Greetings all.

Last Friday (Jan 18, 2013) marked a monumental moment in our youth group. We finally concluded a Bible study series that stretched approximately 14 months (with 3 months break during Summer 2012). And I don’t mind that at all, after all what is a Church that does not study Scripture, and study it carefully (like the Bereans in Acts 17:11)? Thank God for the Apostle John and his gospel, which in the hands of the Holy Spirit is able (and we are witnesses) to transform us from the inside out and nurture within us faith in Christ and love towards God.

Starting this Friday, we will be embarking on a whole new series… on the Westminster Shorter Catechism (find it here). You can see what it is in this short article here. The article covers the history of where it comes from and why it’s helpful for us today. Nonetheless, there are a few more personal reason why we as Risen Sun family should go through this document:

1. The Korean-American immigrant Christian community and their children are, mostly, very ignorant of the catechisms. This is bad because it causes us to be inarticulate (or unable to talk well) about our Christian faith. The catechisms go over the very basic points of the Christian faith, which when learned, are very useful in giving us words to describe our faith (both to ourselves or others).

2. The current fad of renewed spirituality dangerously disregards or disdains good traditions of the Church. There is a difference between traditions and traditionalism. Traditions, as one professor once said, is the “living faith of dead people” whereas traditionalism is defined as “dead faith of living people”. In the young generations’ effort to rid ourselves of many bad things connected with traditionalism, we are also starting to throw out traditions. This is bad (see 1 Peter 1:10-12). This is unhealthy. This is dangerous.

3. The WSC also helps us to understand and answer some of our own questions considering the nature of God, Bible, and salvation in a concise and easy to understand manner. While it doesn’t replace Scripture, it does (in many cases) help us to understand how to apply the Scripture to our lives. This only helps us to grow in our Christian faith.

This is why we embark on this new series. The format may or may not change. We will still incorporate the small group set up. We pray that God will use this mightily in our midst.