Different Planet, Same Gospel
This is how I arrived in church last Sunday. At 7.30am, a limousine picked me up and swept through the traffic.
Peter Baker | 09:15, 31st October 2012 | Seoul, South Korea
The Chief of Church Security opened the door before he and his dark-suited officers flanked me on my way to the Pastor's office. Three separate reception areas, one lined with framed photographs of US Presidents, told me I was getting nearer to the Pastor's study. People bowed every 15 seconds along the route.
SaRang Community Church is big, even by mega-church standards.
What followed was an organisational display of military precision. 45,000 people had to be moved in and out across six services. Not a minute was wasted to make sure every single person could engage in 75 minutes of worship. 200 people were also baptised on this particular Sunday.
SaRang Community Church is big, even by mega-church standards. It's probably one of the largest, wealthiest and most influential evangelical churches in the world.
It has a budget of $60 million per annum, 100 pastors, 300 staff, 600 missionaries, 3000 lay leaders, 3600 small groups and a membership somewhere in the region of 90,000.
And yet the church only began a few years before Highfields in 1978 with 8 members!
So what is the key to their growth?
Beneath the sovereign work of the Spirit of God, the founding pastor had 4 working values:
- Discipleship Training
- Preaching Ministry
- Open Leadership style
- Continual Evangelism
each service was filled long before the start-time by people with expectant faith
The style of Sunday service was an interesting blend of traditional hymns, both Korean and English, plus some contemporary songs, plenty of praying from the platform and a good chunk of preaching time. The official start times were preceded by singing and just like the service itself were led by a worship group, a band, a choir and an orchestra - a cast of two hundred.
But what struck me was how each service was filled long before the start-time by people with expectant faith, who engaged with and responded to singing, preaching and those around them with warmth and affection.
We need to be thankful to God for churches like SaRang. They love Wales because we brought them the gospel and now they want to partner with us.
It's the spirit of a church that matters and I found this one matched the meaning of it's name, Love.
When I cheekily asked the Senior Pastor over lunch if he thought his church was too big, he replied, "That's the wrong question. The right question is 'how big is the Great Commission?' And 'how wide is the heart of God?'"
I still think the issue of church size is a good question. But it's not the only one and probably not the most important one.
It's the spirit of a church that matters and I found this one matched the meaning of it's name, Love.
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