Gospel Partnership In Asia-Pacific
An update from Jeffrey T. Jo, Senior Pastor of Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries in Manila, and National Leader for our work in the Philippines...
During the last week of January this year, joyful gospel partnership was lived out between the Lord’s Grace Church of South Korea and the Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries (CCSGM) of the Philippines. It took almost a year of planning and much prayer on which the objectives were the following:
1. To organize a joint youth camp between the two churches where participants could immerse themselves in each other’s cultures, build meaningful relationships and deepen their understanding of the gospel.
2. To give gifts to less fortunate children in our new church plant in Dasmariñas city, Cavite.
The youth camp was held in Jabez campsite, Dasmariñas city, Philippines on January 26-28 earlier this year. Through various activities like language lessons, traditional dance performances, and culinary experiences, both groups appreciated the richness of God’s grace demonstrated through the Korean and Filipino cultures. Moreover, through sessions of bible studies, worship services, and sharing of spiritual journeys in life, relationships with God were inspired and strengthened in the youth.
In God’s kindness, the fruits of this camp were remarkable and meaningful.
Knowing that the youths were saved by the same gospel (indeed they are brothers and sisters until eternity), the love of God bound them together in joy and camaraderie, creating friendships to last a lifetime.
Through worship songs and the preaching of the Word, they were able to embrace the beauty of the gospel that saved them, which we pray will preserve them in the midst of this confused generation.
On January 29, members from the Lord’s Grace Church, South Korea partnered with our new church plant in Dasmariñas city. The leadership team of CCSGM Dasmariñas City prepared school supplies to be given to 40 less fortunate children, as well as a sack of rice for their parents. Pastor Songhwan and his team fed them not only with physical food but much more with the gospel of Christ emphasizing to the children that Jesus is our Shepherd who provides salvation for anyone who believes.
We witnessed how our Korean brothers and sisters loved the children and were joyful in serving them. In the other room, at the same time, one of our elders shared the gospel of Christ with the parents of those children. Today, a lot of these children attend our children’s church every Sunday and their parents continue to be reached out to by our team.
There was much mutual learning through all of these God-ordained experiences, one of which is that biblical partnership should not be a competition, but rather a cooperation as we find delight in the gospel of Christ and seek to proclaim it in the region where He has planted us. It is my prayer and my hope that our family of churches will continue to nourish, expand, and treasure gospel partnership. God is glorified in this exercise of unity as we follow the call to proclaim the gospel.
As declared in Sovereign Grace's 7th Shared Value, “Our shared governance and mission protects our churches doctrinally and ethically, and enables our individual churches to do far more together than we could ever do separately.”
