꼭 이사한 지 두 주간이 되는 날입니다. 여러 장로님들이 공항까지 마중을 나오시면서 임시 번호판을 단 승용차를 가지고 나오셨는데 그날 타고 들어온 이후 아직까지 사용해 본 적이 없습니다. 교회당과 사택이 가깝기도 하지만 시내 길을 익힐 만한 시간적인 여유가 없었던 게 주 이유입니다. 그런 상황에 어제 기독교보에서 원고청탁을 받았습니다. 내 개인적인 거취에 대한 관심만 아니라 울산교회가 차지하는 교단내의 위상 때문에라도 글을 써 달라는 부탁을 받고 보니 거절할 도리가 없습니다.
두 달만 있으면 신학대학원을 졸업한 지 20년이 되며 8년간 유학을 마치고 일선 목회를 한 지는 10년에 접어들었습니다. 그동안 서울 장승백이에서 두레교회를 개척하고 꼭 2년 6개월 만에 하나님이 기회를 주셔서 정릉에서 탄포리교회라는 이름으로 두 번째 개척교회를 분립해서 오늘에 이르렀습니다. 귀국한 다음 한 십년 후에는 남은 길을 어떻게 걸을 것인지 다시 한 번 결단하리라고 생각했었습니다. 그때는 선교지나 신학교나 아니면 계속 목회하는 것을 가능한 선택으로 막연히 생각하고 있었습니다. 하지만 얼마간 시간이 지나면서 사십이 넘어가면 일급 선교사로서 자격을 상실한다는 사실을 듣게 되었고 아직껏 신학교에서는 한 번도 교수로 정식 부름을 받은 적이 없습니다. 그러다가 두세 달 전에 울산교회로부터 청빙교섭을 받았을 때 내게 남은 하나의 선택이며 하나님의 부름이라는 인식을 하게 되었습니다.
처음 교섭을 받을 때는 여러 가지로 망설여지기도 했습니다. 우선 열악한 환경의 탄포리교회가 걱정이 되었고 다음은 여러분들이 우려하는 대로 많은 분들의 존경을 받는 박두욱 목사님의 후임으로서 일을 해낼 자신이 없었습니다. 솔직히 그런 점을 박 목사님께 말씀드렸을 때 “목회는 은혜로 하는 것”이라면서 “그동안 정 목사가 준비한 것이 이때를 위함인지 누가 아느냐”고 하시며 간곡히 요청하시는 박 목사님의 말씀을 듣고 만약 이 일이 하나님으로부터 나왔다면 가부간 선택권이 나에게 없는 사실을 생각하며 두고 가는 탄포리교회도 하나님이 맡아주시리라는 확신을 점차로 하게 되었습니다. 물론 개척해서 사역하던 교회를 떠난다는 것은 예상했던 것처럼 쉬운 일은 아니었습니다. 신학 수업을 끝내고 목회 길을 들어선 이후 내 생애에 가장 힘든 결단이요 기간이었습니다.
그러다 보니 위상에 걸맞은 울산교회 담임목사로서 사역 구상을 하고 이사를 했던 것은 아니었습니다. 다만 상식에 기초하고 주일마다 선포되는 말씀을 순종하는 목회를 해야 하겠다는 생각을 갖고 있습니다. 어쩌면 좀 막연한 것처럼 들리지만 어쭙잖은 개인의 목회 비전으로 성도들을 몰아가는 것보다는 그 편이 안전하리라는 생각이 들기도 합니다. 다만 지면을 빌려서 염려하는 선배와 동역자들에게 간곡한 기도와 부탁을 드리고 싶습니다. 그동안 우리 교단뿐 아니라 한국교회 전반적인 현실을 보면 은퇴하는 목회자의 후임 승계가 쉽게 이루어지지 않은 것이 사실인 만큼 아름다운 사역의 계승을 할 수 있도록 기도를 부탁하고 싶습니다. 울산교회 40년 역사에 33년이라는 참으로 귀한 목회 사역에 누를 끼치지 않고 오히려 세워온 모든 귀한 전통을 이어가며 발전시킬 수 있는 계기가 되기를 소원합니다. 사람으로 비교하면 꿈도 꿀 수 없는 일이지만 우리 가운데 역사하시는 하나님의 내일을 두고 감히 기도하고 싶습니다.
그동안 젊은 비판세력으로 여겨지기도 했지만 이제 오십을 바라보는 나이에 좀 더 책임 있는 세대로서 역할을 해야 하는 부름을 겸허히 수용하고 지역사회 속에서 소금과 빛의 사명을 다할 뿐더러 교단내의 울산교회로서 역할, 나아가서는 한국역사 속의 부름과 세계 선교의 장에서 울산교회의 사명을 다할 수 있기를 기도해 주십사 하는 부탁을 이 글을 관심을 갖고 읽으시는 분들에게 드리면서 부임 인사를 갈음합니다.
Today marks exactly two weeks since we moved. Several elders came out to meet me at the airport bringing along a car with temporary license plates, but since arriving in it that day, I have not yet had the chance to use it. While the church building and the parsonage are very close, the primary reason has been that I simply have not had enough leisure time to become familiar with the city streets. Under such circumstances, I received a manuscript request yesterday from the Christian Press (Gidokgyobo). Since the request was made not only out of interest in my personal path but also because of the standing Ulsan Church holds within the denomination, I felt I could not possibly decline.
In just two months, it will be twenty years since I graduated from seminary, and it has been almost ten years since I returned from eight years of study abroad to engage in frontline pastoral ministry. During that time, I planted Doorae Church in Jangseungbaegi, Seoul, and precisely two years and six months later, God granted an opportunity to plant a second congregation by planting and branching out Tanpori Church in Jeongneung, which has led up to the present. When I returned to Korea, I thought that after about ten years I would make another decision regarding how to walk the rest of my path. At the time, I vaguely entertained possible options such as serving on the mission field, teaching at a seminary, or continuing in pastoral ministry. However, as time went by, I learned that once one passes forty, one loses eligibility as a prime-tier missionary, and to date, I have never received a formal call to be a professor at a seminary. Then, two or three months ago, when I received an invitation to candidating discussions from Ulsan Church, I came to realize that this was the remaining option for me and indeed God’s calling.
When I was first approached, I hesitated in many ways. First of all, I was deeply worried about Tanpori Church with its modest circumstances, and secondly, just as many voiced concern, I lacked the confidence to serve as the successor to Pastor Doo-Wook Park, who is so widely respected. When I candidly expressed these feelings to Pastor Park, he said, “Ministry is carried out by grace,” and earnestly urged me, saying, “Who knows whether the preparation Pastor Jung has received all this time is for such a time as this?” Hearing his heartfelt appeal, and realizing that if this matter originated from God I had no right to say yes or no, I gradually grew confident that God would also take care of Tanpori Church which I was leaving behind. Of course, leaving a church that I had planted and ministered to was not easy, just as expected. Since completing my theological studies and entering the pastoral path, it was the most difficult decision and season of my life.
Consequently, I did not move here having laid out grand pastoral blueprints befitting the stature of the senior pastor of Ulsan Church. Rather, I simply hold the conviction that ministry should be rooted in common sense and in obedient submission to the Word proclaimed each Lord’s Day. Though it may sound somewhat vague, I feel that this path is far safer than driving the congregation forward with a half-baked personal pastoral vision. Still, I wish to use this space to ask for the earnest prayers of my seniors and fellow workers who care for us. Looking at the reality not only of our denomination but across the Korean church at large, pastoral succession upon a minister’s retirement has rarely been achieved smoothly; therefore, I ask for your prayers so that a beautiful pastoral succession may take place. Rather than becoming a burden to the truly precious thirty-three years of pastoral labor within the forty-year history of Ulsan Church, my prayer and longing are that this transition may serve as an opportunity to inherit and cultivate all the treasured traditions built up thus far. Although such a thing is beyond imagining when judged by mere human capacity, I dare to pray trusting in the tomorrow of God who is at work among us.
Though I was once regarded as part of the younger, critical voices, now that I am nearing fifty, I humbly accept the call to fulfill the responsibilities of a more accountable generation. As I conclude this introductory greeting upon assuming my new post, I earnestly ask all who read these lines with interest to pray that Ulsan Church may not only fulfill its calling as salt and light within the local community, but also faithfully carry out its role within our denomination, and beyond that, fulfill its calling in Korean history and its mission on the stage of world missions.
Vandag is dit presies twee weke sedert ons verhuis het. Verskeie ouderlinge het my by die lughawe kom ontmoet met 'n motor wat van tydelike nommerplate voorsien is, maar sedert ek daardie dag daarmee aangekom het, het ek dit nog glad nie gebruik nie. Al is die kerkgebou en die pastorie baie naby mekaar, was die hoofrede bloot dat daar nie genoeg vrye tyd was om die stadsstrate te leer ken nie. Te midde van hierdie omstandighede het ek gister 'n versoek om 'n artikel van die Gidokgyobo (Christelike Nuusblad) ontvang. Omdat die versoek nie net gerig is uit belangstelling in my persoonlike pad nie, maar ook vanweë die aansien wat Ulsan Gemeente binne die kerkverband geniet, het ek gevoel ek kan dit onmoontlik van die hand wys.
Oor presies twee maande sal dit twintig jaar wees sedert ek my teologiese studies voltooi het, en dit is nou byna tien jaar sedert ek na agt jaar se buitelandse studie na die voorste linies van die gemeentebediening teruggekeer het. Gedurende daardie tyd het ek Doorae-gemeente in Jangseungbaegi, Seoel, geplant, en presies twee jaar en ses maande later het God 'n geleentheid geskenk om 'n tweede gemeente te stig deur Tanpori-gemeente in Jeongneung af te stig, wat gelei het tot waar ons vandag staan. Toe ek na Korea teruggekeer het, het ek gedink dat ek na sowat tien jaar opnuut 'n besluit sou neem oor hoe om die res van my lewenspad te stap. Destyds het ek vaagweg gedink aan moontlike keuses soos die sendingveld, 'n teologiese skool, of om bloot met gemeentewerk voort te gaan. Mettertyd het ek egter verneem dat 'n mens bo veertig nie meer as eersteklas-sendeling kwalifiseer nie, en tot dusver het ek nog nooit 'n formele beroep ontvang om as professor by 'n teologiese kweekskool aan te sluit nie. Toe ek twee of drie maande gelede 'n beroepsgesprek van Ulsan Gemeente ontvang, het ek besef dat dít die enigste oorblywende keuse vir my was—en inderdaad God se roeping.
Toe ek aanvanklik genader is, het ek om verskeie redes gehuiwer. Eerstens was ek bekommerd oor Tanpori-gemeente met sy eenvoudige en moeilike omstandighede, en tweedens, soos baie mense tereg gevrees het, het ek nie die vrymoedigheid gehad om die opvolger te wees van ds. Doo-Wook Park, wat deur so baie gerespekteer word nie. Toe ek hierdie bekommernisse openhartig met ds. Park gedeel het, het hy gesê: “Die bediening word uit genade gedoen,” en hy het my dringend versoek met die woorde: “Wie weet of dit waarvoor ds. Jung al die jare voorberei is, nie juis vir 'n tyd soos hierdie bedoel is nie?” Toe ek sy hartlike pleitrede hoor, en besef dat indien hierdie saak van God kom ek geen reg het om ja of nee te sê nie, het die oortuiging stelselmatig by my gegroei dat God ook vir Tanpori-gemeente, wat ek agterlaat, sal sorg. Dit was vanselfsprekend glad nie maklik om 'n gemeente wat ek self geplant en bedien het, te verlaat nie. Vandat ek my teologiese opleiding voltooi en die bedieningspad betree het, was dit die moeilikste besluit en tydperk van my lewe.
Ek het dus nie hierheen verhuis met 'n grootse bedieningsplan wat pas by die hoë aansien van die predikant van Ulsan Gemeente nie. Ek koester bloot die oortuiging dat die bediening gegrond moet wees op gesonde verstand en op gehoorsame onderwerping aan die Woord wat elke Sondag verkondig word. Al klink dit miskien ietwat vaag, voel ek dat dit baie veiliger is as om lidmate aan te dryf met 'n kortsigtige, persoonlike bedieningsvisie. Nietemin wil ek graag van hierdie geleentheid gebruik maak om my seniors en mede-arbeiders wat omgee, dringend om hul voorbidding te vra. As ons na die werklikheid van sowel ons kerkverband as die breër Koreaanse kerk kyk, is die opvolging van 'n predikant wat aftree selde vlot afgehandel; daarom vra ek u gebede dat 'n mooi en waardige oordrag van die bediening mag plaasvind. My vurige begeerte is om geen blaam te werp op die kosbare drie-en-dertigjarige bediening binne die veertigjarige geskiedenis van Ulsan Gemeente nie, maar om eerder al die kosbare tradisies wat opgebou is, voort te sit en verder te ontwikkel. Uit 'n menslike oogpunt is dit iets wat 'n mens nie eens kan droom om te vermag nie, maar ek waag dit om te bid met die oog op die toekoms van God wat kragtig in ons midde werk.
Hoewel ek voorheen dikwels as deel van die jonger, kritiese stemme beskou is, aanvaar ek nou, terwyl ek die vyftig nader, nederig die roeping om my rol as deel van 'n meer verantwoordelike generasie te vervul. Terwyl ek hierdie intreewoord afsluit, rig ek 'n hartlike versoek aan almal wat hierdie reëls met belangstelling lees om te bid dat Ulsan Gemeente nie net sy roeping as sout en lig in die plaaslike gemeenskap sal uitleef nie, maar ook sy rol binne die kerkverband getrou sal vervul, en bowenal sy taak in die Koreaanse geskiedenis en sy sendingopdrag op die wêreldtoneel met toewyding sal voortsit.