By: gfesadmin on August 27, 2012
Yesterday I visited Yoido Full Gospel church in Seoul, Korea. What impressed me was the intensity with with they prayed. The energy of a church of thousands praying together is admirable. Today as we talked with Korean pastors, the importance of spiritual formation came up. This is needed in order to preserve and strengthen churches.…
By: gfesadmin on August 27, 2012
The concern for the current crisis within the Korean church is timely and important, but it leaves me with more questions than answers. The band Wilco, in the song “You Never Know” make the observation that, “every generation thinks its the end of the world.” Coming from a context like Spain, where we have moved…
By: gfesadmin on August 27, 2012
One of the common themes we have been hearing at the LGP-DMin advance is that the church grew because, in essesnce, there was nowhere else to turn for hope during the bad times Korea was experiencing – except to Christianity. And now that things are good, people are losing the connection to Christ/Church because they…
By: gfesadmin on August 27, 2012
Listening to Myung Sook Cho being asked about (financial) support of other churches in South-Korea and her negating that (because of their different denominational or congregational backgrounds), I asked myself about the meaning of ecumenical empowerment and partnership in South-Korea. What does it mean, when we are hearing explicit rejections concerning Catholics in South-Korea (genereal…
By: gfesadmin on August 27, 2012
It was a multi dimensional perspective on the Church and the Kingdom of God in Korea. The first presentation by Rev. Lee was encouraging in that even though the Korean church has grown as a result of seeds planted by western missions, it is constantly aware that it is planted in the Korean soil and seeks…
By: gfesadmin on August 27, 2012
One thing that has struck listening to the Korean nationals sharing with our D.Min students is how Christianity was instrumental to the rebuilding Korea after the Korean war. In the face of such devastation, Christianity having largely preserved the Korean language, took shape through faith and worship, into prayer and intense missional action. There…
By: gfesadmin on August 27, 2012
One of the comments Dr. Daniel Dongwon Lee shared in his presentation that relates to my work is the “Balance in work and rest” issue.It is too easy to wake up in the morning and my first action is to check my emails on my IPhone. Technology significantly increases our work load and the pressure…
By: gfesadmin on August 27, 2012
There were some common themes that seemed to run through the presentations which apply to my ministry context. The first is focus. All the presenters attributed their success, at least in part, to clarifying their ministry priority and not departing from it. A second theme is intentionality. They talked about mobilizing resources according to a…
By: gfesadmin on August 27, 2012
This morning I woke up with thoughts regarding the ministry paradigm of “competition.” Then, the panelists today mentioned that Korea is a “religiously competitive society”; not only within the Christian church (Protestants & Catholics) and between seminaries, but also between the variety of religious expressions within this country. My thoughts are that we might consider…
By: gfesadmin on August 27, 2012
What is the Gospel? It seems to me that the Korean understanding of Gospel is focused primarily on ‘The Four Spiritual Laws.’ Which for me, brings up the familiar question, ‘If you were going to die today, where would you spend eternity?’ While I appreciate/value/celebrate an emphasis on one’s relationship with God, I think that understanding is limited…
By: gfesadmin on August 24, 2012
Heroes Forever Trailer (Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
By: gfesadmin on August 24, 2012
I think I heard Rev. Bang said that each church that began asked at its inception how they could send out missionaries. So relevant today. Do you think that churches that do not get this, God allows to die?
By: gfesadmin on August 24, 2012
Meet the students of #lgp3
By: gfesadmin on August 23, 2012
This morning, we’ll hear a lot about the history of Korea and of Christianity in Korea. Use the comments thread below to post the one or two things that really strike you. Interact with one another in the thread below.
By: gfesadmin on July 26, 2012
This week I’ve been reading through the opening chapters of Dr. Jason Clark’s PhD not-yet-published dissertation. A much more technical treatment of the chapters he contributed to Church in the Present Tense (see my previous post on those), Clark’s dissertation is at once profound and troubling. His quest is for a tertium quid, a third way, between the predominant modes…
By: gfesadmin on July 26, 2012
That video gets me every time. I posted it to my Facebook timeline a few days ago, commenting that we should all have a daddy like Derek Redmond’s dad. One of the favorites to medal in the 400 meters at the 1992 Olympic Games, Redmond tore his hamstring halfway through his semi-final race. Clearly in…
