Lay out a100 Year Plan
The Biblical Evangelism Strategy Remnants Must Know
Part 15
Evangelism Institute
Diary of Hye Kyung
“Do I have to go to the Evangelism Institute?”
When? March 4 (Friday), 2016/ Weather? Sunny/ My heart? Blue/ Who are you? Hye Kyung Park, Gospel Elementary School, 4th grade, class 17 seat number 14
It’s Hyo Jung’s birthday party tomorrow. And there are lots of fun programs to watch on TV as well. My friends and I promised to go play in Chung Jang Ro right after school, but just thinking about how I won’t be able to play and have fun once I start attending Children’s Evangelism Institute, my heart aches.
God, if you have a conscience, think about it. On Sundays, I am at church from Sunday school all the way until mom’s choir practice is done in the evening. Starting on Monday, I go directly to academies right after school everyday. Since I am the group leader, I have to go to the church mission home on Tuesdays; on Wednesday, I participate in the Children’s Evangelism Camp, then go to Wednesday night service; on Thursdays, there’s Darakbang during lunch time at the Gospel Elementary School, and on Fridays, you know how tired I am, but I still go to the night service because my dad leads it! Why did You create the “Remnant Day” on Saturdays and take away my last bit of freedom and hope?
I know that I am a child of God, and how important the Gospel is and I like evangelizing, but I can’t help but to feel frustrated the more I think about it. God, I beg you, please help me understand all this even if it is through a dream. I have an interview for the Children Evangelism Institute tomorrow, but the way I am right now, I won’t have any other choice but to skip it.
Hye Kyung’s Grandmother's Evangelism Institute
Dear Hye Kyung, I came to believe in Jesus through your father, my oldest son. I was so filled with thanksgiving after receiving the Gospel, so I served my church with all my heart. As I was fulfilling my role in the church and sincerely giving worship, I realized that I must enjoy the blessing of the Biblical method of evangelism. That’s how I came to enroll in the Evangelism Institute despite my back pain.
I am embarrassed to confess this, but there is something I want you, my beloved granddaughter, to remember. You can only imagine how excited I was to be teamed up with the wife of an elementary school principal, and to go into that very elementary school to evangelize during the Institute’s evangelism camp. I thought it was set up that way because I had asked the organizer to team me up with an experienced messenger since I wasn’t very experienced. However, something came up for the principal’s wife and she abruptly left the school, leaving me behind all alone.
I was just standing there when a couple of tall boys approached me and asked, “What is it that you have in your hands?” They looked at the evangelism tracts in my hand and said, “What you have in your hands… tell us about it.” I felt so embarrassed right at that moment that my face turned red. I couldn’t even utter the acceptance message, “The Way to Salvation,” which I had memorized, and I quickly left the place. Then I realized that more than anything else, I must be raised up as an evangelism disciple of the field through Evangelism Institute.
Hye Kyung’s mom and the Evangelism Institute via the Internet
Hye Kyung, only after I quit my job did I find the spare time to return to the Evangelism Institute that I used to attend during college. On the other hand, however, this thought crossed my mind: ‘Walking up and down even the five story apartment is such a hassle for me with my baby. I am having financial difficulties, too. Should I give up on my dream again? No. For my Hye Kyung, I will be a classy mom with the Gospel.’ That is why I enrolled myself in the Evangelism Institute. Ever since you began talking, you saw and heard the Evangelism Institute lectures with me as if they were lullabies. Whenever I concentrated on the lectures, you would suck on my pencils and notebooks and surprise me with your face all covered with saliva. More than anyone else, Hye Kyung, you are a pro who has tasted the blessing of the Evangelism Institute. With His desire for world evangelization, God, even now, is looking for the disciples of Christ. I remember being one of the 10 million workers for world evangelization and 400,000 workers for national evangelization through the Evangelism Institute with you Hye Kyung. Whenever I reminisce about your smile, childlike dewy eyes, and lovely dimples, all my fatigue and worries disappear.
The Evangelism Institute: the foundation of the 10 million workers for world evangelization
The Evangelism Institute is the cradle of the 400,000 workers for national evangelization and the 10 million workers for world evangelization. It is intended to help the Gospel and evangelism become rooted in us and become our nature as regional church workers in the field and evangelism disciples who save the five fields that have crumbled (elite ministry, cultural ministry, business ministry, healing ministry, and the Remnant ministry) through specialized ministry.
The Evangelism Institute, a system affiliated with the Evangelism Alliance for World Evangelization was founded during the Spring semester at Seoul Chang Dae Church in MokDong in March 1994. In September of that same year, it spread to Seoul, Busan, Daegu, GwangJu, and Anyang centered in the core regions. As of 2006, there are 102 Evangelism Institutes in operation, including domestic and international Evangelism Institutes by regions1) and Evangelism Institutes by specialties2). Approximately 9,102 people have graduated until now, and there are currently about 8,089 enrolled students.3)
The curriculum of the Evangelism Institute includes 13 weeks of lectures in six courses per semester. The total training takes place over the course of two years or four semesters. [Students] must attend the lectures of the required courses as well as the electives. They can complete the whole course of study once they submit their ministry report after they receive Team Camp Training or above, held by the headquarters. In addition, they must find one or more disciple(s) and recommend them for enrollment.
During the Early Church, Paul and fellow workers sought out and raised up disciples as they continued the Word movement at the Hall of Tyrranus for two years. In the same way, the Evangelism Institute is the place for disciples, who have received the answer of the Evangelism School, to continuously receive trainings as the 70 workers and people in charge of their regions. It is the place where people are changing their legalistic and religious natures into the Gospel-oriented nature. Grounded in the fundamental understanding with regard to the Biblical Evangelism Strategy, people must be able to acquire the correct perspectives concerning evangelism as they realistically experience the evangelism system that can be applied to their own fields. It is also the time schedule for many specialized workers to ascertain their lifelong specialized ministry with the Word and blessed meetings of God through testimonies and lectures. They can experience the model-like works of being raised as the workers in charge of each regional church, the main figures of national and world evangelization, and the church leaders who receive the covenantal blessings of their churches.
Remnants who correctly know and enjoy the value of Evangelism Institute
After entering college, I saved up offering to enroll in the Evangelism Institute with the money I had saved from tutoring. That was the very first fruit of my labor from working a part-time job. Since there were no College or Youth Evangelism Institutes, I went to the general Evangelism Institute instead and spent all of my Thursday and Friday evenings there every week. YoungDo and NamSanDonng were at the edge of Busan and I had to spend quite some time commuting back and forth to the Institute. “Ah, this is another side of the real world.” Quietly wiping my teary eyes, I had to transfer from bus to subway and then back to bus again. One day my heart was burning so much that I could not hold it in and evangelized to whoever sat next to me.
One thing that always frustrates me is when I look at the Remnants whose parents push them to receive trainings. Nevertheless, I am thankful when I meet the Remnants who proudly speak about the Institute with such fervor to the younger students, saying, “I was once like you.” Because families, schools, nations, and the world change depending on what the Remnants see, hear, and possess, the Remnants are the future for all of us. My greatest joy is when I meet the Remnants at the Evangelism Institute, who are deeply rooted in the Gospel, know and realize what Biblical evangelism is, and enjoy great blessings as the Gospel elites. Whenever I see them, I tell them, “Guys, is there anything you want to eat? Please sign your autographs here for me!”
<Footnote>
1) As for Evangelism Institutes that are open to the general public, there are currently (spring 2006) 26, domestically, and 34, internationally in eight countries.
2) We have Youth Evangelism Institutes (12 domestically, 24 overseas), College Evangelism Institute (8 domestically, 8 overseas), and the Internet Evangelism Institute (http://www.shinhakwon.org). In addition, Youth Evangelism Institutes will open around the core regions starting in Spring 2007.
3) Even since its opening in September 1998 until January 2006, total 843 people have graduated from the Youth Evangelism Institutes. Since its opening in December 1999 until June 2006, College Evangelism Institutes have produced 235 graduates.
4) Youth Evangelism Institutes consists of three years of six semesters. (However, the 7th graders are in the preparatory course.)
5) The required courses include the Study of Evangelism, the Book of Acts, Field Gospel Message, and Darakbang Basic Messages; the electives include the Theology of Salvation, The Study of Prayer, Church History, and the courses on each book of the Bible. It varies depending upon the specialized ministry and the region.
