Here's a great story from last weeks mission meetings in Edinburgh about the beginnings of the world's biggest church.
"Once a woman missionary asked Cho, ‘Reverend, why are there only sick people in this church? I can’t stand the smell. How can our holy Lord come to this smelly place? Try not to gather these people anymore. And go out and preach the Gospel. Teach your congregation on how to take a bath’.Cho’s answer to the missionary reveals his view of the church’s role to the poor and suffering, Rightly said, Missionary. These people are from heaven’s 1st complex. Why is it 1st complex? Because when Jesus comes, they will be the first ones to go to heaven. It is not that these people are not cleaning themselves because they do not know how to take a bath. During winter they have to go to a public bath for washing but they cannot afford as they are poor. They can only clean themselves in the summer in the Han River. As a missionary, you must know this. Do you think that Jesus ever took a bath? Foxes have holes and birds have nests but Jesus had to sleep on the mountains and fields because He did not have a place to rest His head. Jesus could only take a bath in the Galilee beach when it rained. Jesus likes poor and smelly people because he belongs to them. Is there any greater news than healing the sick and helping the poor? Isn’t this the gospel? Isn’t God our healer, and healing the gospel? "
Quote from Dr Young-Hoon Lee of Korea, Christian Spirituality and the Diakonic Mission of the Yoido Full Gospel Church
