Immanuel Korean Church
our LPD Church of the Week
Immanuel Korean Church joined the LPD in 2010. Pastor Young Jin Song (Mi-sun), planted Immanuel Korean Church in 1997. Over the years, the church has been located in Burnaby, Cloverdale and Surrey, and it continues to reach Korean-Canadians in our region.
Pray for them, as they look forward to being able to gather as a congregation again, and give thanks for the faithful ministry of Pastor Young Jin Song (Mi-sun) or “David” and “Sunny.”
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Happy Canada Day!
In recent weeks, we have been reminded that our country is far from perfect, and that we have wrongs in our history to hear, to own up to, to make right, and to commit ourselves to a better future together.
As I reflect on this, I believe that it is hard for us as Canadians to acknowledge that the racism and abuse at residential schools took place. This is not the Canada that we who have grown up in Canada have known, and this is not the Canada that many of you believed that you were coming to as immigrants.
I am pleased that the dialogue is happening and that our First Nations neighbours are being heard as they tell their stories. I trust that this will lead to healing and a commitment to equity and addressing the needs.
Though not perfect, I am thankful that Canada is a nation that welcomed by grandparents and mother as immigrants. Though they were poor, traveled to Canada by ship and across Canada in a “colonial” boxcar, survived the depression and served in the War(s), they were thankful for the opportunities that this country gave them. Many of you are expressing the same sentiments as you share on Facebook today. Welcome!
While fully acknowledging the need for dialogue, reconciliation and healing as a nation (between nations in Canada), here are a couple of articles to provide some broader perspective as well. The first is by columnist, Douglas Todd, who writes, “Canada well worth celebrating despite tensions over racism, alienation” canada-well-worth-celebrating-despite-tensions-over-racism-alienation
The second article is by Rupa Subramanva, and economist and immigrant from India. Sharing from her personal experience internationally, she writes, “No, Jagmeet, Canada is not a racist country. It’s one of the most tolerant places on earth,” no-jagmeet-canada-is-not-a-racist-country-its-one-of-the-most-tolerant-places-on-earth
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Restart; Refresh; Revive; Re-imagine … gathering together again on Sundays…
Well, it has happened… While there were hints and rumours of churches being able to resume live worship services; services that include congregational singing, unlimited attendance, no mask requirement and no requirement of social distancing, as of today (July 1) this has become reality.
Time to dust off the piano, to change from the sweat pants that were adequate for ZOOM, and to gather for worship again.
As we do so, there will be mixed feelings within each of our churches. Some will be lined up at door, longing to “get back to normal.” Others have been so concerned about COVID that they will be reluctant to return to “live” services without wearing a mask, if they feel comfortable to attend at all. There is an opportunity to minister to one another here. As Christians, we are always called to put the interests of our brothers and sisters ahead of our own personal freedoms and preferences, so let’s be gentle to those who feel that they need to maintain both distance and perhaps to wear a mask at this time. (Phil. 2:1-11).
My prayer for each church in our district family is that as we restart Sunday services, we will seize the opportunity that COVID has provided to us to, refresh, revive and reimagine what we do.
As we reflect on the North American Church, there have been various trends, movements that have shaped how we “do” church. Perhaps nothing has shaped us more than the movements of “church growth” and the “seeker church.” Both have brought awareness of “blindspots” of the local church, but also have contributed to a somewhat unquestioned pursuit of “marketing” the church to consumers, whether they be believers or not-yet believers. We can seek to cater to what we believe people want, and this can be a rather fruitless exercise.
We have changed styles of music from traditional to contemporary. Pastors have changed their styles from wearing shirts and ties to tattered blue jeans and shirt tails protruding. We have gone through a decade of video clips and multi-media enhanced sermons. Sunday School has been dropped in many churches. COVID has slowed us in this pursuit, and this has been a good thing.
Less I sound like some OWG (old white guy :)) bemoaning change, please hear the question I am raising. What has been the result of all the changes we have made? Churches remain in decline… While style is important, either we haven’t figured out the right style, or there is something else going on.
A recent article brings something of a reality check as to how the church is perceived today. Only 21% of non-Christians have a positive view of the church, and the younger the respondent, the less positive view one has. My point is simply this. While so much effort has gone into seeking to make the church ‘relevant,” somehow we are perceived more and more as irrelevant. Here is a link to the article: the-self-awareness-gap-what-non-christian-people-really-think-about-the-church
The article suggests,
The cure for the problem is to embrace more of what we are supposed to authentically be. Be loving. Compassionate. Kind. Gracious. Curious. Embracing. Genuine. Living out an ethic of love is a great place to start. The mystery of why people are walking away from the church is less of a mystery all the time. If Christians become more like the authentic church, the more people will want to be part of it. The less we do, the more they don’t.
The lesson is simple – rather than seeking to “do church,” let’s simply seek to “be the church,” to encourage one another in the Faith and toward growth as disciples of Christ. May we be “salt and light” as may the Gospel be made attractive through our lives. As we re-gather, let’s consider the words of Hebrews 10:24,25 (The Message):
So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.
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Follow up on last week’s Five Minutes on Friday…
Last Friday, I introduced an article that summarized various statistics on pastors that demonstrated some real unhealth. Several of you commented on this, and expressed some concern for pastors today. Thank you for this.
We, as leaders in the EFCC share your concern. Pastoring is more difficult today than ever. As district superintendents, we have been collaborating with EFCC Leadership Catalyst, Terry Kaufman, and are introducing the “EFCC Pastoral Vitality Plan/Mentoring Network.”
We desire that every pastor in the EFCC will receive mentoring in life and ministry, in obtaining EFCC Ministry Credentials and be engaged in a cohort of peers in ministry.
Your pastor will already be aware of this initiative, and we trust that in the months ahead, no pastor will “feel alone” in the EFCC.
We are thankful for the ministry of Terry in bringing this together, and for the collaborative spirit that will bring this into reality.
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LPD District Superintendent Search
Here is the DS Information package:
Job_Description_and_LPD_History_Published.pdf
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BC COVID-19 Policy Updates:
To summarize:
We have entered the third step of our BC Re-start program:
“There are no capacity limits or restrictions on indoor or outdoor religious gatherings and worship services.”
