English Compass - bringing christian fellowship to korean americans

True Christianity, Part 2

(this article is continued from Part 1)

There is a Korean dental student on the Bangladesh mission team who has five children and a husband at home waiting for her to get back from ministering to the people here.  Five!  Let this example serve as a stark reminder that there are no excuses, even for those who have children, that the mission field is not calling them for just short periods of time.  The home should indeed be your first mission field, and that is Biblical, but let us not neglect God’s call.  No more excuses!  What an inspiration to see someone living an example for her children!  You want your children to become godly?  Be godly yourself.  Want them to be missionaries?  Be a missionary yourself.  Want them to have spiritual mentors as they grow?  Be a mentor yourself. 

I think we can all agree that without a viable ministry mindset within the Korean-American young adults of today, many of us are floating along and in the church simply for the children.  We do not have an experience with Jesus daily.  We are not converted.  We are doing the same things we did in high school and college - going to the same clubs, drinking the same drinks, watching the same things, listening to the same music, and ignoring the same Savior. 

Perhaps we feel constricted by all the supposed things we should not do.  Friends, if we spent half the amount of time and energy we currently do in sustaining our sinful lives on ministering for Jesus instead, many more souls would be saved, because how that young person in the church sees Jesus depends on who you are portraying in your own life.

Acts 4:13 says “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled.  And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”  

We have the resources, the talent and abilities, but not the desire.  It is time to find that desire.  It is not enough to wait for what you have been called to do; each of us has been called to ministry.  Each and every single Korean young professional is called to be a spiritual mentor and an example, regardless of where you think your ministry lies.  That is just the baseline responsibility that God expects.  Yet we look for our own to hang out with, who we can relate to, all the while neglecting those who could use some guidance, some love, some attention, some Christlike character building.  So those in the next generation become like us, because they grew up in the same system, having never known Jesus, being swayed by every wind of doctrine, and devoting their energies to finding ‘loopholes’ to keep on doing the things they did before.    They are simply emulating us.  It is time to stop playing around with things that will only last as long as we live on this earth.       

I faced a multitude of decisions three years ago when I left Michigan to come to Rochester, NY for residency.  With the closest Korean church three hours away, I wondered where I would fit in.  However, I felt convicted to work with secular campus ministries in Rochester, to try to do my part in helping the next generation see Jesus.  What has resulted since, as a result of God’s grace, has been an unbelievable blessing to me.  God did not let me use the excuse that medicine was my ministry, though that is what I am doing in Bangladesh right now.  I did not try to convict myself that it was enough just to be a physician and come to church every week.  I am not pointing to myself as some sort of example to follow, I am simply pointing out that this is a result of God’s transforming power, that He can use someone as lowly as me to do His work, if we just step out and do it. 

Ultimately, people must see Jesus when they see us.  We need to find Christ for ourselves and desire to be more Christ-like.  Not more Adventist, or more about doing good, but more Christ-like.  As we put aside that which has weighed us down in the world and realize our calling as Korean young adults to be examples of godliness, purity, and faithfulness, we will help impact the next generation and the world. 

______

Dr. Albert Kim is currently an internal medicine resident at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, NY.  He looks forward to the day when he can be with Jesus, and hopes others see Jesus in him every day.  His passions are secular campus ministries and overseas evangelism/missions, in addition to piano, sports and photography.  He can be reached at kim.albert.c@gmail.com