Chicago UBF covenant membership (and eldership)

June 27, 2016

KV: John 13:34, 35

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Good evening everyone,

These words are the words of Jesus spoken at the last supper when he was with his eleven disciples. Jesus showed them through his life how to love. Jesus told them as he has loved them, so they must love one another. Jesus added that everyone will know that they are his disciples if they love one another. Even If you forget all other things I say today, please do not forget that the core of membership and the core of discipleship is to love one another as Jesus had loved us.

This is our third and last session of the Membership class called “Why membership?” Two other classes have been presented as well, one by P. Ron Ward: Christ as Lord: Part 1 (Personal life) and another by Dr. Alan Wolff: Christ as Lord Part 2 (Life in community). I hope you have all attended the other two classes.

There will be other membership classes following these next weeks.

Class 4: Discipleship: Being a disciple of Jesus and making disciples of Jesus by Dr. Paul Chung

Class 5: World mission: A Biblical survey by Dr. Jose Ahn

Class 6: Giving:Why, how and various kinds of: by elder David Choi

Class 7: What is UBF? (UBF North America history overview , current ministry, discussion of core values: by Daniel Sohn

Class 8: Accountability (Discipline and Conflict resolution by Elder Dennis Miller.

After the class last week, I received quite a bit of feedback which was very helpful. I tried to incorporate all the feedback I received in this evening’s talk. Most interesting feedback was that my talk lacked “meat”. They did not realize that I tried to be a vegetarian to reduce my meat consumption and the belly size. But, I got their point. I would like to add some meat to my vegetarian, conversational presentation.

First of all, Let me introduce myself. My name is Augustine Sohn. I was born in Pusan, South Korea in 1953 My name given by my father was Jung Moon Sohn. My Christian name, Augustine, was given after my first son was born. He is also named Augustine. I became a Christian after I studied Genesis and later John’s gospel. I studied Genesis one to one with my friend when I was a medical student at the college of Medicine, in Seoul National University in 1976-77 school year. Through Genesis Bible study, I learned and realized that God is the Creator God and he created man as both body and the Sprit. Growing up in a secular family, I did not know the meaning of the Spirit. In 1977during the spring semester one sunny day we had one-day Bible school based on John 3:16. Our shepherd delivereda message explaining that we belong to the world which is in darkness, but God sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ as the light. I did not know that I was in the darkness. I did not that I was a sinner. But when I realized that God loved me first, a sinner, in spite of my sin, in spite of my darkness, and sent his one and only Son, Jesus, I recognized my sin of selfishness, drinking excessively, smoking for no good reason and dating for no good purpose. I experienced true repentance in my life first time. I remember that it was a National Holiday of South Korea; Buddha’s birthday.

My wife came to Korea as a missionary in 1981 and we were married in the same year inSeoul, Korea. We had 4 children. Augustine, Agnes, Albert and Francis while we lived in Korea until 1986.People joked about how fast our family grew in Korea when we arrived at the Chicago O’Hare airport as a 6 member family. We felt very blessed indeed. In Chicago, God granted us 2 more children, Abraham and Sarah. They were born in Swedish Covenant Hospital, where I completed my residency in Family Medicine. I graduated from the program in 1991 and joined the faculty at the department of Family medicine, in the college of Medicine, at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Maria Albright is my colleague. I am glad that I have one Christian colleague at our department. My new boss Dr. Hickner, is also a Christian and uses Jesus name in proper reverence which has been an encouragement to me. When our family first came to Chicago we servedHBF, thenNE fellowshipand later UIC fellowship. Currently we serve MVCC fellowship with shepherd Tony and shepherdess Carmen. My spiritual mentors were the late Dr. Samuel Lee, mother Barry, Dr. John Jun and I have quite a few friends in this congregation. I work with and pray with current leadership of Chicago UBF. My fellow elders are Dennis Miller, Jim Rarick, Alan Wolff, Daniel Yang, David Choi and Richard Choi with whom I meet weekly and study the Bible and share testimonies. We also meet once a month topray with P. Ron and P. Abraham Kim.

What is “Covenant membership” and why do we need it?

A covenant is a binding agreement between two parties. God first made a covenant with Abraham our forefather of faith. Genesis 12:1,2 read, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.” Abraham took this promise to heart and built his life upon it. From then on God led his life and made him a blessing. God is faithful and kept his covenant with Abraham and his descendants for more than 4000 years. God built them up as his people and blessed them and set them apart as his people by his one sided grace and love. Finally, God sent his one and only Son Jesus to fulfill his promise to Abraham that” all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”. When we accept Jesus sacrifice for our sins we become members of God’s family. Membership is defined as, “a group of persons associated by some common tie or occupation regarded as an entity,”Covenant membership is more than membership. It is membership based on a covenant with God who is faithful to the end of time and who sent us Jesus as his sign of the covenant between him and us. Covenant membership isbiblical and is based on one’s relationship with Christ and his body. Jesus made a new covenant with believers. Luke 22:20 reads, “In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” Hebrews 12:24 further explains, “to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkling of blood that speaks a better word then the blood of Abel.” We have convent relationship with Jesus through his blood. We are his covenant people as the Jewish people are God’s covenant people though the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Paul said in Romans 12:4-5, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” As a member of the body of Christ we work together for the body and for his glory. We are one entity in Christ and work together to be productive and to advance God’s kingdom.

The Christians church family started with Jesus Christ when he began his public life together with his 12 disciples. Jesus met with many others here and there, but the Twelve were always with him. He singled them out and discipled them by teaching them personally and sharing everything he received from his Father. After his death and resurrection the Holy Spirit was poured out and a 3000-member church was formed. (Acts2:41). God added more numbers to the Jerusalem church later. As the disciples spread the gospel all over the world, other local churches were established.

The UBF church started with the guidance of the Holy Spirit in Kwang Joo, Korea in 1961. Dr. Samuel Lee, a newly graduated pastor, andmissionary Sarah Barry from the U.S. a missionary from southern Presbyterian denomination,worked together when they both had a vision for young college students who seemed to be without hope. They began serving college students in Kwang Joo with bible study and prayer and a church was born. In 1966 some of the Kwang Joo members, including Dr Lee and mother Barry moved to Seoul and started a new UBF ministry in Seoul National University. Seoul UBF now has many chapters and isstill growing. Seoul has 25,000,000 people and they pray for this huge city; especially the college students.Chicago UBF started in the early 1970s when a few physicians and nursesfrom Korea UBF came to work and study in Chicago. After work they studied the Bible together in their rented apartments. They did their best to reach out to Chicago College students with prayer and love. However, Chicago UBFreally gained strength when Dr. Samuel Lee came as a missionary in 1977 and joined by Sarah Barry later. A bible house was purchased at 5817 N Clark Street. Subsequently many more missionaries came to Chicago and offered their lives to lay the foundations of what is now Chicago UBF. They went out to the colleges in the Chicago areas and invited students to Bible study and worship service and co-worked closely with Dr Samuel Lee and Mother Sarah Barry who were young and dynamic in leadership. Dr Samuel Lee served the church for 25years until he was called to heaven in 2002. Mother Barry served alongside Dr Lee and later as the general director until 2006.Mother Barryofficially appointed P. Ron to lead the Chicago UBFin 2002. P. Ron has continued his position as Chicago Pastor. Dr. John Jun and then P. Abraham Kim currently have served as general directors after missionary Sarah Barry.

Why Covenant membership in Chicago UBF?

Covenant membership has been in existence since the beginning of UBF ministry. At the beginning of UBF students used to begin their meetings with prayer and expressing their allegiance to God and as a body of Christ. They had a slogan: We are the soldiers of Jesus Christ. We devote ourselves to Bible Korea and world mission… However, it was never formalized in detail as we never felt it necessary because it was written on our hearts. Now, however there is a need to clarify what we believe, who we are and what kind of church we are. But one thing for sure is that we are a Church and the church is the body of Christ, and the body is composed of many members. There are several reasons we need this clarification now.

1. Covenant membership is normative in New Testmement. As we read in the key verses from John 13:34, 35 and Romans 12:4,5, Bible teaches us that membership of every Christian is God’s design.

2. We need sense of belonging. Membership is a way to remind us that we belong to this faith community where Jesus Christ is the head and we are brothers and sisters in Christ. The first Christians lived in a close community where they cared for each other’s needs and served God’s work together as a community (Acts 2:44-47). Paul established many local chapters throughout Asia Minor and called them to be a community of believers. Peter said, in 1Peter 2: 5, “you also, like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We all know that we humans are social beings. We need each other to have a community of faith and a sense of belonging. Family is the fundamental building block of any community. After the family, God established churchcommunities Jesus Christ is our head and we are true brothers and sisters. It is almost impossible to be a Christian without community because we are all Jesus brothers and sisters.

3. We get to know each other and have opportunitiesto love one another in Christ. This is what happened in the first Jesus’ community: ie the community of his disciples. By spending three years together, they got to know one another and learned how to love one another in Christ. Peter wrote to the Christians who were scattered after the persecution, “Above all else love one another deeply from the heart because love covers over a multitude of sins.” When we live as members of a community sharing our everyday life with one another we learn to love one another and share in each other’s burdens from our hearts.

4. We are accountable to one another. James 5:16. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” In a healthy Christian community, we repent our sins before the word of God and among the brothers and sisters in Christ so that we can be healed and encourage one another in Christ. In UBF we have small accountability meetings or fellowship bible study and testimony sharing once a week. We used to have Friday meetings in Chicago UBF regularly until 2002 where we gathered as a whole church and representatives from each fellowship shared their testimonies with the whole church. This Friday fellowship meeting of Chicago UBF was replaced with other forms of gatherings, campus by campus meeting and with others. It may be necessary to restore this Friday church wide meeting so that people may be healed and experience prayer support and encouragement of the whole church, and we may know each other better.

5. We can be effective workers for his kingdom by using our talents and gifts for God’s kingdom work. As members we need to know and acknowledge each other’s talents. As we get toknow each other through membership we can realize this better and help each other to be useful to the whole body. It is not right for any Christian say, “I have no talent or gift” Even the least may have one talent, and some may have 10 talents. But it is important for each member use their God given talent and gift for his kingdom. Last week, Dr. Helen told us that her mother at age 84 became a member of a church. She was asked to join a committee to be a member so that she could use her talent and commits herself to service in the church. She was asked to join a committee of …

Chicago UBF needs a finance committee and a hospitality committee and CBF and BBF teachers in addition to many one to one Bible teachers and other Bible teachers.

Why now? Challenges/problems in Chicago UBF

  1. Voices are not being heard: Some Chicago UBF people have felt that their voices not heard. Even though they have felt the need to speak to P. Ron, he could not effectively minister to all the concerns of all the church members by himself.
  2. Problems small and large: even though there are problems among the members, they do not know where to go to solve their problems.
  3. A few have many hats and others are overlooked and are not properly trained or tapped into for his work in Chicago UBF. Some peoples’ talents/gifts are not being incorporated into the work and ministry.
  4. Campus by campus ministry and lack of church wide meeting except Sunday prevents us work together as a body effectively and there are lots of communication barriers. When the information is not shared properly, there are lots of rumors and misunderstanding among the members.
  5. At times it is necessary to administer discipline and this can be done as a body according to a set of clear guidelines

It is time to organize ourselves to be an effective church, all members can be served and their voices are heard and their concerns can be addressed in a proper way. It is also time to encourage each other to serve the ministry and give offerings and protect the church unity.

Why now? Historic perspective

UBF began as a student movement with a strong commitment to the word of God and prayer. Many were new believers. Many nominal Christians found new life as they obeyed the word of God from their hearts. The emphasis on powerful spiritual experiences and de-emphasis on organization appealed to many. We didn’t seem to need to write down what we believed as we all knew in our hearts. However, as UBF has grown, there is a need to watch over members/leaders that drift into unorthodoxy in regard to belief and practice and to have oneness in our practice of faith.

The model of one strong leader was good for early Jesus ministry: Jesus was the leader and the disciples were followers. At time of the coming of the Holy Spirit, God fearing Jews from every nation were gathered in Jerusalem. They saw what seemed like tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” They were bewildered. Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd. “Fellow Jews and all you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say…” He did not prepare a manuscript. He stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd. One of the greatest addresses in American history maybe Abe Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. He did it by himself. The greatest address in Christian history maybe this address on the day of Pentecost. It was delivered by Peter together with the Eleven. The twelve worked together to lay the foundation of the church.