– For Changchun Methodist Church, 120 Years

A clear stream runs through the world,

not with noise,

not with power,

but with the patience of water

finding every thirsty root.

On a Sunday morning,

the prophet speaks again:

“These waters flow toward the east…

and wherever the river goes,

everything shall live.”

And suddenly Ezekiel’s river

crosses a century

and arrives here—

to Changchun,

where prayer first gathered

beneath humble roofs

in the summer of 1906.

Before towers,

before crowded streets,

before the rush of students

and the glow of screens,

there was a spring.

A handful of believers.

A gospel carried westward

from Jeong-dong.

A dream that faith

might take root

among new homes

and dusty roads.

The river began there.

I remember another stream.

A child bending over clear water,

chasing minnows

through sunlight and stone.

The creek seemed endless then.

Yet life carried me

through distant lands,

through years of ministry,

through departures

and returns.

And after the long road,

I find myself again

standing in the water.

Not in that childhood stream,

but in the broad current

of the ChangChun River,

where memory,

history,

and grace

meet together.

The river has grown wider.

Its source remains unseen.

Yet it still carries

the same living water.

For one hundred and twenty years

this church has stood

beside that clear stream—

through occupation and war,

through rebuilding and hope,

through generations of students,

workers,

mothers,

fathers,

pastors,

and dreamers.

Here prayers were whispered.

Here tears were received.

Here young voices

heard their calling.

Here weary souls

found a place to rest.

And the water kept flowing.

Today,

I hear another witness.

The final breath

of John Steinbeck

gathered into three simple letters-

Soli Deo Gloria.

Glory to God alone.

The river does not praise itself.

The stream does not drink itself.

The water moves onward,

giving life

wherever it goes.

So may Changchun remain

a clear stream

for the city and world.

A river for the weary.

A baptism of living words

for generations yet unseen.

And when another century arrives,

may those who stand here

still hear beneath every hymn,

every prayer,

every sermon,

the sound of living water

flowing from beyond our limits,

because He came,

and still comes,

beyond every boundary,

bringing life

wherever the river flows.

— TaeHun Yoon, on Sunday 6/7/2026