“The Mission of the Church of God Is to ‘Save the World’ ”

In the fourth century B.C., Jesus was born as a baby in a shabby stable in Israel. He was baptized at the age of thirty and started to preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. During the three years of Christ’s public life, the poor and the sick came to dream of the kingdom of God beyond this world; and the old covenant law, which had been considered to be the exclusive preserve
of the Jews, changed to the gospel of the new covenant—the new law for everyone.
Jesus’ disciples, who held fast to the truth of the new covenant, preached the gospel all over Israel and around the eastern Mediterranean and solidified the foundation of Christianity. Jesus’ last command on this earth was to preach the good news in Samaria and to the ends of the earth so that the church would be planted throughout the world.
There are 2.3 billion Christians worldwide. Christianity is such a huge deal around the whole world today. However, people are still looking for the truth. It is the “Church of God” that has the truth which human beings are looking for.

Dedication services for 7 Churches of God in Korea were held amidst Mother’s blessings
A dedication service is held to celebrate the opening of a newly built temple and to dedicate it to God. We can see that there was a dedication of the temple in the Old Testament as well. When the Temple of Jerusalem was completed, Solomon held a celebration and dedication in honor of the completion of building the temple, along with all the people of Israel. When the Israelites returned home from the Babylonian Captivity, they rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem, which had been destroyed, and when the temple was completed, they had a celebration and dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of harps and lyres.
During the month of June after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, there were a series of dedication services for the newly built Churches of God in many regions of Korea: Paldal, Suwon; Sangju; Naesu, Cheongwon; Jeongeup; Suncheon; Naju; Bangnim, Gwangju.
A dedication service has an important meaning as a ceremony to give thanks to God for granting us a new temple, to commit ourselves to serving and following only God as the Lord of the Church, and to ask for God’s blessings. It is also a time for the members of the newly built Church to share grace and joy together with brothers and sisters from nearby Churches.
Mother prayed that every dedicated Church would be filled with good fruit and become the place of blessing to save many souls. She also thanked the members for having devoted themselves to the construction of the temple while diligently preaching the gospel, and comforted them with the story of the kingdom of heaven.

A flood of requests for expanding the Church buildings from all over the world
The Church of God in Hwaseo-dong, Paldal, Suwon, is six stories high above and one story below ground. It stands majestically as an imposing edifice of the temple of God. The Church of God in Suncheon, constructed on the site of the old Bank of Korea building (Suncheon Branch), is already famous in the area for its magnificent, solid marble walls. The Church of God in Jeongeup gives a bright and pleasant impression, blending well with the surrounding scenery. The Church of God in Bangnim, Gwangju, is a beige-colored building, which stands out for its modern and sophisticated style.
As the number of members in each region has been increasing rapidly, Mother has granted them those big, large barns for the gospel. As for the Church of God in Sangju, it has moved into a three-story building in Naengnim-dong less than a year after it was expanded.
General Pastor Kim Joo-cheol spoke about the present status of the gospel work, saying, “All this has occurred exactly in accordance with the prophecy, ‘The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly (Isa 60:22).’ As so many souls are now streaming to Zion, we continue to expand the Church buildings, but they become filled up quickly. So, we are being flooded with requests to enlarge the temples from all over the world.”
The Church of God in Cheongwon is situated in Naesu-eup (“eup” is a smaller administrative unit in Korea, which corresponds to a town). This is proof that our brothers and sisters are everywhere throughout the country and that it requires establishment of big Church buildings even in smaller regions. The members living in Ochang-eup and Jeungpyeong-gun had to travel such a long distance to come to Zion in Cheongju, but now they attend the Church in Naesu, Cheongwon. So it is expected that they will be able to work harder for the gospel.
As for the Churches of God overseas, they start from small house Churches, which develop into office Churches. Then they come to have their own buildings. Overseas missions started first in 1997 in some countries—USA, Pakistan, and Germany. By the end of 2007, the Church of God had spread to over 100 countries. Since 2010, the Church has been continuously being established in many countries and cities each month. As of June, 2012, the Church of God has been established in 2,200 regions of 150 countries, and there are over 1.75 million registered members now.
The number of the Churches of God increases throughout the world, but still there are even more ongoing requests for expanding the temples. In Asia and South America, there are hundreds of members gathered together in each house Church. Even in Europe and the United States where there has been a continuous decline in the number of churches, our Churches are so overly crowded that some of the members in each Church have to sit in the cafeteria, the corridor, and even outside the building, during worship services.

The mission of the Church in this age is to “save the world” like the good Samaritan
Jesus told the parable of the “good Samaritan.” In the parable, a Jewish man had been beaten by robbers and left half dead beside the road. When a priest and a Levite saw the man, they just passed him by. But a Samaritan, when he saw him, took pity on him and treated his wounds. Then he took him to an inn, and gave the innkeeper some money to take care of him.
Now people in the world are in great fear because of so many crimes and disasters, including abnormal weather phenomena, earthquakes, famines, wars, diseases, etc. The global economy is faltering as well, and many people are feeling uneasy and losing hope. That’s why the world needs someone like the good Samaritan in this age. The role of the good Samaritan is given to the Church.
At every dedication service, Mother said with an earnest and anxious heart, “Let us save our family, neighbors, and all other people in the world, with the heart of the good Samaritan.” A lot of people are now continuously being led to Zion, so Zion is filled up even to the point where there is no empty space. It is because in Zion they find rest for their weary souls and renewal for their strength because of the joy of salvation and the hope of heaven. Mother blessed the members to fulfill the mission of salvation, saying, “God has granted you a new temple that is bigger and more beautiful than the previous one, because there are still so many souls we have tosave.”
What General Pastor Kim Joo-cheol repeatedly emphasized was also “the role and mission of the Church in this age.” The reason why churches exist on this earth is to save human beings. For this, Jesus established the Church of God through His precious blood shed on the cross 2,000 years ago, and in this Holy Spirit’s age our Heavenly Father and Mother have laid the foundation for Zion through Their blood, sweat and tears, and They have been leading the Church of God to this very day. Pastor Kim Joo-cheol urged the members of each Church to faithfully carry out their duty as evangelists, saying, “Only when we perform the mission of saving the world will we be able to find ourselves shining most brilliantly as children of God.”
All 7 Churches, which were dedicated to God during this past June, have beautiful exteriors, adding beauty to the urban landscape. However, the members of the Churches say:
“The Church shines most beautifully when we save a soul. We believe that there are many of our family members around us whom we have to find. From now on, we will fully accomplish our mission—what we must do.”

ⓒ 2012 WATV

ⓒ 2012 WATV

ⓒ 2012 WATV