An 8-year-old child steps up to the pulpit and delivers a sermon on the Book of Revelation, which even pastors find difficult to teach. This is the reality of a Wednesday worship service at Shincheonji Church of Jesus in South Korea.
Since July 19th, adult congregation members have been given the opportunity to preach the word on Revelation. From the 3rd week, children and youth of primary and secondary age have been invited to do the same.
From the 19th July to the 9th August, a total of 312 congregation members from some of the 78 churches of Shincheonji Church of Jesus across South Korea have preached at Wednesday worship services. Yet not a single one of them attended a seminary or has preaching experience. Among this figure, primary and secondary age students account for 49.8% (155 people), and the youngest preacher was an 8-year-old third grader in primary school (Shincheonji Seongnam Church).
Students who participated in the sermon said that they were able to preach through regular Bible study and speech practice.
Soo-ah Yoon (female, 17) said, “Through the Bible test and Bible speech study material provided by the church, the words of the Bible could be engraved onto my heart and flowed out naturally. I, myself, was surprised. It was a truly gracious experience.”
Ye-eun Lee Yang (female, 19) said, “I prepared with the thought that one day I will become someone who can testify the Word. I preached with the thought that age is not important when it comes to preaching the Word, and with the belief that God would rule my lips because I have the Word.”
An official from Shincheonji Church of Jesus emphasised that, in general, church youth groups hold praise, dance competitions, and Bible recitations.
In addition, the church's student department said that in order to balance the life of faith while fulfilling the duties of an adolescent student, separate study rooms in the church, mentoring for university, and cultural activities are also provided.
Ji-hwan Oh (male, 19), who preached at the Wednesday worship service on the 9th August, said, “I'm currently an active member of the handbell choir team at church, and I received a lot of support and remarks from the team members (when preaching on the Book of Revelation). I want to make my dream come true by working hard to make the team the best in the world.”
In addition, students who participated in the sermons said that they had more concrete and clearer hopes, such as “I desire to give better lectures” and “I will become a lecturer and evangelist who spreads the word to the ends of the earth.”
Shincheonji Church of Jesus' National Student Affairs Director In-hee Kim said, “There is a belief that it is not possible for young children and teenagers to preach, but our children prepared with a lot of prayer and speech practice on a daily basis and were able to proceed with grace. The older congregation members were more hesitant because it was the first time they stood on the pulpit, but the children were undaunted and preached the word with joy and hope and became stronger.”
Director Kim said, “Students who can preach the Book of Revelation from the podium take pride in the fact that this can only be done in Shincheonji Church of Jesus. We will do our best to raise great leaders who can lead the religious world in the future.”
Amen!
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