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Asian American church recognizes strength of partnership to advance Gospel

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Editor’s note: May is Asian American Pacific Islander month in the U.S., and the IMB is celebrating the rich contributions of Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to the Revelation 7:9 vision

Each year, Good Community Church of Torrance, Calif., takes almost 20 mission trips. Each month, members spend hours on the streets, in Costco, at parks, in Korean markets or at the beach sharing the love of Christ with those they encounter. In 2022, they gave $100,000 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

During a whole church evangelism Sunday, all the members of Good Community Church are sent to local beaches, parks, and shopping malls to pray and to share the gospel with those they encounter. Photo provided

Last year, they sent what they’re praying will be their first of many long-term missionaries to Thailand through the International Mission Board. This predominately Korean-speaking church, pastored by Woo-Joon David Kim, is dedicated to the Great Commission. And members know the best way to get that done is through partnership.

“The IMB is very effective, biblical and systematic in its approach and strategy to reach the lost around the world,” David said. “We definitely want to partner together for the effectiveness of our ministry.”

“We are called by God to partner and collaborate together for the sake of the gospel,” David said. “When Jesus called us, He called us to be community. We believe in the power of partnership to finish the task.”

A few years ago, Rick and Soyoung Kim became members of [2]

When the couple approached Pastor Kim, saying they felt a “holy burden, a calling” to the nations, David was more than excited for Good Community to be their sending church. For the church, this would potentially be the first long-term missionary couple it had sent in its 32 years. David knew that the faithfulness the couple exemplified in the California church would continue on the mission field.

Last year, the church sent the Kims to Thailand, where they’re serving their first term. They’re adding to nearly 75 years of steadfast IMB missionary presence in Thailand.

Good Community didn’t just send them out with best wishes, though. They continue to support their missionaries actively. Not only are they faithful in giving to the Lottie Moon offering, where 100 percent of gifts goes directly overseas in support of missionaries and their work, but they continue to support them with monthly check-in calls, visits to the missionaries on the field once a year, and consistent prayer.

Recently David visited them on the field. And when they came home for an emergency family issue, they visited their sending church. Church members also made a video recording members praying for their work and sent the video to the missionaries for encouragement.

Members of Good Community Church serve and share the gospel with people in a drug rehabilitation center in Mexico on a short-term mission trip. Photo provided

Ezra Bae, the IMB’s Asian church mobilization strategist, said, “Dr. Kim and his church has faithfully been partnering with IMB by praying, giving and sending. After becoming the senior pastor of the church, Dr. Kim has tried to build up a good partnership with IMB.”

The church understands that sending the missionary couple long term is vital to seeing the nations come to know the Gospel. It doesn’t stop there, though. In addition to praying, giving and sending, members of Good Community are passionate about going. Each year, members go on one of more than 20 cross-cultural mission trips.

The passion for these trips has been spurred by the concentrated street evangelism the church does, David believes. But that excitement to see people come to know the Lord has definitely spread to the nations.

Church members frequent places like Mexico, Costa Rica, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, and places in North Africa and the Middle East. In fact, after a recent trip, one church member shared that her whole perspective on missions had changed.

After looking into the faces of the children the church members served among, she said, “I will never ask again whether I should go on a mission trip. The only question I will be asking is how many times a year I’ll be going abroad to share the Gospel.”