Reflection on This Church Anniversary Sunday

Dear Church,


We would normally celebrate today as Anniversary Sunday. On the second Sunday of every November, we would have the church-wide bulgogi lunch and the Costco cakes for a dessert. Well, we will have to wait for next year. Hopefully, the pandemic will be out of sight by then. Our church was started in 1977 by a group of people who deeply believed in the value of unity, having experienced church splits in their previous churches. Like the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13, our church started out small but grew to be a big church where the birds of the air could come and perch in the branches. We should remember all the faithful members who have gone before us. They worked tirelessly and did their best to keep the church together.

Some time ago, I came across the meeting minutes of the session dating way back to the early years of our church. Back then, we did not have our own facility, and so our Sunday worship was in the afternoons. The session meeting would be at one of the elders’ homes following a dinner together. In the minutes, I noticed that their starting time was around 6 or 7 pm and their ending time was close to midnight. Sometimes, the meetings went beyond midnight, even past two or three in the morning! Imagine the elders coming home early in the morning, dog tired, only to go back to work in a few hours. Such was the dedication and passion for the church they deeply cared about.

Let me describe the founding pastor and his successor in case you have never met them. Rev. Jae Kwang Kim served as the first senior pastor from 1977 to 1989. I remember him as a true servant pastor. He looked after recent immigrants like his own family and did his best to meet their needs. After retiring from our church, he went to Russia as a missionary. He planted a number of churches and founded a seminary in St. Petersburg. Rev. Suk Hwan Lee was the second senior pastor from 1989 to 2004. I remember him as one intense pastor who taught his congregation to read the Bible and to attend early prayer meetings. He believed in strict training. People followed his leadership and helped grow the church in incredible ways. I came as the third senior pastor in 2004. I focused on transitioning from a traditional church to a missional church. By God's grace, many ministries and projects got underway as part of the missional church expression. I can’t believe that seventeen years have passed by so quickly.

Now I wonder what our church's 50th, 75th, and 100th Anniversary will look like. Will we still shine like a bright star in this dark and fast-secularizing world, or will we go down in history as an immigrant community of Koreans which served the fellow immigrants and their friends but perhaps which has seen its better days? Passing the torch is going to be the most crucial thing as we move forward. How are we going to pass on our faith to our children and their children well so that they will continue to be a healthy and missional church? Let us dedicate ourselves anew and commit to the call God has given to our community. God wants us to be the light and the salt in this world. All the glory and honor be to our God!

May the LORD bless you,

Pastor Minho Song