Baptism Testimony - Arnold Wong

Admin •
February 14, 2017

6 Minute Read

Even as close as half a year ago, I knew relatively nothing about the Christian faith. Throughout my high school years, I felt very lost and didn’t even know myself too well. Growing up, I had a lot of compassion. But over time, this feeling had diminished; I felt like there wasn’t anyone I could actually give it to. I never really became close to anyone at school and became very isolated. Soon, I became very unmotivated at school as well. I was always thinking, “Why am I doing all of this?” I felt no real sense of fulfillment and didn’t really know what I was trying to accomplish. Eventually, I became so stressed that I didn’t even want to continue anymore. In the middle of my Grade 11 year, I had just stopped going to school entirely. Coming back to school the following year, I got a lot of questions about it. Whenever someone would ask about why I had been gone for the entire year, I kind of just avoided the question. I felt like there was no way that I could share about it, especially to the same people who I’ve known for years, yet have been so distant with.

The first time I came here was in August. It’s something that I never would have expected at all. Sometime just before the summer retreat, Paul asked me if I wanted to go. It seemed very foreign to me; I felt like if I had gone, I’d be a complete outsider. I decided to put my trust in him anyways and took a leap of faith. And now, I don’t regret my decision at all. Over the course of just a few days, I got to know a lot of you very well and it was a wonderful experience.

As part of a follow-up to the retreat, I started to coming out to house church whenever I could. It has become something I always look forward to whenever I come back home from Waterloo. Through the strong sense of community and fellowship, I feel like I’ve been able to open up a lot more through our time of sharing. I remember the first time I came to house church, which was just before the summer retreat. The only thing I shared was: I was thankful for being invited and I was stressed about school approaching. Over time, I’ve been able to grow a lot by becoming more willing to share about things I never really talked to anyone about. I’ve also learned a lot through listening to others share. It has given me a better understanding of others and has taught me to not just assume that everyone is doing well right off the bat. I’ve gotten to know my fellow house church members very well and I feel a sense of home there.

Just last month, Caleb invited me to come to the Gospel Presentation Session. For the last few months, I was a bit hesitant to go as I didn’t really know how committed I was to faith. I didn’t know too much about it but I had come to trust Caleb a lot though, and again, I took another chance. It was a unique experience for me since we had the chance to have a one-on-one session. During the presentation, there was one verse that really got my attention. It comes from Revelations 3:20:
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

Over the few months that I’ve been exposed to faith, I had been learning a lot through church and fellowships at school. I was always scared to call myself a Christian, as I felt that I wasn’t ready. It had only been a short time for me and I felt like I was not a Christian “yet”. There were still a lot of things that I didn’t know and had a lot of uncertainty about. I thought that I needed to completely understand everything.
Through this verse and through Caleb’s explanation, I was able to understand in clear detail, what it meant to be a Christian: to open the door for Jesus; to receive him. Everything else is only a part of the journey. It was at that point that I felt ready to take the first step.

I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to be here. Oftentimes it felt like it wasn’t just a coincidence, but it became confusing to me. If I were to say this was all God’s doing, then wouldn’t that diminish the respect and appreciation I had for Paul for bringing me here? Later, I came to realize what the free will that God granted us really means. From how I see it, it’s not that God forced him to approach me, but rather that God presented an opportunity for Paul to bring me here as part of His plan, and it was up to Paul to actually act upon it. So, I have both God and Paul to thank for being here.

In a very similar manner, I had the common question of, “Why does God let bad things happen in this world?” I’ve come to my own understanding that while bad things do happen, it is in His plan that we are able to do as much as we can to help each other — to be more like the Good Samaritan. We are given the chance to do so, but it’s our choice to take it. Rather than drowning in pity and regret, we have the opportunity to actually try and do something about it. In response to this, I’ve decided to join the Outreach Ministry in my campus, where we plan to serve and give back to the community. It has always been something on my mind, but never really got to actually doing. I’ve gained a lot more courage from fellowship and I believe that this something that I’ve been called to do for a while.

There are still a lot of things that I don’t understand that well, but I’ve become more willing to learn about them. As I go along this path, I hope to continue to grow both in faith and as a Christian. Thank you.

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July 7, 2015 • 5 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - Joey Yoo

Unlike most of you guys here, I come from a non-Christian family. At the age of 5 my family and I immigrated into Canada. When we moved, we stayed at my uncle’s house for a couple months. There we followed his family to their church. Personally I believe that wasn’t the start of my family’s Christian life. Mostly because I’m pretty sure my parents were more interested in meeting Koreans in a foreign country. After the couple months of stay in my Uncle’s house, my family and I moved into our own apartment. We moved into an apartment right next to Pastor Kwack’s which I believe was God’s work. Pastor Kwack was starting his own church around the time when we moved in. Honestly, Without Pastor Kwack starting his own church at that time, I think my family would have been in a whole different world right now. Once his church was settled down and was named Mokmin there were so more things happening in the church like Sunday school, Worship team, and more. When the church settled down in the big church I was around 8-9 years old. There I attended Sunday school which I have to admit was a nightmare for me. Being such a loud kid, stuck inside another school when I was already going to school from Monday to Friday was enough for me. When I think about it now, I think I did trouble the teachers a lot. So I remember promising them I will become a Sunday school teacher when I get older. Till then, Christianity didn’t mean anything to me. Sunday was just another day when I played Pokémon except in another place. After those sorrowful years went by I finally moved into EM. My expectation was the one word “Freedom”. I thought there was going to be more Pokémon time and just talking to my friends but it actually wasn’t. This time there were longer sermons and more bigger people who were twice my size and looked scary. So at the end of the day, I just stayed quiet and followed along like what the rest of the people did. After about a year of being part of the E-Xit Ministry, Puberty started to happen. My puberty is more serious than other teenagers. I know we all go through tough times but I think I had more problems with my adolescence than others. Taking my mom’s personality of “Must win all arguments” really gave me trouble with the family. Also taking my dad’s “I love to have alone time” really isolated me from everyone else including friends. Out of everything from this world I had to like online gaming. When I hit puberty I started to take gaming to the next level. My personality changed and everything about me changed. Being such a loud kid everywhere made me loud in making trouble. Gaming was more important to me than school work, friends, and family. I chose to game over studying for a test or spending time with my friends or family. I hating going outside, so whenever I went outside the only thing that came up to me was “I have to get home quick before it gets too dark so I can start smashing the keyboard”. Whenever I fought with someone from my family since I had to take my mom’s personality, I had to win every fight which lead into huge fights which are unimaginable. Since I had no one to trust around me I was just always alone. I didn’t really hate God because I didn’t even really care about him. What actually started to change me was this book I read called “Catcher in the Rye”. The books pretty messed up but it really gave me the motivation to live life better. I could totally relate myself to the main character and I really didn’t want to end up like him. So every day I try my best to live my life to fullest. I try doing what non- normal teenagers do. Kiss their mom or do ehgyo. But it’s totally worth it because; you never know when someone you actually loved will be gone. I try doing things before I regret. So I took bible 101 and took Jesus Receiving meeting. When I took Jesus receiving meeting I felt very numb. I remember I had to pray and for about 10 seconds everything around me went white. This never happened to me so I thought that there was going to be something ahead of me. It actually came true. God gave me a mission. I have these two friends in school. One of them suffers from the exact same pain I had couple years ago. And the other one, I’m just really thankful to god for sending me him. There were of course times when I wanted to give up with Christianity but someone helped me think again. I really wanted to share this with you. If you hold hands with someone pretending the other person is the lord and you try to let go. No matter how many times you try, the lord will always be hanging onto you. That lecture really gave me the power to keep on living as a Christian. A lot of things about me changed. Although my passion towards gaming didn’t change, just me as a person changed and my view towards the lord. Every day I pray without myself knowing. That’s another signal that I am making a progress of and I am so happy for. I am just so excited for what other things are going to happen to. Maybe this is a new type of game god is introducing me to “life”. Thank you for listening.

Admin

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February 14, 2017 • 6 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - Arnold Wong

Hello everyone, my name is Arnold and I’m currently a first year student studying Mathematics in Waterloo. I would like to share about how I came to learn about Christianity and my decision to get baptized today. Even as close as half a year ago, I knew relatively nothing about the Christian faith. Throughout my high school years, I felt very lost and didn’t even know myself too well. Growing up, I had a lot of compassion. But over time, this feeling had diminished; I felt like there wasn’t anyone I could actually give it to. I never really became close to anyone at school and became very isolated. Soon, I became very unmotivated at school as well. I was always thinking, “Why am I doing all of this?” I felt no real sense of fulfillment and didn’t really know what I was trying to accomplish. Eventually, I became so stressed that I didn’t even want to continue anymore. In the middle of my Grade 11 year, I had just stopped going to school entirely. Coming back to school the following year, I got a lot of questions about it. Whenever someone would ask about why I had been gone for the entire year, I kind of just avoided the question. I felt like there was no way that I could share about it, especially to the same people who I’ve known for years, yet have been so distant with. The first time I came here was in August. It’s something that I never would have expected at all. Sometime just before the summer retreat, Paul asked me if I wanted to go. It seemed very foreign to me; I felt like if I had gone, I’d be a complete outsider. I decided to put my trust in him anyways and took a leap of faith. And now, I don’t regret my decision at all. Over the course of just a few days, I got to know a lot of you very well and it was a wonderful experience. As part of a follow-up to the retreat, I started to coming out to house church whenever I could. It has become something I always look forward to whenever I come back home from Waterloo. Through the strong sense of community and fellowship, I feel like I’ve been able to open up a lot more through our time of sharing. I remember the first time I came to house church, which was just before the summer retreat. The only thing I shared was: I was thankful for being invited and I was stressed about school approaching. Over time, I’ve been able to grow a lot by becoming more willing to share about things I never really talked to anyone about. I’ve also learned a lot through listening to others share. It has given me a better understanding of others and has taught me to not just assume that everyone is doing well right off the bat. I’ve gotten to know my fellow house church members very well and I feel a sense of home there. Just last month, Caleb invited me to come to the Gospel Presentation Session. For the last few months, I was a bit hesitant to go as I didn’t really know how committed I was to faith. I didn’t know too much about it but I had come to trust Caleb a lot though, and again, I took another chance. It was a unique experience for me since we had the chance to have a one-on-one session. During the presentation, there was one verse that really got my attention. It comes from Revelations 3:20: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Over the few months that I’ve been exposed to faith, I had been learning a lot through church and fellowships at school. I was always scared to call myself a Christian, as I felt that I wasn’t ready. It had only been a short time for me and I felt like I was not a Christian “yet”. There were still a lot of things that I didn’t know and had a lot of uncertainty about. I thought that I needed to completely understand everything. Through this verse and through Caleb’s explanation, I was able to understand in clear detail, what it meant to be a Christian: to open the door for Jesus; to receive him. Everything else is only a part of the journey. It was at that point that I felt ready to take the first step. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to be here. Oftentimes it felt like it wasn’t just a coincidence, but it became confusing to me. If I were to say this was all God’s doing, then wouldn’t that diminish the respect and appreciation I had for Paul for bringing me here? Later, I came to realize what the free will that God granted us really means. From how I see it, it’s not that God forced him to approach me, but rather that God presented an opportunity for Paul to bring me here as part of His plan, and it was up to Paul to actually act upon it. So, I have both God and Paul to thank for being here. In a very similar manner, I had the common question of, “Why does God let bad things happen in this world?” I’ve come to my own understanding that while bad things do happen, it is in His plan that we are able to do as much as we can to help each other — to be more like the Good Samaritan. We are given the chance to do so, but it’s our choice to take it. Rather than drowning in pity and regret, we have the opportunity to actually try and do something about it. In response to this, I’ve decided to join the Outreach Ministry in my campus, where we plan to serve and give back to the community. It has always been something on my mind, but never really got to actually doing. I’ve gained a lot more courage from fellowship and I believe that this something that I’ve been called to do for a while. There are still a lot of things that I don’t understand that well, but I’ve become more willing to learn about them. As I go along this path, I hope to continue to grow both in faith and as a Christian. Thank you.

Admin

January 2, 2018 • 8 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - Eric Wu

Hello, everyone, I’m Eric. Many of you may not know me, as I only recently started coming to The Seed a little over 10 months ago. I’m a student at the University of Waterloo, about to finish my 4th year. Thank you all in advance for listening to my testimony. For my background, I wasn’t born into a Christian household. Both my parents were not Christian, and neither is my sister. My position with religion and God had always been “Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t, but there isn’t any way to be certain.” Also, I never felt the need for religion. However, I did always have an interest in the Christians around me and the core values they held. What stood out to me the most was the amount of love they had for each other and how often they would go out of their way to help another in need. I think it was the love shown to me that got me interested. Many people along the way have brought me to where I am now. Two of my closest friends from high school, Raph and Ralph, invited me to a fellowship called True Vine. While I didn’t go very frequently, the few times I did go was my first real exposure to things like singing praise, praying, and the gospel. It was all very foreign to me, but having their company in an unfamiliar setting like that was really helpful, so I’d like to thank them for bringing me out and introducing all of this to me. In my second year of university, I made a new friend named Evelyn in a carpool on the way to Waterloo over a weekend. From the brief chat we had, we stumbled onto the topic of the Chinese Christian Fellowship she attended. Seeing my previous curiosity from True Vine, she invited me out and introduced me to a lot of people. We grew closer as friends, and eventually, she offered to study the Book of Mark with me. While we were both students with incredibly busy schedules, we did our best to summarize each week’s assigned readings, and share with each other what we thought, what stood out, and any questions we may have. Of course, I’d have far more questions than she did, since it was my first time reading the Book, and the Bible at that. However, she was still incredibly patient with me and managed to answer as many questions as she could. Looking back, I’m so amazed that she would go so far to help a stranger she met from a typical weekend. In the end, we were both too busy with final exams and our schedules to completely finish the book, but she helped keep me accountable and helped me with my first bible study. Even as we began to lose touch from our schedules, she messaged me around the end of the term before the holidays, and gave me a mug as a present for studying the Bible with her. The mug had a passage from the Book of Mark, with the words “Follow Me”. I’m still really grateful for her initiative and effort put into me. We haven’t kept in touch much today but I really want to say thank you, Evelyn. While I didn’t continue attending the Chinese Christian Fellowship, I had a Chinese friend introduce me to Korean Christian Fellowship in my third year of university. The biggest thing that stood out to me was that she wasn’t Korean, nor Christian. I related a lot to that, so I decided to try it out. At first, I was shy and didn’t go that regularly, but I felt very welcomed the few times I did go. It was the warmest I’ve ever felt with people since coming to Waterloo, despite being with many more strangers than I’m comfortable with. In my second term of 3rd year, I decided to try my best to attend more regularly, and to really learn and experience as much as I could. I started making friendships that I am so thankful for today. I joined a small group that studied the book of James, where I could discuss and learn and connect with people in a smaller, personal setting. I joined the praise team, helping with drums, and discovered that I loved serving and praising. I went to a few retreats like the KCF retreat in January, and Mark Central in May, where I got to study the book of Mark in a very in-depth way, as well as serve on the praise team. All of these things together with an amazing community like KCF really brought me so much joy and I’m so thankful for the new friends that gave me so many opportunities to learn and grow. 10 months ago, in my 4th year, I was back in Toronto for a co-op term, and was looking for a church to attend. That was when Arnold, who I had met from KCF, introduced me to Lampang House Church. I decided to try it out and was immediately greeted with the familiar warm setting I felt in KCF. The first Sunday service that I attended was actually Arnold getting baptized, and it’s incredible because I never would have thought I’d be here giving a testimony 10 months later! It was the house church that really got me feeling the most love. Every week, we would gather to share a meal, sing, and discuss and share our week. I couldn’t believe how comfortable and welcoming everyone was all the time. It really felt like a home away from home, despite them being people I had met only recently. People like Pastor Caleb and Anthony would always make sure to greet me, and listen attentively to what I had to say. It was a really great time where I could be myself and share anything I wanted. Not long after, I attended the Gospel Presentation Session in February. Pastor Caleb did a really good job at explaining the Gospel in a simple, understandable way for me, and I decided to receive Christ on February 26. The reason I didn’t get baptized right away after that was because I felt like things were still happening too fast, and I didn’t even tell many people about the new activities I had been a part of. For example, many of my non-Christian friends were just finding out that I was now attending church. I was too afraid to tell my family about it out of fear of miscommunication and awkwardness. I wanted to take more time to develop the boldness and courage to be able to communicate my faith properly. This was a prayer request I had when I started the Living Life Bible study series with Pastor Caleb, Edward, and Esther in September. Living life was a really blessed time. To be honest, I was really busy during that period, and didn’t feel going most of the time, but after every session, I was glad I went. It confirmed and corrected a lot of things I thought I knew, and taught me a lot of things as well. One thing that I struggled with particularly was the concept of Salvation. I only had a small understanding of it. We discussed the assurance of Salvation, and Caleb explained it very well to me. I still remember his analogy of how Jesus holds your hand once you receive Christ, and he will never let go, even if you let go. This analogy was really comforting and encouraging to me. Living Life ended around 2 weeks ago, and I decided to try and tell my sister and my parents about my faith. Thankfully, my sister helped me a lot, and after telling them, I decided I was ready to be baptized. A lot of my friends knew now too. I think my prayer request from the start of Living Life was answered. Overall it was a really good time and I’d really recommend it to anyone who can take it. Looking back to how I felt I never needed God, I feel like God reached out to me first, and desired me so much more before I even desired him. One of the verses I remembered from Living Life and the Gospel Presentation Session is from Revelation 3:20. It says “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” This verse really stands out to me because I like the image of how Jesus was already at my door, ready and desiring. All I had to do was open the door to let him in. It resonates with me a lot seeing how I never thought I would be here today getting baptized a year ago. Looking forward, since I’ve received Christ, I’ve begun to look towards praying more in really stressful and hard times. Before, I would shoulder a lot of my struggles on myself, determined to get through it without anyone else. That was very difficult. Now, I find myself praying and it gives me a lot of comfort. Overall, the extent of people’s initiative and love really moved me and brought me to be more receptive to who Jesus is. I wouldn’t be here today without the support of these people. I really hope that my faith continues to grow and that I will be able to have the same impact on other people.

Admin

March 11, 2018 • 4 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - David Choi

Hello everyone, my name is David and currently a 2nd year student studying criminology at York University. I would like to share about how I came to learn about Jesus and why I made the decision to get baptized today. I grew up in a Catholic family, but I never felt connected to God growing up and it wasn’t a part of my day to day life. My mom would always force me to go to the mass, but I just did not have the heart to go and never wanted to go. I knew of God’s existence but I felt that Catholicism wasn’t for me. Throughout my lifetime, I’ve always been a well known person among my peers and classmates. Once University came, it became harder for me to connect with people in the same way. All of my friends left town to go to school and I didn’t bother making friends when I came into university because I thought people would come to me like in high school. My friend Emily reached out to me and asked me to come to this Christian club called Agape Impact. This was the first major impact and influence I had with a church community. At first, it was a very difficult thought, knowing that everyone at the club is Christian or a follower of Christ except for me. As I started to get to meet people, it was the first encounter that really showed me the grace of Christ. The people around me took me in with open arms regardless of my differences and accepted me as I was. After going out to AI for a month or so, I decided to go to the winter retreat that was hosted by AI. In a way, it felt really strange for me because I felt like I was the only non-christian that was going, but everyone was still welcoming towards me, which I thought was amazing. During the trip, a specific individual stood out. James who is my current discipler, a stranger at the time, and randomly asked me to study the Bible with him. At first, It was very strange because I didn’t expect him to be so inviting. He was the first person that really reached out to me and taught me the first lessons of being reborn again. We ended up having regulatory bible studies that really showed me the word of the lord. Couple months later, Emily, Josh, and Edward invited me to Every Nation House Church and I started attending regularly. When I first visited House Church, it was another strange thing because people started sharing about their life. I never liked the idea of sharing my life to other people, but overtime I started growing appreciative about it and revealed to me the importance of opening up and repentance. I was glad to be invited to house church and getting to know the members and now I can say they just feel like my family. I also started attending Church regularly about a couple months ago. I attended GPS (Gospel Presentation Session) a couple weeks ago. It was a one-on-one session with Caleb and it was a unique experience where I sat down with a Pastor to have a conversation about my spirit life. During the presentation, the verse, Revelations 3:20: touched my heart the most. “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Because with the faith we have, we are able to see our Father and he is willing to come into our life and all we have to do is just open the door. Over the last couple months, I have been learning a lot from AI, House Church, and Church. Though, when I started calling myself Christian, I was afraid for me to tell my close friends and my family that I am Christian for many reasons. And I think one of the main reason was that, in the back of my head, there was always this negative connotation of religion, but now I come to realize that this is part of the journey I have to take. With the verse from Revelations, I am proud to say that, I understand what it means to be a Christian, just open the door for Jesus and receive him. And now I am proud to tell my family and my friends that I am a Christian. There are many things I lack, but my heart is open and I am willing to learn them. So, please help me stay accountable in my walk with Christ and continue to guide me to be a Godly man. Thank you.

Admin

August 18, 2018 • 3 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - Stanley Kim

Like the most of you i wasn’t born in a christian family, and growing up i thought what was out there was everything to this world, nothing else. And when i first heard about christianity, and going to church, i was against it. To me, i thought we were going to church cause every other korean went. And the service was on sunday, and that was already heartbreaking for 10 year old stanley. I thought that I didn’t need god in my life and I was good on my own. Still going to church I learned all the things god has done and the messages from the bible. And the messages never really came to me. I truly met God through my beginning phase of my pre-teen, because during the time i was so emotionally unstable. I knew i needed help but i didn’t know who i could/should ask for help. That’s when I went to one of Seed’s youth winter retreat. And finally realised through the message pastor Caleb had for us and realized the love that God has for me and how he was there for me the whole time, and it was myself that didn’t realize all of that. None of this wouldn’t’ve happened if our church was so welcoming and loving. And my youth house church members for showing me the love of jesus christ and to love and care for others. The verse that helped me realize that I wanted to be one of God’s children was, (Revelation 3:20 “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.) It helped me understand the gospel better cause I could relate to it and just understood how much that verse meant. And it was me that was denying God’s love not acknowledging his presence not the other way around. After making the decision, I understood what it meant to be children of god and what we have to do at our end of the deal. I knew how loving he was but through the GPA, I also learnt that he’s the mighty god, and he would do things the way we don’t see it. And at the right time. I also realized once again how great he is and loving he is. I just finally want to thank God, how much i’ve grown through him and for being there when I didn’t realise his love. And thank you for listening to my testimony!

Admin

May 7, 2019 • 6 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - Seoyeon Yoo

Hello everyone! As most of you probably know, my name is Seo Yeon. I would like to take this time with you and share my experience with God, and how he has taken a huge step in my life. Unlike most of you guys here, I was not born as a christian. I have been attending Mokmin church since I was three years old, but I never knew the reason why we had to go to church, and out of all the days it had to be on Sundays. And on some days when I complained to my parents like “I don’t want to go”, I would get a full on lecture on why I had to go which I liked to call “jansori”. I also felt very isolated at church as I was only surrounded by older people, so I never felt as if I “fit in” with everyone. I lacked interest in listening to sermons as I found them boring, and usually you would find me on phone most of the time. If I had a problem, I was told to pray or read the bible. No matter how many times I tried that it just did not work. Middle school was an extremely hard time for me. One day, I was talking to my christian friend about God. A boy overheard me and said “God’s not real.” I did not know how to respond to what he said as I was still questioning who God was. After it became a huge controversy in my class about “God” and people attacked me with words saying I was delusional for believing something that is not real and that I was insane. And from that day on, religion was a hard topic for me and I never really spoke a word about it. Also, whenever my friends would ask me to hang out with them on Fridays or Sundays, I always had to say no because even if I wanted to go, I had to go to house church and church. Then they stopped asking me to hang out because I was too busy with church and blamed me for not being able to spend time with them. I could say I was even angry with God or blamed him, so I pushed him away and just went to church to please my parents. There were a lot of obstacles for me, and it mostly had to do with myself. I started to sense that I was having a really hard time and my friends did not understand what was going on with me, and how to make me feel better. I was confused, in a really dark place and negative thoughts kept coming to my head. What is so scary is that, when this is happening no one knows what you are experiencing, so you feel more alone. It’s like screaming for help or knocking on a door but nobody answers, or they can not hear you. I felt as if I was stuck inside a box, and I could not get out. I did not know why I was feeling this way. On top of that, the event of my grandfather’s passing tore me apart. I did not know who to reach out to, as my friends would say “stop complaining” or “keep your problems to yourself, they’re irrelevant.” I was furious with God and completely shut him away from me and stopped caring about life and even had thoughts of just ending it and wanting to disappear from the world. Soon enough, the winter retreat, “ASK” came along, and I had the opportunity to go to one of the counselling sessions that was offered. And let me tell you, I am so grateful that I had this time talking to someone that was willing to listen to me. I felt a sense of peace, and felt as if a huge weight fell off my back. Although, I was not completely ready to open my heart to God. Later on, Sarah, my shepherd recommended I go to GPS (Gospel Presentation Session). At first I was hesitant to go, because, I did not understand the purpose of it. But I am so thankful Sarah recommended it to me as I had a better idea of what becoming a Christian is, and who God really is. This is where I received Christ and made the decision to be baptized. The date was set and was approaching, however I delayed it as I was scared that it was too big of a commitment. The next winter retreat “RESOLVE” came around. This retreat gave me an opportunity to give myself another chance to open up to God. In one of the sermons, Caleb told the story in the bible about Daniel’s friends who were walking around the fire, and when Jesus came into the pit, the fire was gone. After, there was a prayer session and while I was praying, God showed me an image. At first, there was a fire in my head and I got scared, and was about to open my eyes but before I could a rush of water, washed the fire away. I was calm. And from there, I felt a sign that God was telling me that he was with me and that he knows what I am going through. From there on, I made an official decision of wanting to be baptized and here I am today! I’ve created a closer bond with my house church as they were the ones who I first opened up to. Sharing in house church made it easier for me to reach out to people. And I’d like to thank my members and especially my shepherd Sarah. Also, there was a verse from GPS that has stuck with me and it is: (Revelation 3:20 CSB) “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” This verse is a reminder of how I guarded my heart, even from God, and rejected him numerous times but he remained the same and was patient with me until I was ready to open my heart. There are some changes I have made to my daily habits, and here are a couple of them. So personally, I hate reading, so I always lost focus when reading the bible. But, downloading the bible app, has made it easier to enjoy the bible. I now take the time everyday to sit down, listen to worship songs, and that is where I feel the presence of God. I use my phone at church for a good purpose, which is jotting notes from the sermons. I’d like to thank my house church, Caleb, and my family for the endless support and Anthony for giving me the opportunity for joining worship team. I am extremely excited to explore this new life that has been unlocked for me and I pray that you will all be able to open your hearts to God as well. Thank you.

Admin

July 18, 2019 • 7 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - Alexandra Raphael

Hello everyone, today I’ll be talking to you about my spiritual journey with God and how my life has changed by becoming Christian. Growing up I went to Catholic school and was raised in a catholic family. I went through baptism, communion and confirmation but never felt it was my decision- just something I had to do. Around the time I was in high school I started to move away from God and eventually became an atheist. Before accepting Jesus in my life I had a lot of struggles with anxiety, depression and motivation. Anxiety had controlled my life for as long as I could remember. I spent many nights listening to the negative voices in my head and feeding my anxieties and insecurities. I felt I had no purpose and felt unfulfilled. Listening to all those negative thoughts and words I had eventually lead me to becoming more depressed. I would hardly leave the house, and I started to further isolate myself from friends and family. This lead me to losing a lot of friendships and put a strain on my relationship with my family. As a result of all this it was difficult to see a silver lining and I didn’t have much of a drive to well in school, or in general. I felt stuck. I knew I was not truly living my life. And then after meeting Chris, I was invited to attend The Seed one Sunday. When I walked through the doors and was greeted by people who had never met me before I felt that this time it would be different. I don’t exactly remember what Pastor Caleb was preaching about but I remember that I wanted to try and put his words into practice. That night I started to pray to God. I didn’t feel anything particularly amazing at first, but I did feel more at ease. Ever since then I have been praying every morning and evening. Whenever I feel anxious or worried about my future I take some quiet time and talk it out with God. Prayer for me was one of the biggest changes in my life. It gave me time to really talk to God and work through the challenges in life I was facing. I would talk and God would listen and comfort me. He would remind me that I was worthy and that he did have a plan for me. Another thing that I learned was that sometimes our prayers take time to be answered. When I first started praying, like many of us, I expected fast results. Sometimes it can be discouraging when we feel like our prayers are not being answered. Sometimes we even feel ignored or put on the back burner. But as the months passed I started to realize that God answers all our prayers, but sometimes it’s hard for us to understand his plan. In times like these, I think it’s important to not try to rush things. Let God work in the background and continue to pray and ask for guidance and clarity. Once I started to realize that not all of my prayers and issues can be solved in one or two nights and I gave up control I found that God was answering me, just in a different way than I imagined. Another important aspect of my spiritual life was Living Life and GPS. After a few months of attending church service I decided to sign up for a Living Life class. This was a completely new experience for me. In the past I had only taken religion in mandatory school classes, not because I truly wanted to learn about God. Going into Living Life I thought I already knew most of the story of Jesus and what his teachings were about and what was expected of me as a Christian. However, I realized that in order to grow in our faith and spirituality we sometimes need to put in some work and hit the books. By taking Living Life, the gaps in my knowledge about christianity and Jesus were filled in and I truly feel more prepared for life and discussing my faith with other people. After completing Living Life, it took me a while to decide to make the next big step and attend GPS. Before attending GPS I had worries and self doubt. I questioned if I was worthy enough to become a Christian. I felt like I had too much baggage and that maybe I wasn’t really ready to commit myself to Jesus. I knew becoming a Christian and being baptised would thrust me into having more responsibility and putting more time aside for God. I wasn’t sure I could handle it, until I went through GPS. One of the quotes that really resonated with me from GPS was from Revelations 5:20, “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” I learned that God doesn’t expect us to be perfect and sometimes he’s waiting for you to make the first move. Instead of shying away from this new set of responsibilities I prayed and asked God for guidance. He let me know that I was making the right choice and that all my fears were just in my head. After completing GPS I started to take note of changes in my life. Overall I would say the biggest changes in my life would be I have less worries about my future and I learned how to be patient and let God do his work on his time. Now whenever I’m having anxiety or unsure of what to do, I take time and pray. I honestly lay everything on the table when I talk to God. Sometimes just saying everything on my mind will relax and calm me enough to help work through my issues.I’ve also learned that praising God for how amazing he is and all the gifts he has given us can heal us as well. I now usually end my prayers with thanking him for giving me another day with my loved ones and family and for the little things in life. Sometimes it’s difficult for us to see the positive in our lives so giving thanks for the little things like good food and good friendships can help remind us that things aren’t too bad. Once I started to think about the little joys and miracles in my life it helped me to find more things to be thankful for and happy about. In conclusion, God has helped me become a more fulfilled and satisfied person. He’s helped me conquer my fears and calm my anxieties. By following His plan and putting my spirituality first I have to started to feel closer and more connected to God. If there’s one thing that I would like you to take away from this, is that when you’re feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about where you are in your life right now, that’s okay. Take some time to put Jesus first and talk honestly about your issues and fears. Have patience and let God work His miracles on His time. And lastly, sometimes all we need to put our lives in perspective is to give gratitude and praise to God for the little moments of happiness in our lives. I want to thank God for giving me this opportunity to talk to you all about my spiritual journey. And also thanks to my family for pushing and supporting me on this next chapter of my Christian life. And thank you all for giving me some time to tell my story.

Admin

August 14, 2019 • 3 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - Kevin Ku

Hello everyone, my name is Kevin and I am a new member of the Seed. First of all, I want to thank my fellow house church members and Pastor Caleb for making this event possible for me. Without their support, I wouldn’t be here today. When I was growing up, my relationship with Jesus has been on and off. Back in elementary school, I went to church only because I was dropped off there by my parents every Sundays. When high school started, my parents wanted me to focus on my studies. They no longer pressured me to go to church, so I stopped going as a result. Before I received Jesus Christ, I noticed that I have been experiencing some self-doubt. When I am with a group of friends, I feel that their opinions were more important than mine and that what I was thinking or feeling were irrelevant. When I was first introduced to house church, the first thing I noticed was how welcoming the environment was and how it felt like a second home to me. My view of church changed because of house church. I always imagined that the church is a building you go to do your worship and praise of God. But what I realize now is that the church is not the building itself but it is the people that make church what it is. What I liked most about house church was the sharing of the important moments and concerns of our lives and how we each had a turn to share them with others. This helped me believe that my thoughts and opinions were important and that God was showing me a way to believe in myself and to love myself and others. One verse during the GPS that stood out to me was: “Jesus already wants to come into our heart” because I can love and believe in myself because Jesus already loves me for who I am. After receiving Jesus, I am more hopeful that with each day, I learn from my mistakes and become a little bit wiser and a little bit more mature. Most importantly, with Jesus’s love, I know that I can face any hardships to come and still embrace myself at the end of the day. I also want to follow Jesus’s example of loving others unconditionally through helping others. Thank you for listening to my testimony.

Admin

December 19, 2021 • 3 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - Miru Kim

From the beginning of my time in a church, I initially thought of God like how many others did; nothing more than a myth and a fairy tale that a few people were crazed over for apparently no reason. Back in those days, I wasn’t able to understand the reason why the adults around me were so devoted to the man they called their Father, so I decided to avoid sermons and singing by hiding away from everyone else. Also, I once believed that going to church in the first place was a waste of time, since there was nothing for me to do other than listen to useless trivia while I could be back home relaxing with my video games and toys. But that was long ago. Because once I started to invest time in God, He gave more information, truths about himself, and told tales of his great disciples to me. One day, I thought to myself, “Hey, God seems nice. So why not give him one chance to prove himself worthy in my eyes?” And let me tell you: that was the best decision I ever made as a Christian. As the years went by, I began to open my heart to God more and more, but it wasn’t until a heartbreaking loss in Grade 7 that I finally turned to him for advice. Even in the silence of the moment, he pointed me in the direction that I needed to go and move on with myself, though it did take me two years to truly take his word. Somewhere down the line, I decided to accept Jesus Christ as my great lord and saviour, so I declared to him that he will always help and lead me down the right path. And it worked… marvellously. Since then, I completely trust God with certain decisions, even if I do sometimes hold small doubts of his great and mighty plans for the next generation. And this baptism is no different. Sure, I am considerably nervous about actually being baptised (due to being a new experience for me), but it will be ultimately worth stepping out of my comfort zone, becoming a true child of God, and standing with all of you. As long as I ask the Father for advice and question him over what step I need to take next, then life (even with its many ups and downs) will be fine for me. Amen.

Admin

June 8, 2022 • 5 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - Esther Ahn

Hello everyone. My name is Esther and I’d like to share with you all today of my spiritual journey and how I came to my decision to be baptized. Like many of you, I was brought up in a Christian household. I think from a young age, I recognized that I was a very weak person because I felt very helpless on my own and felt I couldn’t do normal things like everyone else without feeling anxious. Growing up, I often felt incompetent, inadequete, and felt like I couldn’t trust myself. So I found the idea of God to be comforting and it wasn’t very difficult for me to rely on him, mainly because I didn’t feel I could rely on myself. And so I put my faith in God from a young age, but as I got older, I found myself becoming frustrated with myself and with God because I felt like I had to depend on God for everything. When I entered university, my anxiety got so bad that I was filled with a sense of dread towards the idea of living. I began to often fantasise about death and became unattached to the idea of living. I thought that if I have to live everyday with fear and suffering, I’d honestly just rather not because it was so exhausting. I actually avoided going to GPS for a long time because I had a lot of fear surrounding it. My anxiety told me that after publicly being baptized would mean I had to now be a certain way and that I would not live up to people’s expectations. And that everyone would be on a lookout for me and that I would not be able to make mistakes. I was letting fear consume me and get in the way of taking the next step in my faith. And when I did decide to go to GPS, I was still hesitant to get baptized right away. But I think I was slowly transformed through the love I felt from surrounding myself with our church members. I don’t know if I have a single dramatic event in my life where I felt I met God but I think slowly throughout I was able to feel that God is alive and present with me through my spent time in church. I was really amazed by the care our house church members had towards each other and the devotion of my sheppards Pastor Caleb and Jennifer. Attending house church was a challenge at first as I was overcome by social anxiety and was self conscious every time I had to share. However, I soon came to realize that we were all gathered not to put on an act and to be a certain way, but to really share all parts of our lives including where we fell short and our struggles. Listening to others share so honestly made me realize that it’s okay to struggle and it’s okay not to be perfect. And that we are here to listen to one another, and support each other and pray for one another. The verse mentioned in GPS that I remember stood out to me was from Ephesians 2:8–9 “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.” I was so concerned about being or appearing perfect to be confirmed but I had failed to realize salvation was a gift, it was not earned by my doings, but by God’s grace that I am saved. The biggest change I see after having received Christ is in the way I view my future and my life. I used to not be very attached to the thought of living my life and held back by the fear of all the future obstacles and pains of living I will have to endure. But now I actually want to live and I can look forward to what God has in store for me and I believe that even through suffering, I can experience the goodness of God. I am a much more expectant person now and. I’m less afraid of making commitments and becoming involved in church or letting everyone know of my decisions publicly. And the thought of living doesn’t cripple me anymore. I am definitely not all of the sudden fearless, I still have many fears but I see now God as something much greater than whatever fears I have. I can live with the assurance that God is with me always and that He is a good, and he is a gracious and loving father. I’d like to say a big thank you to my house church members, friends, and Pastor Caleb and Jennifer for your prayers and guidance. Thank you so much for listening.

Admin

June 26, 2022 • 3 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - Claire Shin

When I was younger, I feared going to church because I would have to be separated from my parents. Unfortunately, this fear lasted for many years. I began to sit with my parents at church where the other adults were. Eventually, I stopped going to church when I was 6. In middle school, I became insecure about the fact that I didn’t have any particular hobbies, interests, or passions. I didn’t know how to determine my self-worth. I began to worry about my future as I couldn’t even determine what was valuable to me. I was insecure about myself, and naturally, I adopted a negative attitude and distanced myself from everybody. Before I knew Jesus, I thought it was normal to live such an anxious life. One thing God gave me from this pandemic was a pause on my fast-paced life. Only then did I begin to turn to Jesus. I didn’t have much trouble or doubt when I ﬁrst accepted him into my life. But I could never feel God’s presence; I never felt a moment when I realized that God had answered my prayers until just a few weeks ago. Last year, I was still hiding from everybody, trying to grow as a Christian by myself. I prayed to God that I would overcome my fear of interacting with new people and that I could start going to church. This was in grade 9 and now I am in grade 10. I think God answered my prayers through my youth shepherd who encouraged me to go to church. I remember last May I joined an online youth house church meeting for the ﬁrst time. I’m so grateful for the other members and my youth shepherd for making me feel welcomed. A bible verse from GPS that was very meaningful to me is Revelations 3ʧ20. It says, “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” All this time I had been seeking for something to make me feel complete. That something was in front of me all along, and all I had to do was welcome it into my life. After making the decision to follow Jesus, questions I used to ask have become much clearer, like who I am, what I’m going to do in the future, and what my values are. The past version of me who hated social interaction now looks forward to every social event. I’ve become more hopeful for the future, too. I know that I want to continue to be a part of a community that is connected through God. I truly love the church community I am a part of.

Admin

December 25, 2022 • 4 Minute Read

Baptism Testimony - Yoosun Lim

Hello, my name is Yoosun Lim and I belong to the English-speaking Congregation Kazakhstan House Church. I am more than happy and grateful to be baptized on the day of the Christmas Joint Service. In the spring of 2017, I came to Toronto to study and met Sharon, an acquaintance of mine, through the introduction of a senior from graduate school. From the first worship service, I was very moved by the pastor’s sermon that was perfect for my situation. The atmosphere of the church was very warm and comfortable, so I fell in love with the Mokmin faith community. I was led to Vietnam House Church and belonged to it. I came to know the concept that God works through people while attending Mokmin Church. Looking back, I realized that God has constantly kept good people with good faith close to me. When I came to Toronto, I had no connections. But I was deeply moved by God’s love and grace that transcends human limitation when I witnessed my shepherd and shepherd’s wife who demonstrated God’s love and led a mature life of faith, in both the former Vietnam House Church and the current Kazakhstan House Church. The faith that I had not developed, no matter how hard I tried for a long time naturally settled in my heart. I relied on and was grateful for the verse, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). In the past few years, as prayers that I wanted to do but did not come out became possible, a relationship with God was created. During Thanksgiving last year, I received a long-awaited PR card, and this year, through the 10 Days early morning prayer, I unexpectedly changed my job, and my prayers were answered. I have learned to be happy and to be grateful as I shared prayer requests and answered prayers with the House Church family. I used to worry too much every time I was in trouble and suffered, but gradually I began to ask God questions in prayer, wait, and find peace. Around the age of 10, since my parents forbade me to go to the local church, I forgot how sad I was at that time. But living with a cold heart only by worldly standards for more than 25 years, it was difficult for me to recover my pure faith again. When I think of how difficult it was, I realize that there is a big change in my life after receiving baptism and starting my life of faith, and I feel deeply grateful. And through various steps in my faith community such as worship services, House Church meetings, Gospel Presentation session, 10 Days Early Morning Prayer, and the Path of Happiness Life bible study, I confessed my many sins, deeply experienced God’s grace and love, and experienced the gradual healing of my soul. So, I come to the baptism ceremony with a grateful heart. Even if you choose to live a life of faith, it is not possible to imitate faith, so I am most grateful for the faith God gave me as a gift. I would like to thank those who have prayed for and served me so far for the salvation of my soul. I also have a vision that I will have to live a life of praying for VIPs in the future as well. I want to embark my journey of faith while obeying this verse, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you; do not be frightened, for I am your God (Isaiah 41:10-13)”, with joy, hope, and patience that wasn’t there before. Thank you for celebrating the new birth of my soul with me. Lastly, I would like to thank the Mokmin community, the pastors, the House Church family, and the shepherd and shepherd’s wife who served me.

Admin