A Look Back & Forward
Dear Church,
I have been so blessed to be your pastor at Young Nak Church/City on a Hill these past 26 years. As a result of being around so long, I have had the pastoral privilege of walking through many of life’s milestones with you. For some of you, you were my students in youth group and now you are married with children. To be there with you to celebrate each new chapter of your lives, has been a tremendous blessing. More than anything else, I am grateful to have witnessed the Lord bringing you to faith in him, and to watch you grow and mature over the years. However, I am saddened to think that I will not be your pastor for the many significant events that are yet to come, and though I will not be your pastor, I hope to remain your friend.
Some of you have asked me about the church in LA, so let me share with you. It is called Good News Chapel (GNC) in Walnut, California. Twenty years ago, the Korean church from which GNC was birthed, planted their first EM church. This church, called Living Hope, has matured to become one of the largest independent EM churches in Southern California. As a result of Living Hope being planted, the Korean church had to form another English ministry, which was planted as GNC ten years later. That same Korean church is now rebuilding its third English ministry. I find it really neat that this Korean church has already planted two EM’s to be independent churches. That is a ministry philosophy I had never heard of.
Thus, GNC became an independent church around ten years ago and has gone through some ups and downs. Their founding pastor, after many years, eventually moved on to another role at a different church. An associate pastor became the new senior pastor but only for a couple years, after which they had an interim pastor fill in for one year. Last year, they began their search for a senior pastor but had to stop the search due to COVID. Then, at the beginning of 2021, they restarted their search in earnest, which led me to them.
The demographics of GNC are very similar to CoaH. They are mostly 2nd generation Korean-Americans, with some inter-ethnic marriages, and some non-Koreans who attend. Like CoaH, they too, are around the same age -- from 20-somethings to 50-somethings. Pre-COVID, the church was around 100 members, but it has dropped in attendance as a result of not gathering in person since last March. Thankfully, California is rolling out the vaccine very rapidly and the state will officially reopen on June 15. GNC is Reformed in doctrine and they practice family worship as well, which were some of the things that drew me to this church. I will be the only pastor on staff at GNC for now, but if the Lord causes the church to grow, I hope to add more. Starting at GNC will feel very much like when I started at CoaH back in 2003. Back then, I was the solo pastor, and we soon hired an office administrator and then one pastor after another was added to our team. So, there’s a bit of information about GNC.
I’m so grateful that God has worked so noticeably in our congregation, to make CoaH into a solid and mature community that loves the Lord and his Word. We are also a church that loves the world in which we live, as seen by our evangelism and love for local and global missions. We are a community of love. We really do love each other, and we show that visibly in many acts of charity toward each other. My confidence for CoaH’s future rests in the goodness and sovereignty of God. Change is hard indeed, but often, change is good, and God uses change to stretch our faith, which I trust he will do now. I know that things can get emotional in the months to come, but please try to temper those emotions with and saturate everything in prayer. Remember, as we’ve been learning from Paul, “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,” and let’s think of others before we think of ourselves.
With love,
Soli Deo Gloria
Pastor Peter
