찬란한 새해가 밝아왔습니다. 땅에서 무슨 일이 일어나든지, 바다에 어떤 파도가 몰려오든지 찬란하게 밝아오는 새해를 막지 못합니다. 태초에 하늘과 땅을 만드신 분께서 시간을 창조하시고 하루 하루를 여시고 한 해 한 해를 펼치시고 계십니다. “하나님이 이르시되 하늘의 궁창에 광명체들이 있어 낮과 밤을 나뉘게 하고 그것들로 징조와 계절과 날과 해를 이루게 하라”(창1:14) 하루하루 떠오르는 해는 꼭 같지만, 새해를 맞이하면서는 새로운 마음을 가집니다. 지나간 날들을 돌아보며 새로운 소원을 품는다면, 새해는 우리 각자에게 의미있고, 새로운 한 해가 될 것입니다.
지난 해 마지막 토요일에는 에스라의 신임총장으로 내정된 정현구 목사 부부를 만났습니다. 그동안 서울영동교회를 25년동안 섬기다가 지난 해 11월 조기 은퇴한 분입니다. 자주 만난 사이는 아니지만 서로를 알고 있는 사이입니다. 작은 교단 같은 교단에 속해 있기 때문입니다. 만난 기억이 뚜렷한 경우는, 2010년 10월 케이프타운에서 제 3차 로잔대회가 열렸을 때입니다. 같은 고신의 대표로서 참석하기도 했지만, 발목을 다쳐서(?)) 휠체어를 타고 계셨기에 밀어주다 보니 상당히 가까이(?) 지낸 셈입니다. 당신은 부교역자 생활도 변변히 하지 못하고 담임으로서, 그것도 목회만 하다보니 학교에 대해서는 문외한이라고 이런 저런 질문들을 했습니다. 물론 일반적인 한국교회의 형편이나 신학대학원의 입학생 감소에 대해서는 알고 있었습니다. 그래서 에스라성경대학원대학교의 상황을 궁금해 했습니다.
아는 사람은 알고 있듯이 이 시대의 총장은 새로운 3D업종이라고들 합니다. 한 때는 목회를 은퇴하고 총장으로 간다면 승진이라고 생각했을 수도 있습니다. 최소한 멋진 은퇴자들의 선망의 대상이었을 수도 있습니다. 하지만 오늘 현실은 녹록지 않습니다. 작은 학교 1, 2학년 총 정원이 100명인 학교이고, 든든한 후원이 보장된 재단도 없는데다, 경영은 거의 전적으로 학생들의 등록금으로 운영해야 한다면 말입니다. “미쁘다 이 말이여, 곧 사람이 감독의 직분을 얻으려 함은 선한 일을 사모하는 것이라 함이로다” 오늘날 총장의 사역은 초대교회 감독처럼 아무나 할 수 있는 일은 아닙니다. 온전한 헌신과 희생이 요구되지만 하나님이 부르신 일에 응답하는 것은 선한 일이요 바나바와 같은 착한 사람이 할 수 있는 일입니다.
이제는 선한 일을 사모하는 새로운 총장이 오셨으니 선한 소원을 가진 분들이 모여 들면 찬란한 새해가 될 것입니다. 새로운 생명으로 태어난 모든 신앙인의 마음속에 두 가지 소원이 있습니다. 하나는 말씀을 더욱 알아가고 싶다는 소원과 다른 하나는 주님을 위해서 살고 싶다는 것입니다. 그래서 은퇴 후에 그동안 품었던 소원을 따라서 주님의 일을 하기 위해 선교지로 나가는 분들이 가끔 있습니다. 그런데 첫 번째 소원, 말씀을 알고 싶다는 소원을 제대로 충족시킬 수 있는 곳은 잘 알지 못합니다. 그래서 전 세계에서 성경 66권을 한 장 한 장 배울 수 있는 유일한 성경대학원대학교로서 경기도 고양에 에스라가 자리잡고 있다는 사실을 홍보하고 싶습니다. 게다가 1월에는 2025학년도 신입생을 모집하는 마지막 기회가 남아있으니, 새해에는 하나님이 주신 소원을 성취하는 한 해가 되기를 바랍니다. <이번 칼럼에 실린 사진들은 GT선교회 권지현 목사님이 촬영한 것으로 사용허락을 받았습니다>
A radiant new year has dawned. Whatever transpires upon the earth, or whatever waves billow across the sea, nothing can stay the dawn of a bright new year. The One who created heaven and earth in the beginning also fashioned time, opening each day and unfolding each passing year. “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years’” (Gen 1:14). While the sun that rises each morning is ever the same, we greet the new year with a renewed heart. If we reflect upon the days gone by and embrace fresh aspirations, this new year will truly become meaningful and new for each of us.
On the final Saturday of last year, I met with Pastor Hyun-Goo Jung and his wife; he has been nominated as the new president of Ezra Bible Graduate University. He served Seoul Youngdong Church faithfully for twenty-five years before taking early retirement this past November. Though we have not met frequently, we have long known each other, sharing fellowship within the same small denomination. My most vivid memory of our time together was at the Third Lausanne Congress held in Cape Town in October 2010. We both attended as delegates from the Kosin denomination, but because he had injured his ankle(?) and was using a wheelchair, I ended up pushing his wheelchair and we spent quite a close(?) time together. Saying that he had spent little time as an assistant pastor and had devoted himself entirely to senior pastoral ministry, he confessed that he was largely unfamiliar with running an academic institution, asking various questions. Of course, he was well aware of the broader realities facing the Korean church and the decline in theological seminary enrollment. Naturally, he was deeply curious about the current situation at Ezra Bible Graduate University.
As those in the know often say, serving as a university president in this day and age has become a new kind of arduous, uphill endeavor. There was once a time when retiring from pastoral ministry to become a university president might have been regarded as a promotion—or at least an enviable path for a distinguished retiree. Today, however, the reality is far from easy. Ezra is a small institution with a total combined enrollment cap of only 100 students across the first and second years; it possesses no foundation with deep endowments, and its operations must rely almost entirely on student tuition. “Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.” Today, the ministry of a university president—much like that of an overseer in the early church—is not an assignment just anyone can undertake. It demands wholehearted dedication and sacrifice, yet answering God's call to such service is truly a noble work, fit for a person of goodness like Barnabas.
Now that a new president who genuinely aspires to this noble task has arrived, if individuals filled with noble callings gather together, this will surely become a radiant new year. Within the heart of every believer born into new life, there dwell two earnest desires: one is to know the Word of God more deeply, and the other is to live for the Lord. That is why some people, following the longing they carried in their hearts for so long, head out into the mission field after retirement to serve the Lord. Yet, many do not know where they can properly fulfill that first desire—the hunger to understand God's Word thoroughly. That is why I wish to share that right here in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Ezra Bible Graduate University stands as the only graduate university in the world dedicated to learning all sixty-six books of the Bible, chapter by chapter. Furthermore, January brings the final opportunity to apply for admission for the 2025 academic year. May this new year be one in which the holy desires God has placed within your heart are joyfully fulfilled.
’n Glansryke nuwe jaar het aangebreek. Wat ook al op aarde gebeur, of watter golwe ook al oor die see spoel, niks kan die aanbreek van ’n helder nuwe jaar stuit nie. Hy wat in die begin die hemel en die aarde gemaak het, het ook die tyd geskape, elke dag geopen en elke jaar ontvou. “Toe het God gesê: ‘Laat daar ligte wees aan die hemelruim om skeiding te maak tussen dag en nag, en laat hulle dien as tekens sowel vir vaste tye, asook vir dae en jare’” (Gen 1:14). Hoewel die son wat elke oggend opkom dieselfde bly, betree ons die nuwe jaar met ’n hernude gemoed. As ons terugkyk op die dae wat verby is en nuwe hartsbegeertes koester, sal die nuwe jaar vir elkeen van ons waarlik betekenisvol en nuut wees.
Op die laaste Saterdag van verlede jaar het ek ds. Hyun-Goo Jung en sy vrou ontmoet; hy is benoem as die nuwe rektor van Ezra Bybelse Nagraadse Universiteit. Hy het Seoul Youngdong Gemeente 25 jaar lank getrou gedien voordat hy verlede November vroeg afgetree het. Hoewel ons mekaar nie gereeld gesien het nie, ken ons mekaar goed aangesien ons aan dieselfde klein denominasie behoort. My duidelikste herinnering aan hom was tydens die Derde Lausanne-kongres wat in Oktober 2010 in Kaapstad gehou is. Ons het albei as afgevaardigdes van die Kosin-kerkverband deelgeneem, maar omdat hy sy enkel beseer het(?) en in ’n rolstoel was, het ek hom rondgestoot en het ons taamlik na aan mekaar(?) beweeg. Hy het genoem dat hy min ervaring as medeleraar gehad het en sy hele lewe lank net as hoofleraar in die gemeentebediening gestaan het, en dat hy dus min van akademiese bestuur weet, waarna hy verskeie vrae gevra het. Natuurlik was hy bewus van die algemene toestand van die Koreaanse kerk en die afname in studentegetalle by teologiese kweekskole. Daarom was hy baie nuuskierig oor die situasie by Ezra Bybelse Nagraadse Universiteit.
Soos diegene wat weet dikwels sê, het die rektorskap in hierdie tyd ’n uiters veeleisende en ondankbare taak geword. Daar was ’n tyd toe aftrede uit die gemeentebediening om rektor te word as ’n bevordering beskou kon word—of ten minste iets wat beny kon word as ’n waardige afsluiting van ’n loopbaan. Vandag is die werklikheid egter bitter moeilik. Ezra is ’n klein instelling met ’n totale kwota van slegs 100 studente oor die eerste en tweede jaar; daar is geen welgestelde stigting om dit te ondersteun nie, en die bedryf moet byna uitsluitlik uit klasgelde gefinansier word. “Dit is ’n betroubare woord: As iemand na die amp van opsiener streef, begeer hy ’n voortreflike werk.” Vandag is die bediening van ’n rektor—nes dié van ’n opsiener in die vroeë kerk—nie iets wat sommer enigiemand kan aanpak nie. Dit verg volkome toewyding en opoffering, maar om te antwoord op God se roeping is ’n goeie werk wat slegs ’n opregte mens soos Barnabas kan verrig.
Noudat ons ’n nuwe rektor verwelkom wat na hierdie edel taak streef, sal dit waarlik ’n glansryke nuwe jaar wees as mense met goeie hartsbegeertes saamkom. In die hart van elke gelowige wat tot nuwe lewe gebore is, leef daar twee begeertes: die een is om die Woord van God dieper te leer ken, en die ander is om vir die Here te lewe. Daarom is daar mense wat ná hul aftrede hul jarelange hartsbegeerte volg en na die sendingveld vertrek om die Here se werk te doen. Tog weet baie nie waar hulle daardie eerste begeerte—om die Woord deeglik te leer ken—waarlik kan bevredig nie. Daarom wil ek dit graag bekendmaak dat Ezra Bybelse Nagraadse Universiteit in Goyang, Gyeonggi-provinsie, die enigste Bybelse nagraadse universiteit ter wêreld is waar ’n mens al 66 Bybelboeke hoofstuk vir hoofstuk kan bestudeer. Boonop bied Januarie die laaste geleentheid om aansoek te doen vir die 2025-akademiese jaar. Mag die nuwe jaar vir u ’n jaar wees waarin die begeertes wat God in u hart geplant het, ryklik vervul word.
<Die foto's in hierdie rubriek is geneem deur ds. Ji-Hyun Kwon van GT Mission en word met toestemming gebruik.>