Is World Mission for Every Christian?

When Samuel C. Lee suddenly passed away in 2002, some among us grappled with our identity. They came up with a list of mottos, which has been recognized as spiritual legacy. Those distinguish our church from other churches. The first motto is “Go back to the Bible.” Samuel C. Lee often stressed it in his last days, I heard. At that time a group of people among us formed a faction, and criticized Samuel C. Lee almost to the extent of slander. They persuaded others among us to do the same and eventually formed its own organization. One of the issues was staff education. They encouraged their staff to attend seminary and receive pastor ordination. So the first motto could be interpreted against this background. Narrowly interpreting, he discouraged staff to attend seminary. In light of his past, however, he was not always against seminary education. He himself underwent such education and asked some staff to take courses in seminary. For example, he encouraged Moses Chung to get another Ph.D. in Trinity College. He asked Abraham T. Kim to take some courses in seminary so that he might be prepared to succeed him. (This eventually happened in 2011.) So he probably warned us not to put seminary education above the Bible.

I still grapple with its meaning, so I would like to ponder the motto in light of our early history [1, 2]. Before Sarah Barry met Samuel Lee, she had been praying about the best way to approach college students, lead them to Christ, and raise them as spiritual leaders for their generation. She was a leader of youth group when she was younger. Among the various methods, she found it most effective to study the Bible with them and plant the word of God in their hearts. Over the years she embraced inductive Bible study and mastered it. By the time when she met Samuel Lee she found him having the same spirit as hers in this matter. Samuel C. Lee admired the breadth and depth of her Bible knowledge. He majored in philosophy. At the beginning of his ministry toward college students he attracted students with many philosophical ideas. Over the years, however, his emphasis shifted from those ideas toward simple Bible study. When he moved to Seoul and shared his prayer topic to reach the students among the top universities including Seoul National University one of his friends prominent in the society shared his genuine concern, saying that Samuel C. Lee had no chance to succeed. For the first whole year he dedicated himself to the Bible study. Later, he wrote every morning the manuscript for Daily Bread so that students would read a portion of the Bible daily, mediate and write a reflection on it. Sarah Barry held English Bible study every morning for students. In short, both of them held on to the Bible as the most important means to reach students and raise them as Jesus’ disciples. Both Samuel C. Lee and Sarah Barry had no fancy position and title. They were neither backed by any denomination, nor any prestigious institutions. They solely depended on the Bible, and shared with students what they learned from the Bible and practiced. The students acknowledged the Bible as the word of God and obeyed what they learned from the Bible. Furthermore they acknowledged the Bible teachers as the servants of God. When they heard their advice, they accepted it as if God spoke to them.

As an example, let’s consider the Great Commission in Matthew 28: 19, 20. When Samuel Lee taught Matthew from the beginning to the end, he naturally arrived at these verses. By faith he encouraged his disciples to obey God’s command. He encouraged them to teach Bible to others and even go abroad to do the same. To his surprise, some responded to his advice based on the Bible. They went out and taught the Bible. Some even went abroad to teach the Bible. His passion based on the Great Commission laid a foundation for our church in such a way that whoever became a Bible teacher followed in his footsteps. In this way the world mission became a norm in our church and is even to this date. In those days, Korean churches were poor and considered the world mission a taboo. Some pastors even criticized Samuel C. Lee for advocating the world mission. Those conflicts raised a fundamental question on interpreting and applying Matt. 28: 19, 20. For example, Jesus did not give the command to everyone such as lepers, the Pharisees and Roman soldiers. The command was given to his disciples who had known him personally and in depth. How can a Bible teacher simply cite those verses and encourage his Bible student to obey it? How can the Bible teacher assume the same authority as Jesus? Is this legitimate and sound? Should not be there a kind of formal procedures in raising Bible teachers and missionaries? How can a person who reads the Bible and combines it by faith assume the same authority that was given to the disciples of Jesus? The related questions and answers were further explored in detail by the thesis written by Moses Jung [3]. Recently, Korean Newspaper, Kook-min, awarded a Grand Prize to UBF, acknowledging what it has accomplished in the area of world mission [4].

Reflecting back, such simple obedience has laid foundation for the movement of layman. Although a layman has not received formal education to be a pastor, nor planned to be a full time pastor, he willingly and joyfully participates in the world mission. Despite the busy schedules and heavy load in his work place and with his own family he makes time, meets students and teaches them the Bible. In this way our church not only grows internally, but also spiritually influences the society. This approach, of course, has weaknesses as well. Some teach the Bible in ignorance. For example, the Spirit of God rhymes with shoes in Korean. In teaching Gen. 1:2, one interpreted that God had a pair of big shoes like a carrier on each side and used them to walk on the water. Of course it is an extreme example. In general, despite their willingness and passion, their knowledge and experience in teaching and raising disciples were short and they faced challenges especially when their ministry grew. Some had a sense of problem and pursued more education in those areas in an effort to carry out world mission more effectively.

I embrace that our past is a guiding principle for our church. Anyone who learns the Bible whether one time or many times is qualified to teach the Bible. Anyone who is willing to go abroad and teach the Bible is qualified to be a missionary. Only by faith and obedience he becomes a shepherd. No ordination by established denomination or church is required to be a shepherd and a Bible teacher. Yet, if those who take such path desires for higher learning, they should feel free to pursue it such as s taking some courses in seminary or reading professional books in relevant fields. If such education means workshop offered by other churches, our members should feel free to attend the workshop. But such education should not be considered as a requirement to be a Bible teacher or pastor.

[1] Mark Vucekovich and Yvonne Timlin, “My grace is sufficient for you,” Sarah Barry Biography, UBF Press (2006).

[2] Paul Koh, "An Anthology of UBF Founders Day," Report 1961 - 2010, UBF Press (2011)

[3] Moses Jung, "Young Tentmakers (The History of UBF)," Thesis, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1991).

[4] Korean Kook-Min Il-Bo, Cookie News Article, Nov. 21, 2012.