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한복협
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2009-07-14 10:41:10, 조회 : 11,618, 추천 : 613 |
Statement of Agreement
We are grateful to God for allowing us to have the 9th Japanese-Korean Church Leaders' Round Table Conference held at the Hallelujah Church in Korea from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3. Thirteen pastors from Japan and about eighteen pastors and church leaders from Korea participated in the meeting which was co-sponsored by the JEA and KEF and enjoyed the renewed fellowship in Jesus Christ.
We felt grateful to the leaders such as the Rev. Koji Honda, the Rev. Joshua Tsutada, the Rev. Chung Jin Kyung, the Rev. Hong Soon Woo who poured out their hearts to establish and strengthen the ties of fellowship and cooperation through the love and forgiveness of the Cross between our two Churches of Japan and Korea during the past 20 some years.
We again acknowledged our common ground that we have shared and accepted our mutual apologies as well as our mutual forgiveness for the unfortunate past and that we have renewed our oneness in Jesus Christ beyond our nationalism and that we have again committed ourselves to strengthen our fellowship and cooperation for the better future for the cause of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for the world mission.
We all appreciated the opening message of the Rev. Joshua Ogawa, the chairman of the JEA. He apologized for the recent and continual Yasukuni shrine worship by the Prime Minister Koizmi, for the matter of twisted text book issues, and for the territorial issues about the Dockdo (Takeshima) island. The Rev. Joshua Ogawa was prayerfully and positively looking for the God-promised vision, on the basis of the prophesies of Isaiah 19, that some day Japan, North Korea and South Korea will come together to worship God. The Rev. Kim Myung Hyuk, the chairman of KEF extended hearty welcome to all the participants, reminding of the many past grateful and joyous efforts through the grace of God to establish and strengthen the amicus relationship between us overcoming the high walls of differences.
The presenters candidly pointed out the past and present politico-cultural issues which both Japan and Korea are facing and tried to solve them to fulfill the God-given task of world evangelism. One of the most serious and keen issues which we do face is, we all agreed, the extreme right wing tendencies of religious and militaristic nationalism in Japan. This could be both hindrances as well as opportunities for stronger ties between our two Churches, if we could be more sensitive and willing to bear sacrifices for the great cause of world mission.
In spite of these many conflicts, difficulties, and problems, we have come to commit ourselves to the hands of the Lord and earnestly pray for God's mercy upon us and for his outpouring of the Spirit to unite us and to use us for evangelizing the world for His glory as God's stewards in our region.
Nov. 3, 2005
Rev. Joshua Ogawa, Chairman of JEA
Rev. Kim Myung Hyuk, Chairman of KEF
and all the participants
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