  We met for dinner about 4 times this semester.  With each meeting, he continued to exhibit a little more belief in God and Christianity.  At our meeting last week, we talked about studying the Bible more together this fall.  Please for his open heart. Another person I have met here is Han Young Gil, a producer at CBS (Christian Broadcasting Station for radio and TV).   Among his jobs this summer is to produce the Michael W. Smith live worship concert in Seoul.   So he is a man of some influence at CBS.  He related to me last week that CBS is becoming less and less Christian these days.  Many of its newly hired employees are just there to make money, and see no ministry at all in what they are doing.  Because of this, there are fewer and fewer Christian programs being broadcast on CBS these days.   The FM music station is almost devoid entirely of anything Christian.   Only 3 years ago, it was broadcasting our program ¡°Bible English,¡± a Christian music show called ¡°Radio Heaven,¡± and several Christian based programs.  These are all gone now.  Mr. Han is praying that God can give him a new position at CBS where he can bring back some of the Christian programs to this Christian station.   I also mentioned to him that I would be willing to stop by CBS once a week and do an English Bible study with any of the interested staff at CBS.  He said this would be a great idea, and will check into its interest and get back with me.  As you can see, there is always more to be done here.  In some ways, I feel so inadequate and alone for the task.   Then, I remember that our God is an awesome God and that He is more than adequate, and that He will be able to do ¡°immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine¡± (Eph. 3:20).  All praises go to Him!     Returning home on June 15 Keep me in your prayers this summer too.   Hopefully, I can see many of you during my summer travels with Vicki.  If not, perhaps during the winter break.  Or stop by any time to see me in Memphis, or in Seoul.  I would love to show you around.  Thanks again for all you do for me and me family.  God bless each of you!     Home
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