391. Commissioning Our Church Missionary
During the short-term mission trip to Ecuador this year, the team had the opportunity to meet Sarang Kim, the daughter of missionaries Kim Young-sun and Lee Sun-soo. She was committed to becoming a missionary and was preparing to be sent to the mission field where her parents serve through the organization they belong to, Korea Food for the Hungry International. (KFHI)
To achieve this, she needed to be commissioned by a local church, but she had been facing difficulties finding a sending church. She has experienced discouragement due to rejections, as some churches have declined her for being a “layperson” and “single.” During this challenging time, she inquired whether Mokmin Church could be the one to send her out.
As the matter was discussed in the KSC Leadership meeting, members felt moved to support her, one saying that the very reason why other churches declined to support her is the very reason why our church should. It is because our church is the church that raises “lay-leaders”, and supporting her will keep the house church ministry going in Ecuador.
Sarang Kim will need to complete a two-year internship program with KFHI. During this time, she will assist her parents with administrative work, serve alongside visiting short-term mission teams, and plan to teach music, Korean, and English in after-school programs in the mission centre. After finishing the two-year internship, she will submit her ministry plans annually to the organization, and upon approval, she will transition to a long-term missionary role, serving for ten years with KFHI.
During this period, she will not receive any financial support from KFHI for her ministry work. Instead, she will rely on personal donations and support from her sending church to cover her living and ministry expenses. KSC has decided to support her monthly required support amount (20% of USD 990), and if possible, ESC hopes to join in support in the future. The support funds will be used for language training, initial living and cultural adaptation costs, and after-school program ministry expenses, with a particular focus on language training.
As she is sent by Mokmin Church, made up of two congregations, we are sending her as “our” missionary as well. It would signify that our church has its own missionary in the field, fulfills the goal of raising lay leaders, and invests in the next generation of ministers. We also contribute to establishing a hub for house church ministry in Samborondón (Ecuador), where house churches are non-existent.
To promote the sense that she is commissioned by both congregations, she will be giving a brief testimony next Sunday and the mission team leader will translate. It is easy to consider our deficiencies as the reason for not being qualified to do God’s work. But hopefully, through her testimony, they are the very reason why God qualifies us to do his work. Because in our weakness, he becomes strong. (2 Cor 12:9-10)
