Justin refused to go with me, but we were invited by our agent to go to a meeting yesterday and meet English as a Second Language Christians from the surrounding area and get plugged into small groups that will try and do some missions based type things in the Seoul area. The groups are based off of the Missio Lux format, which is a part of the Covenant Church. The Covenant Church was started by Swedish immagrants in Canada who wanted to see money that came into the churches go directly back into the communities. Most churches use 75% of their overhead to pay for the building they use and staffing, while 25% goes back into the community. Missio Lux meetings are small groups held in people’s households and so 75% of the money goes out into the community and 25% stays with the church itself, reversing how much money is spent on overhead.
As I do not like organized churches because I find them to be extremely flawed, judgmental, and especially in the Western World, lazy and in lots of cases useless, I liked what happened at this meeting.
Missio Lux
I find that most people go to church on Sundays and Sundays only, then they complain on the way home from church about what they saw on a screen or what the pastor had to say, constantly sucking up information about God, but never using it. People in the Western world tend to forget the mission part of things, thinking they must go overseas to be a missionary or treating it like a job, rather than their G0d-given, blessed duty that they should be wholly blissful about because they are serving others.
So, now I will get off my high horse and say that I am truly excited to start meeting in small groups and discussing the word of God, inviting native Koreans to these meetings, and spreading the Word of God throughout Seoul.
(On a side note, I am starting to find out that many of the churches in Seoul are based on the prosperity message. They think if they believe in God, they’ll get a lot of crap. This idea is completely stupid and nearly blasphemous, as we recieve the best gift of all from God by believing in Jesus. EVERLASTING LIFE. So, for those who believe they’ll get a house or money or whatever because they supposedly believe in God, maybe they will be blessed if it is God’s will, but I seem to remember the Bible saying to give up everything that will get in the way of one’s time with God and becomes more important to you than God. On the other end of the spectrum, there are a lot of Catholics (don’t get me wrong, not all Catholics are wrong and not all Evangelicals are right) in Korea. A lot of them have the guilt mentality. They go out and sin freely, then feel guilty, then go to confession thinking this is an acceptable lifestyle. Jesus didn’t die for all of us so we could go out and sin like a bunch of uncontrollable morons, then hope he forgives us. Nope, definitely not the case.)
Needless to say that I am excited to go to these meetings, have some dinners with some new friends, and grow closer to God. I was told after getting off the plane by my driver that there is nothing for anyone in Korea but drinking. This statement was partially true, as most people simply do nothing but go out and drink in Seoul. I can’t wait to be a part of something bigger instead of having to chose between boredom or the bars when it comes to having a social life here in Korea.
