 The
Hanmee English Ministry Story
Our
History
Early Roots…
" 1964: Chicago Korean Presbyterian Church established as the first
Korean Presbyterian church in Chicagoland
" 1973: renamed Cicero Korean Presbyterian Church after moving
to Cicero
" 1986: renamed Hanmee Presbyterian Church after moving to Itasca
" 1993: Pastor Grayson Van Camp named Pastor of English Ministry
" 1994: 6th and current Senior Pastor, the Rev. Jong Hyeong Lee
called and installed
Start of English Ministry…
" 01.1995: after a long period of a common Youth / College / Young
Adult English worship service, the 1st English "College/Young Adult"
Worship Service established. The first services were official by Hanmee's
Associate Pastor, Rev. Yunchun Han.
" 1995-1997: Rev Jonathan Choi called and installed
" 1997-1998: Sarah Ahn, JDSN called as an interim pastor
" 08.1998: Rev. Robert Kang called and installed
" 01.1999: "College/Young Adult" formally changed to
"Hanmee English Ministry" (HEM)
" 01.1999: HEM becomes financially independent from KM
" 01.2002: Little Blessings Nursery / Kingdom Kids Sunday School
formalized
" 03.2002: Membership of entire Hanmee Church body accepted and
recognized
" 04.2003: Little Blessings / Kingdom Kids merge with Hanmee Kids
Ministry
" 01.04.2004: EM moves into Main Sanctuary
" 04.2004: Hanmee PC's 40th Anniversary
The Present…
" 01.2006: new Leadership structure installed consisting of seven
deacons
" 03.2006: new LIFE group ministry launched
" 06.2006: new Hanmee EM membership class launch
" 09..2006: Pastor Raymond Song became 5th pastor of Hanmee English
Ministry
" 10.2006: College Ministry rejoined to HEM
Back to Top
What
We Believe
A. We believe in one true God eternally existing in three
persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He is
the Creator of all things and the only object of our worship and prayer.
B. We believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true man. He was conceived
by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life
and died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. He rose bodily from
the dead, ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven. He
will return to raise the dead, to judge all people according to their
deeds and to establish his glorious kingdom.
C. We believe that the Holy Spirit, through the proclamation of the
gospel, convicts the sinner, regenerates the believing sinner and indwells,
leads and empowers the believer for godly living and fulfillment of
the Great Commission.
D. We believe that the Bible, both Old and New Testament, is the only
inspired Word of God, without error in the original writing. It is the
divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life.
E. We believe that humankind was originally created in the image of
God but sinned by disobeying God and is thus alienated from God and
in need of salvation.
F. We believe that justification and salvation of all believers are
obtained only by the grace of God and through the atoning acts of Jesus
Christ, his death and resurrection. We believe that Jesus Christ is
the way and the truth and the life. Jesus Christ our Lord is the only
Mediator between God and humankind.
G. We believe that the true Church is the universal, spiritual body
of all believers from every tribe, tongue and race of people, and is
indwelt by God through the Holy Spirit and divinely empowered to fulfill
its Great Commission on earth. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord
and Head of the Church.
H. We believe that the church is called by Jesus Christ to offer holy
and pleasing worship to God and to serve Him by preaching the gospel
and making disciples of all nations, through the ministry of the word
and sacraments.
Back to Top
Vision
and Goals
The goals for this year provided a unique challenge as
we began the year without an EM Pastor. Nevertheless, we did not want
to wait to advance our ministry and decided that we would strive to
grow the ministry, not just maintain it. To help us with goals for the
year, we took a survey of the congregations concerns and desires. From
that survey as well as a Holy Spirit led discussion about what we should
focus on, we established these three goals for EM:
Goal #1: To be proactive about welcoming and accepting new members
One consensus strength for EM was our Community. However, many indicated
that it was difficult to break into that Community. To help ease transition
from visitor to a member of the EM community, the Care team established
a "shepherd" program where visitors and new members were greeted
and never left alone. This proved to be a success from the feedback
we received as well as the number of first time attendees that came
back to EM.
Goal #2: To provide more bible study and leadership training opportunities
One consensus need for EM were opportunities for studying God's
word. However, from a planning perspective, when Bible Studies were
established, leaders were difficult to find and attendees even more
sparse. Nevertheless, we committed to at least providing the opportunities
for study/training. Through most of the year, we accomplished the planning
aspects that in 2007 we hope to be implementing. The planning and implementation
consisted of the following:
" Establishing a vision and direction for the Education Team
" Evaluating the plan for Study Bible Study
" Planning for leadership training
" Planning and execution of three retreats throughout the year
Goal #3: To clarify God's vision and direction for English Ministry
Who are we", "what do we stand for" and "what is
our purpose" were questions that many in our congregation hoped
we would struggle with. And struggle we did: We gathered information
on what vision and direction and brought in an outside advisor (Robert
Goette) to discuss a process to evaluate who we are and where we should
be going. After months of prayer and evaluation, we decided that this
would need to engage a significant number of people outside the formal
leadership and began the evaluation of the cost (financial and time)
it would take to struggle through this endeavor. In the meantime, we
hired a EM pastor and tasked the EM pastor to spearhead this effort
for the coming year.
Back to Top
|
