A Burden for Ministry: The Legacy of Momentum

The Word of Life Bible Institute educational philosophy is founded on the core principles of study, life and ministry. Our mission seeks to, “educate each student with a rigorous academic and structured discipleship atmosphere, preparing him or her to live a life of maximum effectiveness for the Lord.” We desire to equip students with the tools necessary for ministry while allowing them to gain experience through sharing the gospel, experiencing missions, and using their gifts to serve others.

The students have numerous ministry opportunities as the Bible Institute is situated on Jeju Island where only two percent of people attend church. One of the largest ministry opportunities the students participate in throughout the year is an event for teenagers called “Momentum”. With fun games, tasty food, meaningful worship, and clear Bible teaching, this event is the perfect gateway into the lives of the teenagers in the community. Sergei Li, a 2014 alumnus of WOLBI Jeju, originally designed Momentum with the desire to help Jeju Island churches strengthen their youth ministries. Sergei knows Word of Life is passionate about building into the next generation saying he believes, “Word of Life is one of the biggest ministries for teenagers in the world.”

As a student, Sergei could not believe the Bible Institute did not have specific ministries for teens on the island. With the help of his classmates and direction from staff, Sergei set off to start Momentum saying, “we have a facility, we have people willing to help, there’s hundreds of unreached students, we are a Bible Institute…let’s do something!” Sergei worked hard to set a clear vision for Momentum with his goal to “initiate a movement for the next few years.”

Sergei knew the value of teamwork saying, “without my classmates I don’t think we could have done half of what we did.” Even though the ministry started off small, the students persevered and improved the event throughout the year. From the 6 teens that first attended in the 2013-2014 school year to the 35+ who recently came out for the event on October 22nd, it is clear Momentum has allowed the students to reach out to teens all across the island. Sergei is “amazed to see how big Momentum is right now” and never realized the impact it would have and further commented that he, “was just there and answered God’s call to do something.” Prayer was the backbone of this ministry and throughout the years many people including students, staff and the body of Christ have prayed for Momentum.

Through all of this Sergei realized that, “ministry is hard and it takes time. We are impatient with our lives and we always try to have everything now and fast”. He continued to say “we need to be very careful and be close enough to God to hear His plan, not ours, so His name can be glorified and lifted higher than ours, so that many can hear His good news and feel his love”

One of the best parts about being on staff is seeing the students actively involved with the youth in the community, knowing their dedication and involvement in Momentum is investing into another generation of believers on Jeju Island. Ministry is about people and Momentum will always be about giving the Bible Institute students opportunities to lead and plan ministry for the teenagers on Jeju Island.

{Photo by Kortni Maria Photography + Design}