Wednesday Reflection Week 10

God always has a way of getting to us the right thing, at the right time and at the right place. This is something I have really experienced begin at Fuller. When I first began serving the youth group at my church, I ended up taking Chap Clark’s foundation for youth ministry. It was when I began to preach for adults that I ended up taking homiletics (and begin tremendously helped by the readings). Now that I began to plan a church, I came across this class. Some might say it is a coincident but I know there is no “coincidence” in our lives. I truly felt the guidance of God throughout my ministry and my seminary education. This class was really helpful in expanding my ideas of church planting and what the mission of the church should be. The church is to be part of the great mission of God, which has started from the beginning of the world and is still in the process. It is the expanding and living out the kingdom of God with justice, peace and joy.

Monday Reflection Week 10

It is true, as discussed in class, that churches have adopted the market economy model where as the Kingdom should take the gift exchange model. I think this is the influence from modernity as Fetch has pointed out in his book. It is the give and take model. This brings me to the text we read in the preaching class yesterday: “whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and however welcomes me welcomes to one who sent me. For he who is least among you all – he is the greatest.” (Lk 9:48). The person who was preaching, Beth, said that welcoming children means accepting other not for what they can give us back but for who they are. She said children can not benefit us in any ways but slow us down. I totally agree with her and with the idea that we must give without expecting a return. We must love not so we can be loved back but because that is what Jesus have told us to and showed us to. As Chap Clark said: “I am not here to be a professor but to follow Jesus.” Amen to that!

Wednesday Reflection Week 9

I think the steps discussed in class really helped me to put my vision of Kingdom of God in realistic terms. Throughout the project, I had hard time putting into practice the vision I had for the church. The key element I realized was “time.” Nothing will come easy or as quick as we desire to. Just as the sewer must wait patiently for the time of the harvest, anything we plan in our church must wait for God’s time. The process of awareness, understanding, evaluation, experimentation and action plan was really helpful in planning the process of the church planting. I think our church will take more than 6 month for each process which would make the project into a 2 or 3 year plan. It might take longer, who knows? But the important thing I realized is it will take time. Only God knows how long but as long as we keep planting I believe there will a time of harvest.