Hak Ja Han
November 29, 2012
Cheon Jeong Gung
To Sermon Contest Participants
Photo date and location unknown
Listening to everyone’s speeches, I was very touched by the content. You did well. Thank you for all the effort you made…. [Mother then commented that it would be preferable if sermons would be in standard Korean without dialect.]
I felt that our sermons shouldn’t be too long. So if possible, the pastors who are giving the Sunday sermon should finish within thirty minutes. If that happens, inspiration can flow during the whole service and then last for the entire week. If you speak too long, those listening will go home without remembering what you said. So give a sermon for thirty minutes and continue the program with members’ testimonies about their activities, congratulating people who have made progress, or give guidance in matters of faith. What do you think? [Applause. Aju!]
If we do that, I think we will have truly a living, breathing church that it will be lively, so that the members and those who are joining will feel “Oh it’s a whole week until the service! I wish it were today." People should experience such feelings. Right? [Yes.]
Father always spoke of how he lived with the thought of giving things away. With the church, I think the spiritual and the material aspects should be combined, and it should stand in a position to give. Do you understand? [Yes!]
Your sermons should really provide the essential content, to convey the main points to the members. If you create an atmosphere in which members are embraced with love, I believe our church can develop more and more.