Prepared
Future

Dear beloved members of Sarang Community Church,

We praise the Triune God, who has guided and shaped our church with unwavering faithfulness over the past 38 years. His goodness has kept us, His life has sustained us, and His glory has been the light that has illumined every step we have taken. Because we believe that God is still at work among us, we find our hope and strength in the Lord.

Beloved congregation, our church stands at a deeply significant moment in the history of Sarang Community Church and the Korean immigrant church. We are being called to chart a new path forward — not merely as an immigrant church, but as a Korean-American church that has been called, rooted, and sent in this land to continue making disciples of Jesus and living as His disciples.

For this calling, every member of the body at Sarang must now be connected together as one. We are passing through a golden time that must not be delayed. There are those who have left the church or have not yet found a place to belong. There are many second- and third-generation Korean Americans who have become secularized or have not been fully trained as disciples. There are also many diverse neighbors around us who need a spiritual home. All of them need a gospel-centered community where they can encounter Jesus and be formed as His disciples.

In response to this challenge, immigrant churches have often chosen one of two paths: either to operate the English-speaking congregation as a separate department, or to make it independent altogether. However, the model of simply creating an EM, or English Ministry, and assigning one pastor to carry the pastoral responsibility for the English-speaking congregation has often resulted in that congregation drifting further away from the center of the church. On the other hand, making EM independent has often led to division within the church and the scattering of precious resources. Even after an EM becomes independent, a new EM often emerges again within the church. In that repeated cycle, too many souls and too many valuable resources for the Kingdom of God are lost. Above all, when one church is unable to embrace its English-speaking congregation, the result is not merely the loss of communal momentum, but the loss of souls. These are the kinds of things that happen when the future is not prepared.

But our church has an opportunity to choose a third way. We can move forward with a One Church Vision. I am firmly convinced that a church can become one when it shares one identity, one ministry philosophy, one training process, one ministry of the Word, and an integrated vision for education and mission. For that reason, I believe our church has an opportunity to discover a new path where Korean-speaking and English-speaking congregations can move forward together.

We must recognize the diversity and distinctiveness of both Korean-speaking and English-speaking congregations. But that diversity must not become a reason for division. Instead, it must become an opportunity for deeper integration. In other words, we need a proactive decision that allows us to truly experience within the church the fruit of the gospel—the gospel that has reconciled us to God and to one another. Just as the body has many members, each with different roles and appearances, yet all organically united, so we too must become a biblical community that honors each person’s distinctiveness while becoming one body together.

Therefore, we now desire to take a new step toward a path that perhaps began during the second chapter of our church’s ministry, but was paused for a time. We must prepare a structure in which our children, even if they grow up using English, can serve and flourish as central participants in our church in the very near future. We must also prepare the soil where the neighbors who live alongside them can be welcomed, invited, and trained as disciples.

A powerful sharing of responsibility must now take place. The multicultural families and English-speaking congregation already among us must be able to discern and carry the future of the church together with us. The special grace and seasoned wisdom poured out upon the Korean-speaking congregation must be joined with the unique gifts, potential, and energy of the English-speaking congregation. Together, by God’s grace, we can blossom with passion and awaken a new day of glory.

For this reason, beginning this fall, important shifts will begin to take place at Sarang Community Church. The discipleship training, small groups, parish structures, and related ministries of the English-speaking and Korean-speaking congregations will begin to share the same direction and philosophy. The English-speaking congregation will no longer be regarded as members of a somewhat independent department called HolyWave, but will be called Sarang Community Church EC, the English-speaking Congregation. The Korean-speaking congregation will also be called Sarang KC, so that all of us may share the awareness that we belong together as members of Sarang Community Church. Beginning the first week of December, the English-speaking congregation will return to the main sanctuary for a worship service directly shepherded, trained, and preached by the Senior Pastor. As a result, worship times and ministry activity schedules will also be adjusted gradually.

All of these changes may feel unfamiliar at first and may require a season of adjustment. Yet I believe that when we look back on this time in the future, we will testify to the good and faithful hand of God and His gracious care over us.

I have a dream. I dream of every worship service and every gathering in our church being filled with people of every age, language, and culture—singing passionately with the joy of the gospel, praying earnestly, receiving the Word with all their hearts, loving one another, and building up the community together. Above all, by faith, I look toward the vision of our next generation and all nations in this land becoming true disciples of Jesus Christ and becoming central participants in a life-giving community that transforms the world.

I pray that all of us will run together toward this dream with one heart. Please carefully review the following information, and may all of us prepare together in prayer. We are the people of God who bring the future into the present and live in light of it. May the grace of God cover us all. Until the day we behold the glory of God, let us continue to make disciples of all nations, and see this land and the nations covered with the redemptive power of Jesus. May we join hands and move forward together with joy and strength.