Lonely Christian
It is said that the problems of modern people are loneliness and boredom. People are not beings who experience happiness if their eating, sleeping and clothing issues are solved. Fundamentally, it is because humans have a desire to communicate, empathise, and form relationships. In particular, immigrants want to share heartwarming stories with others and want to be with like-minded people.
Christians who go to church are no exception to this problem of loneliness. In a survey conducted in May 2023 by the Ministry Data Training Institute, 46.2% of churchgoers responded that they felt lonely. Although this number is less compared with people who don’t go to church, the fact that there are so many Christians who feel lonely in church is not only a social phenomenon, but also indicates that there are structural problems within the church. So, in the ‘Ministry Trends’ for 2023 and 2024 published by the Ministry Data Research Institute, they cited that the restoration of relationship-centred communal harmony as the most important task facing modern churches.
We live our faith life centred on relationships through house church meetings, so our level of satisfaction with our faith life is high. However, there are still lonely Christians among us and I thought about three types of lonely Christians.
The first are people who are socially excluded or have weak relationships. These people need our attention and care. The target of our ministry should not be those who are doing well, but those who are marginalised and weak.
Second are those who have high standards of religious life but do not participate in ministry. Loneliness in the church is not only related to communication and relationship problems, but also related to having a mission. When this type of person moves beyond just living a consumer-like level of faith (where they are only interested in what they need to satisfy their own happiness) and follow God’s Great Commission to save the lost and make disciples by taking the lead to meet the needs of others, they will receive a happy faith life as a bonus.
Thirdly, loneliness may happen to members in house churches where the management is poor, house churches have a small number of members, or where there have been no changes for a long time. In this case, you must try to break through for change in various ways. The house church should have combined house churches on a regular basis, have lunch together with other house churches on Sundays to expand relationships, and specifically have members participate in church ministries.
Word of the week
This is final month of 2023. As the end of year approaches, each ministry department, village or house church will hold or plan year-end events. If you plan to use the church or church bus, please contact the administration team in advance.
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이동주 2023.12.03 07:31
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It is said that the problems of modern people are loneliness and boredom. People are not beings who experience happiness if their eating, sleeping and clothing issues are solved. Fundamentally, it is because humans have a desire to communicate, empathise, and form relationships. In particular, immigrants want to share heartwarming stories with others and want to be with like-minded people.
Christians who go to church are no exception to this problem of loneliness. In a survey conducted in May 2023 by the Ministry Data Training Institute, 46.2% of churchgoers responded that they felt lonely. Although this number is less compared with people who don’t go to church, the fact that there are so many Christians who feel lonely in church is not only a social phenomenon, but also indicates that there are structural problems within the church. So, in the ‘Ministry Trends’ for 2023 and 2024 published by the Ministry Data Research Institute, they cited that the restoration of relationship-centred communal harmony as the most important task facing modern churches.
We live our faith life centred on relationships through house church meetings, so our level of satisfaction with our faith life is high. However, there are still lonely Christians among us and I thought about three types of lonely Christians.
The first are people who are socially excluded or have weak relationships. These people need our attention and care. The target of our ministry should not be those who are doing well, but those who are marginalised and weak.
Second are those who have high standards of religious life but do not participate in ministry. Loneliness in the church is not only related to communication and relationship problems, but also related to having a mission. When this type of person moves beyond just living a consumer-like level of faith (where they are only interested in what they need to satisfy their own happiness) and follow God’s Great Commission to save the lost and make disciples by taking the lead to meet the needs of others, they will receive a happy faith life as a bonus.
Thirdly, loneliness may happen to members in house churches where the management is poor, house churches have a small number of members, or where there have been no changes for a long time. In this case, you must try to break through for change in various ways. The house church should have combined house churches on a regular basis, have lunch together with other house churches on Sundays to expand relationships, and specifically have members participate in church ministries.
Word of the week
This is final month of 2023. As the end of year approaches, each ministry department, village or house church will hold or plan year-end events. If you plan to use the church or church bus, please contact the administration team in advance.