Last Sunday, pastor delivered his message on God’s stretching out His hands over us.

The Church is celebrating her birth-year on Deuteronomy 8:2, “Remember these forty years—the grace, the glory, and the guidance of God.”

Remember these forty years.

Not the number itself.

Remember the years

when grace walked among us

wearing the names of ordinary people;

the seasons

when tears and hymns

held one another by the shoulders;

remember the pilgrimage

by which God,

stretching out His hand,

nurtured one community

through the wilderness.

It began

with a single seed—

a small sanctuary

in Dongpangyo,

Bundang, Seongnam.

There,

a flame arose.

Not the fire of human ambition,

but the flame

of the burning bush

that Moses beheld

on Mount Horeb.

The fire burned,

yet the bush

was never consumed.

Even today,

after rebuilding the new Church building

in Seopankyo

the Holy Spirit

calls the Church

through that same fire.

For forty years,

knees met the earth

before every dawn;

songs of praise

opened the heavens.

Children grew

to become shepherds.

Young people

were sent into the world.

Missionaries

crossed borders.

Physicians

touched wounded lives.

Believers

repaired forgotten country churches,

and shared

God’s table

with hungry neighbors.

Laughter

became playgrounds.

Prayer

became streets and alleys.

Tears

became worship.

There were days

when the world itself

closed its doors.

The sanctuary stood empty,

yet the house of God

was never empty.

Beyond every screen,

the Holy Spirit

kindled fire

within human hearts.

Even a pandemic

could not bind

the hand of God.

His hand

remained

forever outstretched.

He sent pastors.

He raised new servants.

He prepared

the next generation.

Beyond one people,

toward all nations,

He opened

the way of the Gospel.

Now,

as we prepare

to celebrate

our fortieth anniversary,

we look back.

But God

looks ahead.

That a congregation

which began with two hundred people

may one day

embrace ten thousand in faith

is not merely

a human dream.

It is to become

a wider vessel of love

for the Kingdom of God.

The Church

is not a building.

It is

the two hands of God

walking

into the world.

With those hands

He wipes away tears,

binds up wounds,

lifts the lost,

and plants hope.

Once more,

I hear

that ancient voice

echoing

from Mount Horeb:

“Take off your sandals.”

“I am sending you.”

And once again,

He calls

the name of Flame Methodist Church

into the winds

of a new age.

O Flame,

remain

no longer

only upon the altar.

Light the city.

Warm every home.

Become,

for the world,

the fresh wind

of the Holy Spirit.

Forty years

are not the end.

They are

a new beginning—

as God,

stretching out His hand,

leads yet another wilderness

into

the Promised Land.

— TaeHun Yoon, 6/25/2026