God has worked miracles in our church through Sydney Crystal Church Mokja Invitation Testimonial Seminar which was held from Friday 17/3 to Sunday 19/3. God’s work is truly fearful and wonderful. I’d like to express my sincere thanks to Crystal Church (Pastor Song and his wife, mokjas and moknyeos, and members of the church) that has been the tool of this miracle.
1. Dreams have been restored!
The history of house churches in NZ spans about 7 to 8 years. However, several churches that I have served in the past have not been very successful and many believed house churches simply didn’t work in NZ. There was a strong impression that once a house church was established, it would struggle and eventually fall apart. Our ‘Dream Church’ which I had built with a vision of ‘saving lost souls and making disciples’ was a huge challenge. Approaching non-believers and telling them “Jesus is the truth!” and “You will be saved through Jesus Christ!” was unconvincing, especially if their lives were nothing but smooth sailing without Jesus in their lives.
And up until the week of the seminar, we were becoming discouraged and weary of serving our VIPs. We recently had a VIP that left our church for good, and we weren’t seeing any improvements or changes in the VIPs we had been serving for a couple of years, even 5 to 6 years. And earlier this year in January and February, a few church members went back to Korea to visit their family and even the one mokja we had had to go back to Korea and wasn’t able to attend the seminar. My mother had just passed away a week before the seminar so I personally was going through an emotionally tough time.
Through the seminar, however, God rekindled the fire in our hearts. We heard testimonies of mokjangs serving and praying for each and every VIP they had- alcoholics, depression sufferers, those with negative mindsets, the poor, those without hope… testimonies of people serving lost souls despite their own weaknesses and experiencing God’s work and spiritual growth, and the more we heard these amazing stories of saving lost souls and making disciples of them, the bigger the fire inside our hearts burned. God showed us visions of how He would use our church as His tool to save lost souls in NZ.
2. He has worked miracles!
On the second day of the seminar, Pastor Song appointed mokjas. The one and only mokja we had at our church just happened to be visiting Korea at the time and wasn’t able to attend the seminar, and I didn’t think that there would be anyone else willing to volunteer to be a mokja. But that day, three people dedicated themselves to becoming a mokja! (Hallelujah!) For the past year, I had been praying, ‘Lord, please appoint three mokjas!’ without any success, but that day, three people I had least expected volunteered. And that’s not all. Elder Lee Hohyun had been trying to convince his host family to become a mokja and on Monday morning, right before he left for Sydney, he told me that the head of his host family, Young woo Jung, had committed to becoming a mokja! (Hallelujah!) And this week, when I told a few people about Jung becoming a mokja, another member of our church was inspired and he too, committed himself to the role. (Hallelujah again!) So within a week, our church went from having one single mokja to having six. Now I’m going to have to worry about how we are going to have Chowon gatherings! Haha! (Hallelujah yet again!) There is nothing more difficult than moving a person’s heart but God has worked miracles through the seminar. He has appointed six mokjas and has created unity in our church. Most of our mokjangs are currently focusing on VIPs so it may take some time for mokjangs to be properly established, but I am certain our God who has done the unimaginable will once again work miracles!
3. Thank you for your service and generosity!
I want to thank all our mokjas and moknyeos for their service and generosity. The passion they showed us by bringing rice paper and seat covers all the way from Australia to serve us rice paper rolls (thanks to them, we were able to hold a marriage service for a VIP couple who had just returned from Korea after holding a traditional wedding back home), staying up till 3am to prepare the meal, and instilling vision in each and every person they were serving, were the most appreciative and touching gestures.
This week, following the seminar, was a very busy week for me. Discussing new plans for the church and our mokjangs with the newly appointed mokjas kept me extremely busy but also extremely happy. Our church is now a Dream Church that can finally dream. Once again, a big thank you to the mokjas and moknyeos, Pastor Song and his wife and Sydney Crystal Church for their generosity!
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김지나 2017.04.05 12:34
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God has worked miracles in our church through Sydney Crystal Church Mokja Invitation Testimonial Seminar which was held from Friday 17/3 to Sunday 19/3. God’s work is truly fearful and wonderful. I’d like to express my sincere thanks to Crystal Church (Pastor Song and his wife, mokjas and moknyeos, and members of the church) that has been the tool of this miracle.
1. Dreams have been restored!
The history of house churches in NZ spans about 7 to 8 years. However, several churches that I have served in the past have not been very successful and many believed house churches simply didn’t work in NZ. There was a strong impression that once a house church was established, it would struggle and eventually fall apart. Our ‘Dream Church’ which I had built with a vision of ‘saving lost souls and making disciples’ was a huge challenge. Approaching non-believers and telling them “Jesus is the truth!” and “You will be saved through Jesus Christ!” was unconvincing, especially if their lives were nothing but smooth sailing without Jesus in their lives.
And up until the week of the seminar, we were becoming discouraged and weary of serving our VIPs. We recently had a VIP that left our church for good, and we weren’t seeing any improvements or changes in the VIPs we had been serving for a couple of years, even 5 to 6 years. And earlier this year in January and February, a few church members went back to Korea to visit their family and even the one mokja we had had to go back to Korea and wasn’t able to attend the seminar. My mother had just passed away a week before the seminar so I personally was going through an emotionally tough time.
Through the seminar, however, God rekindled the fire in our hearts. We heard testimonies of mokjangs serving and praying for each and every VIP they had- alcoholics, depression sufferers, those with negative mindsets, the poor, those without hope… testimonies of people serving lost souls despite their own weaknesses and experiencing God’s work and spiritual growth, and the more we heard these amazing stories of saving lost souls and making disciples of them, the bigger the fire inside our hearts burned. God showed us visions of how He would use our church as His tool to save lost souls in NZ.
2. He has worked miracles!
On the second day of the seminar, Pastor Song appointed mokjas. The one and only mokja we had at our church just happened to be visiting Korea at the time and wasn’t able to attend the seminar, and I didn’t think that there would be anyone else willing to volunteer to be a mokja. But that day, three people dedicated themselves to becoming a mokja! (Hallelujah!) For the past year, I had been praying, ‘Lord, please appoint three mokjas!’ without any success, but that day, three people I had least expected volunteered. And that’s not all. Elder Lee Hohyun had been trying to convince his host family to become a mokja and on Monday morning, right before he left for Sydney, he told me that the head of his host family, Young woo Jung, had committed to becoming a mokja! (Hallelujah!) And this week, when I told a few people about Jung becoming a mokja, another member of our church was inspired and he too, committed himself to the role. (Hallelujah again!) So within a week, our church went from having one single mokja to having six. Now I’m going to have to worry about how we are going to have Chowon gatherings! Haha! (Hallelujah yet again!) There is nothing more difficult than moving a person’s heart but God has worked miracles through the seminar. He has appointed six mokjas and has created unity in our church. Most of our mokjangs are currently focusing on VIPs so it may take some time for mokjangs to be properly established, but I am certain our God who has done the unimaginable will once again work miracles!
3. Thank you for your service and generosity!
I want to thank all our mokjas and moknyeos for their service and generosity. The passion they showed us by bringing rice paper and seat covers all the way from Australia to serve us rice paper rolls (thanks to them, we were able to hold a marriage service for a VIP couple who had just returned from Korea after holding a traditional wedding back home), staying up till 3am to prepare the meal, and instilling vision in each and every person they were serving, were the most appreciative and touching gestures.
This week, following the seminar, was a very busy week for me. Discussing new plans for the church and our mokjangs with the newly appointed mokjas kept me extremely busy but also extremely happy. Our church is now a Dream Church that can finally dream. Once again, a big thank you to the mokjas and moknyeos, Pastor Song and his wife and Sydney Crystal Church for their generosity!
Thank you all!
Sincerely,
Pastor Choi Gwanghoon