Headed to South Korea for Missions

Next Monday, I’m headed to South Korea for missions. Not missions training, not a missions conference, not North Korea, but mission work in South Korea.

The first part isn’t evangelism, but that’s not all there is to the mission of the church. Jesus’ words were roughly, “as you’re going, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have said to you…” (Matthew 28:18-20). It’s not just sharing the Gospel for conversion; it’s discipleship for life transformation. The first part of our trip is an English Camp for pastors’ kids from rural areas of South Korea. These are kids who may not have ministries targeted for themselves. I guess I grew up in a situation that should make me more compassionate than I’ve been feeling; when I was a kid, our church struggled to have adequate youth and children’s programs. It wasn’t until I left for college that I was able to learn what a real relationship with God was about. True, it’s primarily the parents’ responsibility to disciple in a Christian home. But these kids need help.

The second part of the trip is evangelism, in an area of South Korea that seems a bit hostile to the Gospel. I heard once, about ten years ago, that South Korea was roughly 50% Christian. Lately, I’ve heard 25%. Some of that could be measurement issues, or nominalism. But there’s also been a nationalistic backlash against all things Western/American, and this includes a backlash against Christianity for some people. Add that into negative perceptions or experiences from legalistic tendencies of some churches in the Korean cultural milieu, and you’ve got a lot of people who aren’t open to the Gospel. We were planning a VBS-type outreach, but the pastor with whom we’re partnering said to do less overtly Christian programming. So we’re just using English teaching for both parts of the trip as a way of opening the door and building relationships. That may seem less impactive to some, but I think it’s a great way to show God’s love. We’re hoping to spend time with the children and adults in their own neighborhoods and homes, too, bringing God’s love right where they live.

So, please pray for our team of 11 going through our church program. We’re leaving July 16th and coming back August 1. And if you want to find out more, or if you want to contribute to sending some of our college-aged team members on this mission, just let me know.

And remember, just because you think there are plenty of Christians in a country, it doesn’t mean there’s no need for mission work for discipleship and evangelism. After all, people think of the United States as a Christian nation, but I’ll bet there’s someone living right next to you who needs you to be a missionary to them. Probably people in your own church, too. So, “as you’re going….”