{"id":1194,"date":"2012-09-03T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-03T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/soul-advance\/"},"modified":"2012-09-03T18:30:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-03T18:30:00","slug":"soul-advance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/soul-advance\/","title":{"rendered":"Soul Advance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Korea and the rapidly growing church was on the lips of every notable Christian leader in my country during my early days of ministry. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I remember often praying for the \u2018spirit of revival sweeping across Korea\u2019 to break out on our nation too.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Little did I understand that the answer to that prayer could only come at a very heavy price.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The words of Rev. Daniel Lee as he started his talk saying: \u201cSetting foot in Seoul is stepping on soil that\u2019s soaked with the blood of Christians\u201d awakened me to a reality that is often missed. \u00a0I am not sure whether we would have been ready then as we pleaded for revival.\u00a0 It was a prayer demanding all the benefits claiming them as a Christian\u2019s birthright without a willingness to pay the prize.\u00a0 I am not sure whether we are ready now either.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Secondly, living in an age when leadership is most often associated with success, popularity and fame, it was very sobering to read the words of Homer Hulbert \u201cI would rather be buried in Korea than in Westminster Abbey\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 Those words have great meaning expressed by a man who stands out among history\u2019s world-changers.\u00a0 \u00a0He was considered a contributor to Korean independence and modernization.\u00a0 Westminster Abbey would have only been the least of what the world could have offered him in return. \u00a0He deserved to be laid to rest among the most noble and mighty. <\/span><\/p>\n

Missionaries with a holistic vision of God\u2019s work and with Christ like humility have always been a great inspiration to me.\u00a0 Visiting the Yahghwajin Foreigners\u2019 Cemetery museum brought a flash back of a few past experiences.\u00a0 They were early milestones in my life. \u00a0\u00a0The day I stood beside the grave of William Carey in Serampore was one of those.\u00a0 It was followed by my first visit to Westminster Abbey and standing beside the place where the remains of David Livingstone are placed.\u00a0 He was my boyhood hero. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A small bird bath marks the place where Amy Carmichael was laid to rest.\u00a0 It was her wish not to be memorialized with a monument. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0She is one of my favourite missionaries.\u00a0 \u00a0I remembered the time I stood there unable to resist my tears. \u00a0\u00a0I remembered my tour around the chapel where Bishop Robert Caldwell was buried in Southern India. In Stephen Neil\u2019s words, \u201cHis\u00a0<\/span><\/span>grave<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>is to me one of the holiest places in the world\u201d.<\/span> \u00a0His contribution to India is a model for me. Those were significant moments, each one leading to a fresh commitment to God\u2019s call upon my life. Yahghwajin \u00a0is another milestone. \u00a0I found myself wondering what the epitaph on my tombstone would read.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then, the level of esteem in which the Koreans hold \u00a0Missionaries and the gratitude they feel toward their contribution to Korean development was quite a revelation. It helped me understand better their drive behind the zealous commitment to missionary-sending. <\/span><\/p>\n

Among these uplifting experiences there also lies one that isn\u2019t so heartening for me.\u00a0 It must be mentioned.\u00a0 It grieved me to hear repeatedly that the Korean Church has become stagnant or might even be on the decline. I found myself asking whether the Church in Korea is getting encumbered with religiosity and an institutionalized Faith that is draining the richness of its spirituality upon which it has thrived to this point.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

There were strong affirmations of what God did and what God said. \u00a0I have come away with a lingering thought regarding this. \u00a0For me it is equally important that I have clarity on what God is doing now and what God is saying now. \u00a0Creative pathways will unfold where there is a healthy blend of the past and a commitment to relevance to the present.\u00a0 Following those will lead toward the best that Christ has willed for His Bride. <\/span><\/p>\n

Every single experience on this visit to Seoul has contributed significantly to my personal intellectual, social and spiritual growth. This is not said nonchalantly. \u00a0What I have seen, heard, learnt and experienced will truly have an enormous bearing on my daily life and ministry. \u00a0I leave enriched after being in the company of fellow toddlers and older pilgrims on this journey.\u00a0 The reassurance of those who have offered to guide, counsel, encourage, teach and hold my hand as I learn to walk has left me a lot more courageous and confident than when I got off the plane at Incheon wanting to take the next flight home. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cSeouladvance\u201d\u00a0 will certainly stand out as a \u201csoul-advance\u201d for me.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Korea and the rapidly growing church was on the lips of every notable Christian leader in my country during my early days of ministry. \u00a0\u00a0I remember often praying for the \u2018spirit of revival sweeping across Korea\u2019 to break out on our nation too.\u00a0 Little did I understand that the answer to that prayer could only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,448],"class_list":["post-1194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-seouladvance","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}