Synopsis "Servant Church: Refreshing the Heart of God"
Servant Church is about the Values of the Church of Philippi, which is located in one of the cities of greater Baltimore and Washington metropolitan area. This book is primarily about the church's Ten Values, which are not to be compromised, along with its mission, vision, strategies, structures, and programs related to the values. The Ten Values are only (through redemption of) Jesus, servanthood, precious one, shepherding first, process centered, lay ministry oriented, harmonizing of message and system, small-group accented, walking the talks, and all encompassing grace. Started as a Korean diaspora faith community, Church of Philippi held its inaugural service in a leased warehouse building on October 31, 1993, in Columbia, Maryland, USA. Back then, not many of the Korean immigrant population took residences there. Yet the Lord made the church grow both in lives transformed and in size enlarged for last twenty-two years. Reflection on church expansion histories (early Jerusalem church, Antioch's Jewish diaspora churches, Moravians church in the eighteenth century, American and English churches during the great awakening movements in nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and churches of Latin America, Africa, and Asia in recent decades) teaches reflectioners valuable lessons in that they see the wisdom and power of well-thought-out values of the message, the church, and the culture that they were in. Of course what has been done was by the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit. Yet the Bible teaches us that the wisdom that the Holy Spirit demonstrated is written in it so that we, who came later, may be able to learn from the teachings and then follow after the Holy Spirit. If they were not followed, the church was not able to accomplish the great commission of the Lord as was desired. If followed, the church always prevailed against the power of the gate of Hades. For thirty some years, the author has been a reflectioner and an agonizer over the present plight of the powerless church in the postmodern world and its values. With the invaluable learnings from the Bible and histories of the churches, along with their surrounding cultures, he was able to establish the Ten Values that can unleash the power of a prevailing church. May all the readers of the book find a road map that leads an unprepared church planter, like the author once was, to build a church that prevails against the power of the gate of the Hades (Matt. 16:18). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18, Holy Bible, English Standard Version (2001), Wheaton: Standard Bible Society).
