Onnuri preaches tradition in hip way

The “Red Mango” iced yogurt franchise, key chains and the physical merits of Christian girls seen from the point of view of a teen at a church camp all found their way into Pastor Marc Choi’s sermon yesterday to the English ministry at Onnuri Community Church.
The varied references added spice to the fourth part of his current series on the seven churches of the Book of Revelation. Pastor Choi followed up previous weeks’ messages on Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamon with the fourth ancient congregation of Thyatira, in what is today eastern Turkey. A liberal church located in a military and commercial center not unlike present-day South Korea, as Pastor Choi pointed out, Thyatira was lambasted by the Apostle John for “compromising faith for worldly concerns.” In particular, the church’s tolerance of Jezebel, who led the town to sexual immorality and idolatry, showed the corrupting influence that could be wielded by a single non-believer.
Many churches today, whether in Korea, the United States or elsewhere, are similarly compromising fundamental beliefs to conform to worldly standards, said Pastor Choi, and they often cherry-pick what parts of the Bible they find inspiring only to discard the rest. “But everything God says is important,” the pastor reminded the 1,000-plus listeners gathered in Onnuri’s sleek, impeccably-designed two-story sanctuary. Pastor Choi went on to describe pitfalls facing modern-day churches, such as being too traditional, too radical, too rigid or too cosmopolitan, but added, “I believe Onnuri is a good church.”
Apparently, many agree. Onnuri English Ministry, which meets at the Seobinggo branch of the 25,000-member Onnuri Community Church, claims to be the largest English ministry in Northeast Asia; it is especially popular among young adults of Korean, gyopo (overseas ethnic Korean) or North American descent.
And yet, Pastor Choi continued, even good churches today need to heed John’s urgent, forceful message to the seven ancient churches of Revelation: “Repent! Repent! Repent!” He emphasized that this was, though, a heavy duty. “We as a church, as individuals, as a nation, need to repent,” he said. “It is the one way out.”

by Kim Sun-jung