Our Unwavering Commitment to Mission Work
When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations." We believe that the purpose of the church is to bear witness to the ends of the earth. Our church held its founding service in 1977 and built a beautiful community for immigrants struggling to survive in the harsh, new land. The church has been working hard to obey the call for world missions ever since. One of the major catalysts for our church's mission was Rev. Jae Kwang Kim, who became a missionary to Russia after his retirement. Pastor Kim was born in Pyongyang, North Korea, and he was baptized as an infant by the American missionary Samuel Moffett. He was the one who started the Pyongyang Theological Seminary. Reverend Kim's mother constantly challenged his son to become a missionary himself. So, after he retired, he went to St. Petersburg (back then, it was called Leningrad) to plant churches and establish a seminary. The work he left behind is still going on today. I want to go there again before I retire, but it is impossible because of the war in Russia.
Moreover, our church adopted the Kyrgyz people of Central Asia in 1997, an unreached group whose total number of believers was less than one hundred. We and other like-minded servants of God have done great with them. Now, the believers are well beyond ten thousand. Our church sent several missionary families in the past, and we still focus on supporting seminary work. We also opened a Cambodian orphanage in 2011, and that ministry has grown to include a community center, dormitory ministry, and church planting. In 2014, we decided to create a Latin American mission base, eventually leading to a mission base in Santiago, Dominican Republic, along with a preschool ministry.
As a local church, we have invested a lot of mission resources (sending missionaries, supporting short-term teams, etc.) in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, and the Dominican Republic. The reason behind this is our conviction that the purpose of the church is to obey the Great Commission, to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. So, in addition to our focused missions in those countries, we also support the work of our tent-maker missionaries in Nicaragua and Japan, along with the work of the missionaries sent out by other churches. We should remain steadfast in obeying the Great Commission until the day the Lord returns. The passion for missions comes from knowing the heart of Jesus. Missions should never be about becoming a hero, nor should they be about showcasing. Instead, we should cherish deeply in our hearts what matters the most to our Lord Jesus Christ. Our unwavering commitment to mission work is a source of pride and inspiration.
Blessings,
Pastor Minho Song