ⓒ 2003 WATV

The New Jerusalem Temple of Church of God held the 2nd Cleanup Movement in Imae-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam city on March. 2 and took on cleaning of the stream and the street in this area. About 300 members participated in the cleanup.

Cleanup began at 10 a.m. with a big placard 'Keep Our Village Beautiful By Ourselves.' For five long hours, members cleaned the 0.5km street connecting a nearby roadway with the military in the mountain, and the river of 6m wide and 200m long passing through this area. Especially, the street under construction was in serious condition; dust was raised and construction vehicles polluted the air. Members showed a great effort and passion, not only disposing trash and a heap of earth but also cleaning the street using a sprinkler.

ⓒ 2003 WATV

2.5T's trash which was removed from the street and the stream was separated thoroughly and burnt up completely. Residents in this area welcomed their activities. Though traffic was somewhat obstructed because of the street cleaning, they did not mind such a thing; a head of the community, running a supermarket, provided a box of drinking water pleasantly to the volunteers and later visited the Church of God with other representatives to express their thanks.

After finishing this event, Church of God invited the participants to an essay contest. They wrote what they learned from the cleanup movement in their essays, and thought deeply the precious meaning of the volunteer activity. Kim Ah-un a participant wrote, "The river we cleaned is a tributary to Han River. When a bayou becomes clean, Han River also becomes clean." Park Mi-yeong, another participant, wrote, 'As the street was on out-of-the-way place, not many took notice of our cleanup activity. However, I realized that love practiced without others' knowing is more valuable.'

ⓒ 2003 WATV

Church members in Bundang have cleaned up this area on the first sunday of every month. This time, they extended the scale. Pastor Kim, Ju-hyeon said, "The developed countries' people generally have a thought of cleanliness. Church of God is taking the lead in the gospel, so it's natural that this church makes an effort to raise the level of citizens' consciousness." Through this cleanup movement, church members and the inhabitants came to more understand each other. This reporter hope the two will promote friendly relations constantly.