ChungKyu & UnMee Lee, with their children Seung Min (4 yrs) & Seung Yeon (7 mths), joined WEC Japan this summer. Here they tell their story of being ‘sent out’.
We have two supporting churches back in South Korea. It is a very interesting story how they together came to send us here to Japan.
Ten years ago I went to S-Church as an evangelist, mainly working in the Sunday School and with the Youth Group. I spent six years there, and also introduced an annual mission trip for the youth to Mongolia. During this period, a new Senior Pastor came who was really passionate about mission. He told us as a church, ‘We will send out a missionary every year for 10 years!’ He called this a ‘10:10 vision’.
At first, many church members doubted that we could do it. Before he came, the church had never sent out a long-term missionary. But it worked. This summer we became the 7th missionaries of that 10:10 vision. We are not the first to a Buddhist area, but the first to a developed area, and the first to a country that many Koreans still struggle with due to the historical background.
Our other sending D-church’s pastor used to in fact be the junior pastor of S-church. At that time he wasn’t interested in mission, but over the five years that he worked under the new senior pastor, that changed. But actually, it is a very interesting story.
I actually applied to S-church to send us as their 6th missionary. But at the last minute they decided to send a missionary to North Korea instead. So at that time I failed. But D-church initially wanted to send us, and I had worked there for a year after completing our WEC training. So they suggested to the S-church senior pastor that they send our family to Japan, together. So the senior pastor was really happy! It is meaningful and special, as the two churches can have a partnership as co-workers for mission. The D-church members have not really had a passion for mission until now, but through sending us they can have the chance to.
When we came to Japan we had a very nice sending ceremony, and then a church elder travelled with us. After one year the senior pastor himself will visit. Also, both churches combine to support us financially each month, and gave us a settling-down amount.
We want to see Christ come like the awesome cherry blossom season in Japan. We don't when it will happen, but we trust in God and believe it. We practically want to see young Japanese come to Jesus and many family healed by love in Him. We want to work for it.