abstract |
The Livingston Korean United Methodist Church is a small immigrant church. The congregation is older, and they have insulated themselves. They do realize how
privileged they are to live in America. Lacking is an understanding of how their small group could be revitalized by sharing Jesus' love with the community.
They focus instead on their own personal problems or difficult situation of the church. Through a question of how to make a difference, we started with the
basics: Many of my sermons dealt with meeting the needs of others. The focal point of my individual conversations and fellowship emphasized the same topic.
One Friday night, we had a breakthrough as one of our congregants arrived with some canned food. This spurred other members, and soon a sizeable portion of
the whole congregation was bringing food on a regular basis. We researched charitable organizations who could need our help. We include both secular and
non-secular organizations and decided to team up with a group from a local community. It has become evident that formerly the Livingston Korean United
Methodist Church focused on their own needs, and their concern was to see their own church grow. Now they pay attention to their community. They comprehend
how being more active in the community has impacted their own church in a noticeably positive way.
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