Video – Have you recently hit a hard patch in life and put your discipleship on hold while you put out the fires? Pastor Tim points out that the agenda (or goal) of discipleship is irrevocable and immune to postponement. That is because Christ’s goal for our lives is best accomplished during difficult times and less than ideal circumstances.
For all of the latest podcasts on Making Disciples and on past Works of Mercy visit our Seoul USA Podcast Page!
Post by Pastor Tim – Just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, “The 100 Days of Worship” is a discipleship campaign. It’s an opportunity for Fathers to teach their children the Lord’s Prayer. It’s an opportunity for Mothers to explain to their children why the North Korean underground church used the Apostles Creed. It’s an opportunity to read the gospel of Luke at the bus top with others on your way to work in the morning. And it’s an opportunity for school kids to invite their friends to pray with them.
And as we found out last night on our Facebook page, it’s an opportunity to disciple the nurses who come into your room after the birth of your baby! Our good friend James posted on our page last night,
Very happy to report that our daughter, Moriah Faith, was born at 7:08am this morning, the same day of the 100 Days launch. Looks like our hospital room will be our public place of worship for the next few days.
But not only are we discipling each other through doing the “100 Days of Worship in the Common Places,” we are being discipled by the North Korean underground church. As Pastor Foley wrote earlier,
The North Korean believers strategized how they could advance the gospel in the teeth of their own destruction. They asked themselves and God, “How can we continue to be church in the most Christian-hostile nation in human history?
In other words, they prayerfully strategized their on their own discipleship campaign, and that campaign has now spread throughout the world!
One of the things that struck me about the original North Korean campaign was that this discipleship strategy was birthed out of the recognition that discipleship would be getting more difficult for them. Persecution was getting worse, but they knew that they had to find a way to pass their faith on from generation to generation.
Jesus spoke about something similar in Luke 9:57-62, when three separate people came up with excuses as to why they couldn’t fully follow Jesus. It’s interesting to note that in his response to each of these three people, Jesus never “lowered the bar” of discipleship. He never patted anyone on the back and said, “it’s okay, come and follow me after you’ve secured a good home for yourself.” He said just the opposite, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
In other words, following Jesus (discipleship) doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in the real world, with all of the challenges and difficulties that life brings. We are called to be and make disciples not just in the easy times, but in the terrible ones as well. We are called to make disciples with or without a home, job or jobless, in sickness or in health, and . . . you get the point.
The goal of discipleship has always been the same. Jesus commissioned his disciples to “teach them all that I have commanded you,” but this commission was fulfilled alongside of their own difficulties, less than ideal circumstances, persecutions, imprisonment and even death.
So, as we endeavor to worship with the four pillars over the next 98 days, don’t be discouraged if you find it a little difficult. Don’t wait for the perfect moment to lead your family in worship, because that perfect moment may never come. Take a moment in the grocery store, around your dinner table, out on your deck, or even at the library. Take the time to make a disciple no matter where you are and not matter what circumstances you find yourself in.
Today we kick off 100 Days of Worship in the Common Places with the North Korean underground church. Have you signed up yet to join us?
Households are participating… Husbands and wives are participating… Small groups are participating…
…And at First Protestant Church of New Braunfels, Texas, a whole church is participating!
Here’s First Protestant Church’s discipleship pastor Chuck Huckaby to show us how his congregation is adapting our 100 Days campaign into the ongoing life of their church this fall:
Fall Bible Reading: P.R.A.Y.ing the Bible with the North Korean Church
Rev. Chuck
Wow… do we ever have a unique Fall Sunday School and Churchwide Bible Reading plan this Fall – from September 22nd to December 31st! By the time you read this Bible Reading guides will already have been distributed. If you haven’t got one yet, don’t worry, there’s still time to join in!
So what’s the Big Deal?
I am asking you to give your time over the next few months not only to BIBLE READING but to spending time in personal and small group worship with one of the most heavily persecuted churches in the world, the North Korean Church.
That’s not just another gimmick, though it certainly is unique!
Why on earth would we do such a thing?
Consider this:
If suddenly the church in America went “underground” and had no buildings, bibles, seminaries, or other things we’re so dependent on… how would the faith pass from one generation to the next? How long would the church in America even survive?
Let me put that more directly… If YOU had to go “underground” with only what you have memorized by heart today… could you pass on the faith and lead someone else to Christian maturity?
Also, how would you worship the Lord if you had no CD’s, praise teams or organs?
The North Korean church has persevered under the harshest persecution for 4 generations and continued to spread the faith. They have amazing lessons for all the worldwide church from which we can learn in these 100 days. Our aim is not to PITY this “persecuted church”, but to LEARN FROM THEM!
Here’s what I’m asking you to do over the next 100 days and hopefully much longer…
1. Pick up a special Bible Reading Guide at the church office if you haven’t gotten one already. If you can’t make it to the church office just call, and we’ll mail you one!
2. Read the Gospel of Luke with your brothers and sisters in Christ at First Protestant and with the North Korean Church until December 31st.
3. But beyond just reading it, I’m challenging each of us to
A. “P.R.A.Y.” through our readings each week before or as you
B. “Gather” in the style of our North Korean brothers and sisters and share your findings in the context of “conversational worship”… the kind of worship that characterizes that underground church. Again, you’ll learn more about “how” and most importantly “why” in the Bible Reading Guide.
Basically though, it boils down to setting aside time during Sunday School or through the week to meet with your household, some friends, etc. to share your findings from God’s Word (or simply take turns reading the Gospel of Luke together and share your findings then) in the context of very simple worship.
And in some ways we really don’t want to do this in just the church building!
Because Jesus is Lord in the “Common Places of Life” I encourage you to meet this way wherever you can meet and hold a “reverent conversation”… a school cafeteria, a break room at work, the park, your home, or a quiet restaurant!
Perhaps if we took our worship with us through the week – not for the sake of show – but because we love to meet and encourage one another as we bless God, perhaps people would take Christianity more seriously? Maybe we would too!
On the face of things, the practices of the North Korean underground church seem simple. Yet they have been powerful enough to keep spreading the Good News from generation to generation!
In our own country, we continue to talk about “lost generations” of young people who never embrace their parents’ faith… couldn’t we use a dose of “4 generation faith transmission education”?
Though the act of worshiping in the common places of life outside the church building is perhaps strange to us and may take some effort on our part (what valuable thing doesn’t?), it will be worth the effort.
One thing that won’t be strange are the elements of our “North Korean style worship” – we will find they are the very elements that have characterized the German Spiritual Heritage of First Protestant since our first day as a congregation!
I pray that during these 100 days, our North Korean brothers and sisters can remind us of our own precious faith and enable us to live it with new power here as we enter a “New, New Braunfels”!
For more information about “100 Days of Worship in the Common Places With The NK Underground Church” check out our Seoul USA Facebook page as well as the videos and other information at http://www.seoulusa.org/100-days/
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