THE RETURN TO THE WORD MISSION OF SUNGRAK CHURCH
“Thank you for giving our small church this undying love. You have guided us, helped us and supplied us with the Word. Every time we open our e-mails, we find the Word and gain so much support. We will follow Our Mother Church – Sungrak Church – to the end to continue The Return to the Word Mission. We will send our monetary offerings to support the Missionary work of Our Mother Church.”
“We thank the Senior Overseer Ki Dong Kim and thank the Overseer Sung Hyun Kim. They have endured so many obstacles and unimaginable challenges. We clearly see their endurance is for the sake of saving countless souls. They had done this by keeping the Rivers of Living Water endlessly flowing. We are ashamed of ourselves when we see our Senior Overseer denying himself and working with all his might, despite his great age. We cannot help but deliberate on what we ourselves can do to save the souls of our fellow Chinese people, just as the Mother Church works so hard to save us all. In response, we would like to voluntarily offer a tenth of our own tithe income to Sungrak Church. Although our church is small, we would like to thank you for loving our church.”
Shown above are sections of two letters received from pastors of two churches, one from Liaoning and one from Shandong in China. In 2002, we started the mission of “Sowing the Word” – the first of four strategic stages of the Translation Mission in China. At the time, many people in local areas in China started to receive the Word of God found in Sungrak Church through the books and sermons Sungrak Church sent. As a result, about 1,300 people came into contact with Sungrak Church. They had become inspired by the Word. After this, the second strategic stage of the Translation Mission began – the mission of ‘Threshing’. The mission of ‘Threshing’ is the stage of finding – amongst all those the Church has contacted – those people who are sincere, humble, and capable of handling the Word of God. What is important about this stage of ‘Threshing’ is that this process is not done by any superficial or subjective means. To put it frankly, the Seed itself does the work of choosing good patches of soil. We will describe the way it is done.
When we come into contact with someone from a local area, we start to send that person the sermons preached every week at Sungrak Church. Of course, some people are not interested in the Word of God found in Sungrak Church – amazing though it is. These people have little interest in the Word of God being continually supplied to them. They will show no response. And there are even people who ask for financial support for their own ministry. To these kinds of people, we give them this exhortation. We say, “If you come to understand the message of ‘The Picture of God’s Will’ and receive spiritual power from it, the money you need will naturally come to you. But if money was sent to you – though you are not mature and capable enough of handling that money – that money would rather be a disservice to you – even a disaster!” Instead, we strive to continually supply them with the Word of God. Those who are not interested in the Word eventually fall away. It can take from two months to two years for this whole process to be fulfilled.
However, other people are deeply inspired by the sermons sent by Sungrak Church, though they have only listened to a few. They are merely grateful for what they have already come to understand. And they express their gratitude! They are shocked the Word continues to be provided to them, even after the first few times. Sermons will in fact be sent for several years! From then on, they can build up their spirits upon this Word. As they receive the Word, their souls grow and their lives are changed. They come to know God, become His witnesses, and receive His power. Finally, many of these people gather together and start up a church all by themselves.
But it is not only good things that happen. Persecutions come as well. Some people stop when the persecutions come. They will begin to distance themselves from Sungrak Church to avoid being persecuted. Then they will distance themselves from the very Word which so greatly changed their lives. On the other hand, some people will refuse to abandon the Word, though persecutions come because of it. Because they have experienced receiving life from this Word, and experienced God calling them to be His workers through it, they now regard Sungrak Church to be the Mother of their souls, since She endlessly provides them with the Word. These people voluntarily give their material offerings to their Mother Church. Though the amount they offer may seem small, their humility before the Word of God shows their sincerity.
Pastor Ki-Taek Lee
The Director of Sungrak Mission Center
