Global Fountains

By Joochan Kim

Global Fountains ministries opened my eyes to see the beauty of the diversity of the church. Worshipping with a couple dozen children from around the world taught me to be more conscious about believers around the world. It was so natural for my perspective of the church to be limited to America. Although I knew about the church in other parts of the world, and even of the persecuted church, I had not been able to go from thinking conceptually to understanding the weight and importance of it. Here I want to share with you three more lessons that I’ve learned while serving with Global Fountains.

I went into the ministry with a lot of shortcomings and ignorance, but thankfully God put together a wonderful team, able to pray and work together. I’m learning, albeit a little late, the sinful approach I took to the gospel ministry; the work/prayer ratio. Although I can’t say what the “biblical ratio” for work and prayer should be, all I know is that my ratio involved little prayer. I’m convinced that our ministries need less workers relying on their abilities; perhaps there are millions who are more talented in teaching and planning, than I am, without having to pray, but God won’t be glorified by such a minister. I’m learning to rely on the work of the Holy Spirit through prayer.

The second lesson I have been learning is the need to maximize every opportunity that God gives for gospel sharing. The After School ministry of Global Fountains is not like the typical church ministry where you are with the same group of children for months or even years at a time. Some of the children you will only see once, and some faithful attendees occasionally move without a notice. I’m sure there are strategies out there on how to “best” relay the gospel message, especially to those of another religious background, but in our context, a bold, unapologetic proclamation of the gospel is better than no gospel.

The final lesson I learned was the laying down of the world’s criteria of success. Due to the irregular flow of refugees into our neighborhood, there are some days that we have five children show up (which is less than our volunteers). But to have the privilege to serve even five children is something I’ve learned to treasure dearly, not to mention how much more effectively we can disciple when there’s only five children.

God has been shaping and teaching all of us who have been involved with the ministry, and every passing semester we are able to utilize these lessons to portray our on-going process of sanctification. I simply ask that you pray for our upcoming semester that every time we meet, we would offer up worship that is pleasing to God, and that God would use these children in greater ways than we can imagine!

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Joochan Kim is a graduate from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Philosophy, and he is currently a Master of Divinity student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Joochan serves as co-director of the After School Ministry with Global Fountains and youth pastor at Disciple Baptist Church in Carrollton, Texas.