2. Goesan (괴산)
After Daejeon, the 7 of us from Raleigh went to Goesan to help a missionary couple there with their min-
istry called the IRIS Blooming Center. It was really a blessing to be in the beautiful countryside, rest and
heal from our time in Daejeon, and be able to connect with the missionaries and encourage one another.
The vision during this week was really clear, as the missionary shared how a lot of the kids he works with
and we got to spend time with during the camp there are from multi-cultural families who aren’t Christian
and whose parents don’t want to send their children to church. But it’s through teaching English that he
has been able to share Bible verses in English and pray before meals and share God’s love. Through the
English camp we did there, we got to really share the Gospel and also share God’s love by doing a skit,
VBS songs, games, and crafts with the kids.
I think this is the first time I really understood what planting seeds and letting God water really means, and
that’s kind of how children’s ministry should be too. I think I’ve been kinda confused about the purpose
and best way to do children’s ministry since last summer doing VBS at my home church and seeing what
the ministry was like. I think after this trip God revealed to me that children’s ministry really should be
an opportunity for kids to hear the Word and for God to move in their hearts so that they can ultimately
decide whether or not they will believe that Jesus is the Son of God (John 20:31 - our memory verse
throughout all the camps) and follow Him. Goesan was a blessing to faithfully run the camp and pray that
God would have mercy on the kids and produce salvation and fruit over their lives.
3. Pruning and knowing all of God
This is more of a personal reflection not as directly related to the trip, but I think something I’ve been
thinking about is pruning (John 15:2). I think I’ve realized that as I continually grow in understanding
the freedom of God’s grace in how He gives it and how I can live in it/Him, a way to grow closer in Him is
by the hard task of pruning and asking God to prune a lot of the more constant sins in my life, from pride
to judgment to seeking more satisfaction in relationships with friends/people than my perfecting eternal
relationship with Him.
I think pruning also helps lead to being able to see more of the fullness of God. I’ve been realizing how vast
God’s character is and how easy it is to just focus on a few parts because it’s just too much at once: His
holiness, glory, love, justice, righteousness, goodness, faithfulness, perfection, joy, purity, and a whole lot
more. I feel like when I look at the older generation Korean church, they are so strong in trusting in His
faithfulness and provision as God was their hope in times of struggle during the War or developing phases
of the country. But this can sometimes make them lose focus on God’s covenant of grace and slip into a
covenant of grace and works - which is really just works - to be justified instead of justified by Christ’s
righteousness alone (what I felt just at times in certain churches while in Korea). I think for myself, I can
focus more on God’s love and mission that I forget His glory in my everyday life (1 Corinthians 10:31). So
yeah I think pruning and seeing more of God’s fullness is a good thing.
That was really long but if you’re interested to hear even more, let me know and would love to share :)
hope this testimony blesses you!
www.fkbc.org
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