Wycliffe Canada Korean Diaspora Church Connections

Wycliffe Canada Korean Diaspora Church Connections
Vol. 8. No.1 / Summer 2015
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From
the Publisher’s Desk
Gyoojun Lee
National Diaspora Director, Church Connections
Vol. 8. No. 1 / Summer 2015
Published by :
Korean Diaspora Church Connections
Wycliffe Bible Translations of Canada
4-14 Steinway Blvd.,
Etobicoke, ON M9W 6M6
Phone 416-888-2262
Toronto Office
Toll Free: 866-702-5273
Fax: 416-675-7504
Kroffice_Canada@Wycliffe.ca
www.wycliffe.ca
Editors / translators / checkers
Daniel Yoon
Gyoojun Lee
Gilsue Lee
Diane Lee
Pam Cope
Paul Hooper
Paul Meisner
Janet Seever
Design
Julee Park
Printed by
Colorbox Design & Printing
Wycliffe Canada’s Vision Statement
A world
where translated Scriptures
lead to transformed lives
among people of all languages.
Cover photo:
Garrison, an elementary school teacher for
the Kaninuwa people, teaching over thirty
young adults of the village how to read; they
are the leaders of the next generation who
will read the translated Kaninuwa Bible.
To look back into history is to look forward into the future. Over one hundred years
ago, close to 200 Canadian missionaries came to Korea and made eternal differences
over generations. The mission to Korea was an excellent case in world mission history.
What made it so successful?
The following are some of those elements: the Word of God translated in Korean
for the grassroots people, sincere repentance accompanied by fervent prayer, the
wisdom of veteran missionaries combined with the passion and sharp minds of
young missionaries, cooperative mission works between denominations, raising
national leaderships etc.
In fact, the Great Revival in PyeongYang in 1907 was the natural product of these
very strategic mission activities. It is also important to recognize that the Great
Revival was catalyzed by a Canadian missionary who initiated the repentance
movement.
The Holy Spirit helped him realize that he was looking down on and blaming
Koreans for the first two years of unsuccessful ministries. He learned that he himself
was the problem and confessed his pride and lack of faith in God who would do
greater things through Korean believers in the future. Other missionaries and Korean
national workers repented together with him and this became the spark which
ignited the huge fire of revival across Korean peninsula.
Jesus once said to His disciples that they would do greater works than He had done
(John 14:12). How much more different would it be if missionaries, really trusting in
these words, put their hope in national workers and lifted them up to the Holy Spirit!
This humble attitude is also the key to Kingdom Friendships Wycliffe Canada has
been pursuing since 2012. In short, it is all about learning together, being blessings to
one another, and committing ourselves to His Kingdom, especially focusing on Bible
translation and its related ministries.
This issue of the Good Seed will introduce this new idea of Kingdom Friendships
and the stories of two missionaries. It is always humbling but also heart pounding to
see those who walk faithfully with the Lord, believing in His unseen hands working
powerfully, even when they cannot see far ahead!
Kingdom
Friendship
The Korean Diaspora team shared Kingdom Friendships
ideas and opportunities last May with the Calgary Prayer and
Ministries teams. Most of these teams’ members are from
Calgary Korean Presbyterian Church, Wycliffe Canada’s first
official partner church, along with two couples from Calgary
All Nations Community Church.
Gyoojun Lee, National Diaspora Director, presented
Kingdom Friendship ideas first, and Daniel Yoon, Director
of Korean Diaspora, applied them to the teams’ prayer
ministries. Two focused areas for Kingdom Friendships were
introduced to the prayer and ministries teams; a South East
Asian area by Gyoojun and another sensitive area by Harold
Groening.
As a result, two representatives from these prayer and
ministries teams decided to take a vision trip to South East
Asia to make a report to the board of CKPC; after this CKPC
will make its final decision to become a Kingdom friend to
our field partners in that area. The Wycliffe organization of
that area accepted their visit request and decided to help
them as well. As for the other sensitive area introduced, one
of the prayer teams will have direct prayer connections with
our field partners and will start off their fellowship through
prayers beginning this fall.
The Good Seed loves to share with you, the readers,
about this Kingdom Friendships that Wycliffe Canada has
promoted since 2012. We will begin with people’s common
misconceptions about Wycliffe Bible Translators and
introduce Kingdom Friendships step by step.
Partly True Common Misconceptions about Wycliffe
Myth: Wycliffe is doing Bible translations only…?
Yes, Wycliffe focuses on and specializes in Bible translation
but we facilitate literacy, (multi-lingual) education, community
development, and Scripture Use ministries at the same time. As
the result of these ministries, church planting and discipleship
may happen at the same time or follow automatically.
Myth: Wycliffe ministry is too specialized for churches to be
involved…?
Yes, Wycliffe pursues excellence by doing its best with God’s
help but God’s mission is not just for mission agencies but for
the whole Church of God. Congregations in Canada can be very
proactively engaged in the ministries mentioned above. Not
only linguists and translators, but also many missionaries with
other careers can have ministry opportunities with Wycliffe.
Myth: Wycliffe should be the middle party whenever churches
are engaged with Bible translation or its related ministries in
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the field…?
Wycliffe had a tendency
to work like that but we
want to be catalysts and
facilitators to connect
and equip the church in
Canada and our field
partners (missionaries,
national workers, and
people groups in the
field). Then the Church in
Canada can have its own
ministries directly with
our field partners soon
with full ownership, and
our field partners will also
learn how to serve and
work together with the
Church in Canada as well.
The Backdrop of Kingdom
Friendships
As Wycliffe Canada
wants to be a facilitator
between the Church in
Canada and our field
partners, we acknowledge
the following: We
appreciate their maturity
and competence in
participating in God’s
Mission and want to serve
them properly.
sacrifices for God’s Kingdom and
His Word together!
No rush… fellowship and prayers
first!
Rather than encouraging our
partners in Canada to jump into
the doing and giving out mode
for our field partners from the
very beginning, we invite our
partner churches in Canada and
other partners in the field to
come to know and pray for each
other, asking for the Holy Spirit’s
guidance. Then both of them will
gradually see what is best for each
other and how they can partner
together.
The same goals … different
paths
In this journey of building Kingdom
Friendships, congregations
in Canada can take their own
unique path, which is also true
with our field partners. Please
take a look at the following
diagram that guides you to
various options you can take,
and contact us if you would like
to explore a few more options for
Kingdom Friendships with our
field partners.
One very well-developed
mission strategy is the
relationship between
indigenous churches and
missionaries. Rather than
treating local people
like children who always
need their parents’ care, they should be regarded from the
outset as adults and peers who will become fellow Kingdom
workers. This is already true in many places of the world that
were formerly known as mission fields but have now become
sending forces themselves.
There are also many Canadian churches who have had a
lot of cross-cultural ministry experiences, along with their
obvious passion for God’s Mission. We believe these churches
can carry out superb ministries, with the help of our field
partners who will equip them for the field’s specific ministries.
Wycliffe Canada is also fully open to equipping the Church in
Canada or our field partners who want to grow in Kingdom
Friendships.
Kingdom Friends… what is so unique about it?
It is mutual blessing and growth in the Lord. It can’t be a
one-way flow of blessings any more as we did in the past.
Now, the Church in Canada will be blessed abundantly as
well by the sharing of our field partners. These two parties will
pray together, give together, commit themselves and make
Random places…? Focused
areas!
Wycliffe Canada has been
working on selecting its field
partners very carefully. We
make our choices based on the
potential of underway projects or partners working there,
and the particular strengths of the Church in Canada. Rather
than investing our resources on every project, Wycliffe
Canada wants to concentrate them in these focused areas
in order to produce better results by God’s grace. Of course,
we do not exclude those areas where Wycliffe personnel is
sent to serve.
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“Pastor, are you going out again? Quite enough! Why don’t
you come back?”
When I left for the field this time with my wife, many people
said that sort of thing to me. When I heard those thoughts
expressed, it actually made me thankful, because I was
reminded of the mission the Father has given me. A small
voice in my heart would say, “There still is work to be done.”
The Lord impressed on me long ago the importance and
necessity of Bible Translation, and that burden has kept me
from moving in other directions.
Sometime after I met the Lord and got to know His love,
I began to pray how I might best serve Him. I realized that
the best place for me to help in delivering the gospel to all
people was in Bible translation. Also, when I studied in Israel,
I was influenced by native Bible translators in Africa and
by the professors who taught me Biblical Hebrew. Those
people somehow passed on to me what they themselves had
received from the Lord – His passion and His heart for those
without His word in their language.
My wife and I married only a few months ago, and now
walk together on this path as a new family. She and I believe
our union has been accomplished by nothing less than the
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Frontline Stories
You came to do
what we could not do
L / C : Bible translation, undisclosed area
perfect will of
our faithful
God. At each
step of our
courtship, even
in unexpected
situations, we
experienced the abundant grace of the Almighty.
My wife served C people in Singapore over the past 10 years
with love for God and a compassionate heart for the lost. In
obedience, she has just moved to a new country. It will take
some time for her to adjust to the new environment and to
learn a new language. Many things are new and different
from where she was, but we both sense that the newness
and change was prepared for her by the Lord, who has been
leading her. She has to sacrifice some things in order to live in
a new country, but she has been able to put those things in
the Father’s hands.
We are serving the Z language group*, which counts as an
unreached people. Most of these people do not know how
to read or write in their language, and many are not even
aware that there are writing systems for their language. I am
researching and learning the language so people eventually
will be able to hear the glad tidings in their own tongue. My
team is using a writing system based on the Roman script, but
it would take a long time to teach the native people how to
use this system. For that reason, we are considering delivering
scripture to them in audio form.
My team recently has been checking the accuracy of a
draft of Jonah; in the meantime, I am learning Z with a native
speaker. Once that is done, I am thinking about moving on
to the book of beginnings. I will have a lot of preparation to
do in order to be ready for that, and I am hoping for much
guidance from the Father in that process.
As I look at my life on the field so far, the hardest thing
for me has been to love people here, I would say. When I
first arrived here, many things were different and difficult
to understand in terms of the culture, life style, etc. Several
years ago, I went to another city for some Z-focused ministry
meetings with other foreign workers. During those days, I
had a chance to meet a Z person who was a church leader.
He was studying Theology in a seminary and planned to go
back to his hometown to serve people there. As he and I were
having a conversation, he also became aware of my work as a
translator. He said to me, “You are here to do what we could
not do. Thank you. We are indebted to you. We cannot pay
you back for what you are doing in our country. But I can
promise you that I will serve my people with my whole life
because I love them.” I trembled at his words: “I love them.”
In spite of the differences in culture and lifestyle, it is my
responsibility to love people as the Lord does. He showed His
love through death on the cross
in order to resolve the problem of
death. A Bible translation without
love would be only a noisy gong,
and duty without love is mere work
of Pharisees.
You know the words: “Three
things will last forever – faith, hope,
and love – and the greatest of these
is love.” This area has green fields
everywhere, interspersed by greencovered
hills, but it is spiritually
barren. My hope is there will be a
river of Good News running through
people's hearts, and their mouths will
be filled with true and proper praise.
So as you pray for the translation, I
hope you also will remember my heart.
I have faith that our Lord will complete
both works.information that would
identify them.
Three things will last forever
faith, hope, and love
and the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:13)
*L and his wife C serve in a sensitive area, and for that reason
this language name is fictitious. For the same reason, we are not
including their full names or any other information that would
identify them.
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Home Frontline Stories
Daniel (Helen) Yoon has been serving as an administrator in
Wycliffe Canada’s human resources department and a Korean
mobilizer since 2007. In May 2015, Daniel was appointed as the
director of the Korean Diaspora on the Church Connections team.
In this role he is to focus on prayer mobilization. At the same time
he will lead mission programs such as the JAARS missions training
and the Kairos course. He also serves as prayer co-ordinator and
chief editor of the Good Seed.
“Connecting &
Leading”
translating and editing the prayer items, as well as editing and
finalizing things to meet time deadlines. After this I try to connect
people with these prayer requests through various media, such
as email, the web, social media, and also by distributing them via
personal and ministerial networks. In addition to this, I work with
prayer teams that earnestly and consistently pray for these prayer
requests.
Through this ministry, people are glad for the opportunity to
serve as part of the prayer coordination team. Moreover, I noticed
that there are parents who have joined in prayer with their
children. There are still others, whom I have not known about,
who send me messages of encouragement.
The International Meeting for Prayer Consultation
Daniel (Helen) Yoon, Director of Korean Diaspora Church Connections, Wycliffe Canada
I honestly believe that “Prayer is not just a preparation for the
battle, but it is the battle!” and “Prayer is the mighty engine that
is to move the missionary work.” This coming September, Wycliffe
Global Alliance and SIL will host an International Meeting for
Prayer Consultation in Canada. This is to remind and encourage
us, Wycliffe Canada, that prayer is always the foundation of
everything we do. I have been invited to this meeting to share
with other colleagues my experiences in Wycliffe Canada Korean
Prayer Ministry and the significance of Koreans’ prayer. This is the
result of your prayer support and commitment! Please pray for
this meeting.
How grateful I am to receive heart-warming God-honouring
stories through various social media. I have tried to post
prayer items utilizing social media, so this present generation
can participate in God’s mission. This task has become a part
of my ministry today. In fact, I am writing this during the time
of Ramadan, a 30-day time of prayer and fasting in the Muslim
world. I still remember the days when I was commissioned as
a tent-maker to face cross-cultural challenges in northern
Africa and in the Middle East. Five times a day I heard the
loud sound coming out of high-volume speakers everywhere.
The shouting began with, “Allah is great. . . .” This was a call to
prayer, and during Ramadan a large number of people spent
time in prayer, fasting, and reciting from the Koran.
Now, as a prayer co-ordinator, I am constantly posting the 30
Days of counter-Prayer for the Muslim World, urging people to
remember to bless them especially during this special period.
What a joy it is to hear from unknown people—through the
various social media— who say they are praying. They likely
have no idea how encouraging those words are to me.
I truly believe that the power of darkness is defeated by these
resonating voices that reach our Lord on His throne.
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Another Passion
I remember when I was wrestling with how to find
significance in the second half of my life. God has helped me
realize my true passion and my vision to serve Him. He did
much for me by not only helping me finish my theological
studies, but also by giving me the privilege of being a full-time
missionary. It is a loving Heavenly Father who has enabled me
to use my professional skills in administration and personnel
work, in combination with my passion for the Gospel, to
minister with Wycliffe Bible Translators.
As I look back, prayer was the only thing that I could do
during the times of life when I could do nothing on my own
and there was nowhere to turn. God developed the passion
for prayer in my heart and helped me to pray for various
ministries. In doing so, I could support those in missions. I
realize that God used my passion for praying by placing me
in prayer ministry to impact mobilization for the Korean
Diaspora team. Connected dots complete a picture. My
calling is to connect people and information to advance God’s
awesome cause. In this ministry I help team members through
New Role and Ministry
Since 2007, I have been involved in the administration of the
Korean mobilization team, but as a result of recent restructuring
in the Church Connections team and the creation of diaspora
ministries, I have been asked to assume a new role: the director
of Korean Diaspora Church Connections. I will have increased
responsibilities and tasks outside of prayer ministries—chief
editor of the Good Seed, JAARS missions training co-ordinator,
head facilitator of the Kairos Course, etc. I will also be working
hard to help team members grow and mature to become effective
servants and leaders.
Your contributions financially, in prayer and in various other
ways are key for me to continue on this journey, and I thank and
bless you!
Please continue in this partnership of prayer so that I will not
only connect but also lead in this newly given role and ministry.
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Prayer Requests
the Good Seed, Summer 2015
L & C: Bible translation, undisclosed area
1. Pray for proper visas for the couple.
2. Pray for wife C to adjust well to the new ministry environment.
3. Ask for their union to be the union of a true man and woman of
God in His grace.
4. Pray for wisdom and discernment for their ministries and that they
can remain as true worshippers of God.
Joseph & Ju Hong (Eunsu): Director of Church Engagement,
Asia-Pacific Area
1. Pray for God’s wisdom as they design mission training programs
for house churches in the East Asia area.
2. Pray for the development of appropriate training programs, as the
training centre in Chiang Mai, Thailand will be moved to an area
in East Asia.
3. Pray for a good transition of leadership in SIL Asia-Pacific.
A & M F (Moses, Isaac):
Bible translation, undisclosed area
1. Pray for A’s election as director of a Wycliffe organization in East
Asia, to serve well until 2017
2. Pray for A’s father to believe in Jesus and M’s mother in her fight
against cancer
3. Pray for M’s proper visa to stay in that country
4. Pray for two sons, Isaac and Moses, to grow well as godly children
Joseph & Joyce Park:
Kaninuwa Bible translation, Papua New Guinea
1. The Parks will stay in the village during the months of September
and October. Pray for safe travels by boat (for 14 hours, one-way, of
sea travel) and a good recording of the translated Scripture portions.
2. Pray for smooth processing of typesetting and printing of the
Kaninuwa mini-Bible.
3. Pray for the selection of new Kaninuwa translators and preparation
for their training in the coming year.
Jonathan / Bonnie Kim (Jeremy, Jesse, Joel): Director of
Learning / Member Care, Canada
1. Pray for Jonathan, the newly appointed director of learning, as he serves
churches, local workers and missionaries both on the field and in Canada.
2. Pray for the development of six-hour training modules to serve
multicultural Canadian churches effectively.
3. Pray for the Kims’ eldest son, Jeremy, who will be going to university
in September. Pray that he will engage in an academic setting with a
Christian worldview.
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Korean-Canadian Missionaries
of Wycliffe Canada
ChangSeok /Sarah Kang:
Adviser of Korean Diaspora Church, Canada
1. Thank God with ChangSeok and Sarah for giving them their first
granddaughter through TJ, their second son and for ChangSeok’s recovery
from a cervical herniated disc.
2. Thank God for the faithful life of TJ’s family and their good child- rearing
by God’s grace.
3. Pray for the Kangs to give good consultations and support to the Korean
team and larger Wycliffe community so they can grow in their sharing
each other’s experiences.
Daniel (/Helen) Yoon: Director of Korean Diaspora Church
Connections, Canada
1. Pray that Daniel will be able to do his best in his newly-appointed role as
director of the Korean Diaspora.
2. Pray that their financial support level will be met fully so they can properly
carry out the ministries.
3. Pray for their son Samuel to do well in his internship in their home church.
4. Ask God for a balanced life between ministry and health, and for safety in
driving, because he travels frequently.
Gyoojun/Jinsook Lee (Kwang, Jun):
National Director of Diaspora Church, Canada
1. Pray for a trip to Chiang Mai for a Kairos International conference and
consulting on Kingdom Friendships .
2. Pray that Gyoojun will serve the existing Diaspora teams (Chinese and
Korean) well and that he will develop new relationships with other ethnic
Diaspora churches.
3. Pray for the church-serving programs that are scheduled in the second half
of this year and for the development of a new mission education program
for the Canadian churches.
Peter / Joanne Kim (Joel, Joshua, Jeremiah):
Prayer and Mobilization of Korean Diaspora, Canada
1. Pray that the Kims will be spiritually vibrant and their field experience will
be helpful in recruiting Korean Diaspora and engaging them in Wycliffe
Canada’s ministries.
2. Pray that their auto shop business will run well while they are serving in
their role with Wycliffe.
3. Pray that their son Joel will glorify God as he works in the film industry.
Ask God to help Joshua to do well in his college studies. Pray that Jeremiah
will have good teachers and new friends as he goes back to a public school
after four years of home schooling.
Korean Diaspora Church Connections
1. Pray for the recommencement of prayer ministries in Vancouver and
Toronto.
2. Pray for the church-serving programs such as the Kairos course, JAARS
Missions Training, GLocal Conference, Mission 101 to continue well and
for the development of Kingdom Friendships.
3. Pray that the financial needs of home-assigned workers will be fully met.