Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Church Multiplication

Gripped by the Greatness of God (A New Season)

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I’m writing this in my new office, in a new city, with a new position (Groups Pastor), in a new church (Beulah Alliance Church). In short, my family and I moved to Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) 2 weeks ago to start this new chapter in our lives.

It’s amazing how God’s grace is so real and just how his timing is absolutely perfect. After leaving Korea, we had no idea where we were going or what we were going to do. That, in and of itself, was stressful enough, but on top of that, we had only a limited amount of money left in our savings. Thank God that we were able to stay with my parents and Christina’s parents in the meantime.

Upon leaving Korea, I was hoping that I would find a position right away and start our new life immediately, but God had different plans for us. It was really a whole bunch of silence for the next couple of months, and that time proved so valuable and crucial for God to do the work he needed to do in our lives. Plus, our daughter had the opportunity to spend months with her grandparents – something that she wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.

All that to say, I am absolutely loving Edmonton, Beulah, my new position, and this whole new chapter in our lives.

Now that the introduction is done, let me get to the meat of what I wanted to share with you. Right now, our church is going through a series entitled – “Griped by the Greatness of God.” As I was spending time reading the Bible this morning, I just wanted to share the passage that popped out to me.

He (Jesus) was supreme in the beginning and – leading the resurrection parade – he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe – people and things, animals and atoms – get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross. (Colossians 1:18-20 The Message Translation)

Why don’t you read that passage again and realize just how great our God is?

What are the two biggest struggles facing the churches in your context?

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Here’s my answer, what’s yours?

Rather than being a powerful force of Kingdom counter-culture, the churches in my context have assimilated into this consumeristic North American culture. In an attempt to reach more people with the gospel, churches have lowered the bar of commitment and incorrectly redefined what it means to be a Christian. Sure, maybe lowering the bar of commitment brings more people into the church, but as a backlash, this has created a culture of consumerism within the church. That is why churches are constantly facing a shortage of volunteers, a resistance to involvement in community, and a lack of giving. This consumeristic tendency is producing Christians who just want to receive, receive, and receive, instead of balancing the rhythms of receiving and giving. This is fundamentally wrong in so many ways; after all, did not Jesus come to the earth to serve, instead of be served (Matt 20:28)? And after being saved by grace, aren’t Christians called to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for them to do (Eph 2:8-10)?

In addition to consumerism, I believe that the second biggest struggle that churches in my context are facing is individualism. Rather than viewing loving others as a natural outflow of loving God (Matt 22:37-40), many Christians are choosing to compartmentalize their faith from their everyday life. The result of this is the astounding possibility that one’s neighbors or coworkers could be Christian, but one may never even know it. Now I am not suggesting that Christians go and preach the gospel to all their neighbors and coworkers just to make a statement about their faith, but I am suggesting that a true follower of Jesus should be living a life that is so integrated and whole, that others are able to notice something different about them. For a Christian, faith and life go hand in hand – loving God and loving others are one in the same thing.

No such thing as a "Lay" Christian

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So often, Christians create faux-categories to justify and rationalize their laziness and desire to compartmentalize their faith. We think that there are certain Christians who are “called” to be pastors, and others who are “called” to be missionaries, but what about everyone else? Well, if you’re not “called” to be a pastor or a missionary, then I guess you just fall into a third category called – “lay” Christian…where you just go to church on Sunday, sing some songs, listen to someone preach, and then go home.

When you search the New Testament, there is no such thing as a “lay” Christian. Sure, different people have different roles, but there is no such thing as a “lay” Christian as we know it today. It’s a false category! [Read more…] about No such thing as a "Lay" Christian

God’s Providence Over Our New Place

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A few days ago, before heading out to go to church, I noticed some spots on our wall by the curtains. So when I looked closer and looked behind the curtains, guess what i found? Mold. Ew!

Since I was running late, I ran out the door and went to church. Meanwhile, Christina began investing the rest of our house and discovered that we had mold all over our house wherever there were curtains by the windows.

We had been praying about moving for a while, so it seemed like this was the perfect opportunity. So I contacted our landlord, and she came down right away, while Christina was home and I was at church, and she looked at the mold. Immediately, she began blaming us because we had the humidifier going and we were drying our laundry in the living room. Her solution? Just open the windows.

Great solution, eh?

Anyway, when I came home, I looked at all the mold, and Christina told me just how dangerous and harmful it was to our daughter, so I immediately went up to our landlord and demanded that she either clean the mold or we’re leaving. She chose the latter. She told me, “Sure then leave.” Upon asking her what she’s going to do about renting out our place, she replied, “That’s not your problem, it’s mine.” (I know her response sounded a bit harsh, but it wasn’t actually that bad. She understood we had to take care of our daughter).

So that night, I went to Dongdaemoon and looked at a few places. We thought, if we moved a bit out of central Seoul, we could get more space for a cheaper place. No luck. I didn’t like the places I saw. So while I was driving home, I was praying about this whole situation and then all of a sudden, God placed an impression on my heart to go look at Bogwang-dong (a location that is central Seoul and close to church). So I did.

When I got there, it was 8:40 pm and only one real estate agent was open. I parked and when I tried to go in, it was locked. So I phoned the place and one of the real estate agents answered and told me that he would be there in 10 minutes. When I told him what I wanted, he told me he knew of a couple of places. So when he came, we went to this one apartment in Bogwang-dong, and right when we entered it, I knew that this was the place.

The next day, I brought Christina to the place, and she agreed.
So we’re moving! We’re moving next Tuesday!!

Wow, what a testimony to God’s providence and his perfect will.

Missional and Organic Leadership

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I’ve been interested in the issue of leadership and how we can contextualize biblical and secular leadership principles to our churches so that more people can come to know the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.

I loved reading Neil Cole’s Organic Church a few years back as it transformed the way that I view the church. I recently picked up his book, Organic Leadership, and can’t wait to dive into it!

Ed Stetzer’s books have always been good as he is very much of an intellectual like myself, but he uses his intellectual gifts and talents for the church and for practical purposes and means. I love that and that’s what I am striving to do, as that is where I’m discovering my talents and giftings lie. One book he co-authored with David Putman, Breaking the Missional Code, is a must-read for church leaders as it practically describes how to contextualize the gospel to your immediate situation.

On his website, he recently posted a seminar he did for church leaders on missional leadership. I saw it once, and i’m definitely going to be revisiting it again and again until I can truly understand and apply the biblical principles he outlines.

Here it is,