One Wednesday evening, Pastor Johnny presented a synopsis of the so-called "motivational" spiritual gifts from Romans 12. The next week, we used two card decks: one which had a "motivational" spiritual gift listed and one which had a crisis or opportunity that a church might face (how to deal with gay people, how to cope with financial difficulty, how to provide comfort in face of death, etc.). Each attendee was dealt a card from the "gift deck" and then, a crisis or opportunity was revealed from the top of the "crisis" deck. Each participant had to suggest ways to solve the crisis primarily through allowing the "gift" to flow. The next Wednesday, we tested the thesis that each exhortation in verses 9-15 might particularly (but not exclusively) apply to the motivational gift list in the same order as presented in verses 6-8.

When we started getting down to the practicalities of daily living in Romans 13, Dr. Wilson sandbagged the group. Instead of taking the group verse-by-verse, we began with Ui-jung reading the passage, followed up by Dr. Wilson asking leading questions about the traditional way that this passage is understood (blind obedience to authority). Dr. Wilson noted that the verb used in verse 1 which is often translated as "be in subjection" is better understood as a voluntary submission (the usual idea for this verb is to place oneself under (root idea of "appoint" combined with prefix for "under").

Then, Linus Park pointed out the vital difference in the text between governmental authorities (lit. "higher powers") and authority itself (defined in verse 2 as belonging solely to God). Some traditional interpretations seem to treat God as the puppeteer for the government as the government is the puppeteer for the individual. Noting that the governments also have a responsibility of relying upon God, this creates an interesting tension (see a relevant quotation with regard to another passage at the end of this article).

Pastor Johnny muddied the waters by asking about civil disobedience. What do we do when government (or a human authority in general) is clearly disobeying God? The group agreed that there might be some wriggle room when the powers aren't conforming to God's authority, but not everyone was totally convinced by Dr. Wilson's suggestion that when one disobeyed human authority in the name of God's authority that one must be willing to pay the price (perhaps, imprisonment and perhaps, death). If we are willing to "pay the price" of civil disobedience, we affirm the government's authority even while we protest it. So, we aren't really going against God's authority.

Then, Dr. Wilson admitted that he had sandbagged. One important question to ask when considering a passage is what the text would have meant in the context of its original speaker/writer and hearers. When we came back to this question, we agreed that the purpose was to keep from having the gospel dismissed by lawless actions of and strident protests from believers. With this in mind, the discussion took on a more relevant flavor as we discovered that we need to be sure that when we are protesting even what seems to be a sinful government action or policy that we are not putting the preaching and hearing of the gospel at risk. No wonder we don't usually preach "politics" from the pulpit!

In the light of the discussion about governmental authorities and God's authority, as well as the puppeteer idea refered to earlier, here's a line from a recent book on 1-2 Chronicles. It deals with the divided kingdom and shows how the Chronicler understood this evil event to still be under God's authority. It might help you understand how bad governments can still be within God's authority. 

“The Chronicler’s God, however, is not some puppeteer pulling the strings on his creations. Although the monarchy’s division is ultimately of God (2 Chr. 11:4), the drama is sketched in terms of the free choices and ambitions of Rehoboam and Jeroboam and their respective constituencies.” (Scott W. Hahn, The Kingdom of God as Liturgical Empire (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic Books, 2012, p. 147)

On May 23rd, we will be playing a simple role-playing game encompassing the commandments of Romans 13:9-14. Come for dinner between 6:30 and 7:00 P.M. and join the "game" and discussion between 7:30 and 9:00 P.M.

Do you ever feel like no one listens to you?

Ever feel like you’re left out of decision-making, whether at school, at work, at church, or just with friends on a free evening?

The truth is, everyone needs to be a leader at some point!

What? A one-day seminar on leadership with presentations, lunch, and personalized workshops  

When? Saturday, March 24^th from 9 AM to 4 PM

Where? 5224 N. Kedzie, Chicago, IL 60625

Cost? $5.00 (lunch included)

Topics

1. Understanding and defining effective leadership
2. Discovering theories of leadership
3. Exploring basics on developing and using power
4. Introducing ways to influence others
5. Improving interpersonal communication models

Workshops:

• Analysis of your leadership style
• Planning your leadership development

Welcome to True North Christian Fellowship, the English Ministry of Full Gospel Chicago Church!  Our regular worship service (at 2:00 PM on Sundays) features a versatile worship band that celebrates God's Presence with the excitement of rock, the emotion of blues, and the exhortation of gospel lyrics.Our senior pastor injects multimedia, occasional drama, and challenging expository messages into his teaching ministry. One time, in fact, three of our members joined Pastor Johnny (pictured below) in performing a radio play version of an old Monty Python comedy sketch ("The Four Yorkshiremen") as an introduction to a sermon about thanksgiving. Last year, one of our members did a fabulous one-man play about Joseph's dream where Gabriel visited him. On the final Sunday of Advent, several will participate in a radio play about the meaning of Christmas.

Our hospitality group provides snacks at the conclusion of each service and many of our members hang around to converse, listen to impromptu music, or play games. The snacks aren't usually Korean, but we occasionally enjoy lavish meals together such as the one pictured here. We believe in fun and fellowship as part of our life of faithfulness. If you want to see some examples, look at some of the photos on our Fellowship Fun page. On a recent outing to Millenium Park, some of us tried to make interesting silhouettes in front of one of Chicago's famous art exhibitions. Why wouldn't we want to spend time together? We're planning to spend our "forever" together, aren't we?

We also believe in small groups and discipleship. Currently, our discipleship projects include a challenge to members to keep a detailed prayer list and claim scripture verses when praying for each other and those in needs, as well as a Psalm-per-Day project where each member is encouraged to read a Psalm per day and keep a journal based on reactions to those Psalms [Click on The Psalms Project link in order to read some reactions as we've studied.]. In small group session, Dr. Wilson highlights some of the Psalms from the week (one time, creating our own acrostic version of a Psalm), our members share from their readings, and everyone is free to ask questions. On occasion, small group time is designed strictly for fellowship as we believe that both table fellowship and play time is part of enjoying our family status in God's eyes.

Initiated as a ministry for Korean-American believers who felt more comfortable in English than in a traditional Korean-speaking worship experience, True North Christian Fellowship is becoming a diverse group of believers and hoping to become even more diverse. Our pastor, Dr. Johnny L. Wilson, has a Ph.D. in Old Testament Studies from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and currently serves as an adjunct professor at DePaul University teaching specialized ethics and history courses for game design students in the College of Digital Media. For more about Pastor Johnny, see the Our Pastor page, elsewhere on the site.

True North Christian Fellowship is privileged to be a missionary effort from the Full Gospel Chicago Church and meets in the smaller auditorium in the Full Gospel Church facility at 5224 N. Kedzie Avenue in Chicago. At times, it seems like this community of faith is a well-kept secret because one enters through the gymnasium, crosses the basketball court, and climbs a flight of stairs before reaching our sanctuary. The regular Sunday worship service begins at 2:00 PM, offering a perfect time and venue for North Park University students who generally sleep late on Sunday mornings and for those who want to make worship the central part of their day on Sundays. A pre-school children's church involves those who haven't advanced past kindergarten in a class with singing, painting, Bible stories, snacks, and fun. Wailam Wilson teaches this class of enthusiastic children (a class that often starts before and extends past the 2:00 PM worship service due to youthful excitement).

For more information on True North Christian Fellowship, feel free to email Dr. Wilson at drjohnny@live.com or contact him by cellular phone at 770-827-7533.