Dear Church,
The Servant-Leadership team has narrowed the collection of church names that were submitted, and we are excited to present to the congregation the following two options for a congregational in-person vote on 4/23 (Sunday), where the majority vote will determine our name for the next chapter that God writes for this particular covenanted family:
First, I want to thank all of you who took the time to pray, and even considered submitting your prayerful thoughts. It means so much to us and this congregation! I also want to assure you that the Servant-Leadership team looked at all the name variations and ideas submitted. **In addition, I want to assure you that the Pastor (myself) has not submitted a name in order protect this process as wholly led by the congregation, avoiding any favoritism to the Pastor’s preferential agenda or name idea. The only input that the Pastor (myself) has had is in narrowing down the name selections logically with the Servant-Leadership team for a viable majority-vote. Personally, I fully support any name that glorifies Christ and His mission! The only time I thought that I would have to step-in is if the pool of name suggestions or ideas was not sufficient. In our case, the Servant-Leadership team has discerned it was sufficient with no additional names needed to be considered.
Secondly, I want to explain two areas of confusion that have been brought to my attention recently.
(1) First is in voting – which we ask all to joyfully participate on 4/23 (Sunday) after a week of prayer for this important identity of our future. Voting may sound political and not biblical, but I assure you it is biblical and an important part of discerning the will of God by His people. The Lord directed His people to “choose” (Deuteronomy 1:13). When there were needs in a ministry that couldn’t be solved by the current leadership, God’s people were pleased to gather and choose/vote-in servants to take care of that need (Acts 6:3-6). Also, God’s people “cast lots” in important decisions that were difficult to resolve by human understanding alone (Joshua 18:10 and Jonah 1:7). Just as it is our duty as law-abiding citizens to vote in the public square for issues that affect our civil society, so also as citizens of heaven, we are called to vote to discern God’s will for His community on earth. Also, voting is simply the most efficient way to see where the Lord has led you individually. It would be really difficult, inefficient, and time-consuming for the Servant-Leadership team to go around to each individual and ask around how the Lord has led them to this or that topic.
(2a) The second area of confusion is in why we are considering a change of name. I want to start by addressing the term “English Congregation.” For over 28 years now, rooted in our over 37-year history with Bethany’s Korean congregation, we have been known as “English Congregation” (EC) or “English Ministry” (EM). Before my office sign was changed, it said simply, “EC Pastor.” I looked at it carefully and thought – would the average person walking in here know what “EC” meant? Electric-Current Pastor? Emergency-Contact Pastor? I immediately asked the signage to be changed, spelling out the acronym “EC” as “English Congregation” – because it would be difficult for the average American, as it would be to even visit our church. On Sunday’s, I’ve been announcing a primary reason for a few weeks now – that the term “English Congregation” has to be terminated – it is trivial as we live in the most English-speaking nation of the world – why would we need to tell those outside of this community that we are “English-speaking”? Although it makes sense if Bethany were, for instance, a church in Seoul, Korea, to keep calling ourselves “English congregation” as English would be a second-language in that setting - we are not in Seoul or Incheon or Busan. We are in north Dallas, Carrollton, Texas, where apart from our time at the church or with our parents or in Carrollton’s Koreatown, etc., English is still the majority language while Korean is the second language of this land. This leads me to a second subpoint.
(2b) If we keep the current phrase “English Congregation” – our potential to fulfill the Great Commission (MATTHEW 28:18-20) to make disciples of all nations will be far hindered by the fact that we will *always* be known as a congregation or church that is secondary to Korean, and gives priority to Korean-speakers first, and consequently English-speakers second. For those who have grown-up at Bethany, you know very well that Bethany is primarily a Korean church. It caters primarily to Korean families and Korean-speakers. That is why 99.9% of our current members are ethnically Korean. There is nothing wrong with this(!) – the Korean ministry must continue to flourish, and we are committed to that. However, the question is – is this all you want for the English side of our church? And is that all God wants and desires for us? Just catering to Korean families, their English-speaking young adult or adult children, and accommodate those who may desire to matriculate into young adulthood from high school? After 28 years of this(!) - and not much growth at that - I pray that God puts in our hearts a wider missional scope of His Kingdom, to reach people far from God that no church has been able to touch. This will take much more than remaining as an “English” ministry within the shadow of the Korean church. For example, many of you know I live right next to church – The Springs of Indian Creek apartment complex. Not one person from the hundreds of apartment units here attends Bethany English Congregation, nor has taken the chance to visit, although I have spread many flyers and gospel pamphlets around in car windshield dashes and doorsteps. One day, I went into the leasing office and struck-up a conversation with one of the long-time office workers. Certainly knowing she knew about Bethany just across the street, I just asked her – “Hey, do you know that building over there across the street… you know… the one behind the Chevron gas station?” She said, “Oh yeah, that’s just a Korean church.” I replied, “What if they had an English community, would consider visiting?” Although she was not a Christian, she was still open to spiritual things, as we talked. She quickly replied, “No, I would not consider… there are other churches.” Of course, she knew nothing about me. I went on to explain how I was a Pastor over there of the English community, and although she was glad to hear, she politely declined. I mention this story because for over 28 years, this is what has been happening at Bethany. There are potential souls that are looking for a gospel-preaching, loving community in Christ primarily *in English* (no matter what size the community is), but have bypassed Bethany because it’s “just a Korean church for Korean people only" and the priority is to cater to Korean immigrants.
(2c) I believe this third sub-reason is most important concerning why we need to pray about this issue of our name. Now, having addressed the issues with the label “English Congregation” – I want to address the possible complexities with the actual name “Bethany” - although it certainly is a viable choice to keep this name. I did explain this in brief at the initial website (https://www.bethanydallasec.org/new-church-name.html). Keeping the name “Bethany” is certainly an option! While cutting-off “English Congregation” as a qualifier, the name “Bethany” is certainly an option(!). However, there are some consequences to consider. First, our Korean congregation’s official name is, “The Bethany Korean Presbyterian Church of Dallas.” Now as we move toward an incorporated church, a church co-located at the same location with the same name is very much possible but can also cause a lot of unnecessary confusion. We would still have to change the ending, “Korean Presbyterian Church.” Therefore, one of the options deduced has been, “Reformed Presbyterian Church” (**explanation in the final paragraphs). Still, when sharing the name “Bethany,” it would be advantageous in our unity with the Korean congregation, yet again we would have to resort to explaining to any visitor or newcomer that the “Reformed Presbyterian Church” is the “English” church, while most obviously the “Korean Presbyterian Church” is the Korean church. Also, with now the ability to raise our own ordained officers and install the Pastor, would there have to be two lead Pastors of “Bethany” and two spiritual leaderships of “Bethany”? It is certainly possible but would cause confusion in spiritual leadership, finances, and most important the covenant partners/members. *We also want to respect the Korean church culture, where the "Senior Pastor" position is a very much guarded and revered position of a church. If there is a duplicate "Bethany" with another Senior/Lead Pastor of the English church, it could cause unnecessary confusion and unintended disrespect. I wanted to explain these complexities so you are clearly aware why we need to vote on either keeping this name or changing it to “Hosanna Presbyterian Church” (**explanation in the final paragraphs).
Finally, I want to clearly explain how the Servant-Leadership arrived at these two names – and only two names – for our congregational vote.
Concerning “Bethany Reformed Presbyterian Church” – we wanted to give the option of keeping the name “Bethany” as suggestions came in from the poll for this choice. Another suggestion came in for the qualifier “Reformed” – as one of our central tenets being reformed theology, tracing our roots back to the Reformers of the Reformation, who restored the authority of Scripture, the purity of gospel truth (justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone), and a high view of God (His absolute sovereignty over all things). This qualifier would also distinguish us from the “Bethany Korean Presbyterian Church” by replacing the “Korean” with “Reformed.”
Concerning “Hosanna Presbyterian Church” – this is a name suggested by a congregant that all three Servant-Leaders agreed upon. The name “Hosanna” was backchecked with names of churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. There is not a single Korean church named “Hosanna/호산나” in this area, nor is there any English church named “Hosanna” – except one in south Dallas that is named “Church Hosanna Full Gospel” – a very small church in south Dallas that is mainly a full gospel African-American community. Yet still, there is no “Presbyterian” church named “Hosanna” in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This would be a possible unique name for a new community in our area of north Dallas and the larger Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. **Most importantly, "Hosanna" is the Hebrew term of a calling to Jesus as "Savior" or "Deliverer" - or more literally as an imperative "Please, save us!" or "Please, deliver us!" - it is an expression of sincere praise and adoration. It was given to Jesus at His triumphal entry as the people waved their palm branches and as He entered the city on a colt, fulfilling the Scriptures, which we celebrate on Palm Sunday.
Other name suggestions were considered (which will not be mentioned here) – and all were very good names! However, backchecking them with the names of other churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area proved that there were multiple churches with those names or a combination/variation of that specific name in this area. Therefore, to incorporate a new church community with these names would not prove helpful as it would confuse our identity with other nearby churches that carry the same name.
Once again, here are the two options that we will pray over until the in-person vote on 4/23 (Sunday). Please take some time to pray and be ready to cast your vote courageously and confidently!
Thank you, and we love you, Church!
Let’s get excited for what God has in store for the next chapter of HIS CHURCH! All glory to God!
Prayerfully,
Brother Chester
The Servant-Leadership team has narrowed the collection of church names that were submitted, and we are excited to present to the congregation the following two options for a congregational in-person vote on 4/23 (Sunday), where the majority vote will determine our name for the next chapter that God writes for this particular covenanted family:
- Bethany Reformed Presbyterian Church
- Hosanna Presbyterian Church
First, I want to thank all of you who took the time to pray, and even considered submitting your prayerful thoughts. It means so much to us and this congregation! I also want to assure you that the Servant-Leadership team looked at all the name variations and ideas submitted. **In addition, I want to assure you that the Pastor (myself) has not submitted a name in order protect this process as wholly led by the congregation, avoiding any favoritism to the Pastor’s preferential agenda or name idea. The only input that the Pastor (myself) has had is in narrowing down the name selections logically with the Servant-Leadership team for a viable majority-vote. Personally, I fully support any name that glorifies Christ and His mission! The only time I thought that I would have to step-in is if the pool of name suggestions or ideas was not sufficient. In our case, the Servant-Leadership team has discerned it was sufficient with no additional names needed to be considered.
Secondly, I want to explain two areas of confusion that have been brought to my attention recently.
(1) First is in voting – which we ask all to joyfully participate on 4/23 (Sunday) after a week of prayer for this important identity of our future. Voting may sound political and not biblical, but I assure you it is biblical and an important part of discerning the will of God by His people. The Lord directed His people to “choose” (Deuteronomy 1:13). When there were needs in a ministry that couldn’t be solved by the current leadership, God’s people were pleased to gather and choose/vote-in servants to take care of that need (Acts 6:3-6). Also, God’s people “cast lots” in important decisions that were difficult to resolve by human understanding alone (Joshua 18:10 and Jonah 1:7). Just as it is our duty as law-abiding citizens to vote in the public square for issues that affect our civil society, so also as citizens of heaven, we are called to vote to discern God’s will for His community on earth. Also, voting is simply the most efficient way to see where the Lord has led you individually. It would be really difficult, inefficient, and time-consuming for the Servant-Leadership team to go around to each individual and ask around how the Lord has led them to this or that topic.
(2a) The second area of confusion is in why we are considering a change of name. I want to start by addressing the term “English Congregation.” For over 28 years now, rooted in our over 37-year history with Bethany’s Korean congregation, we have been known as “English Congregation” (EC) or “English Ministry” (EM). Before my office sign was changed, it said simply, “EC Pastor.” I looked at it carefully and thought – would the average person walking in here know what “EC” meant? Electric-Current Pastor? Emergency-Contact Pastor? I immediately asked the signage to be changed, spelling out the acronym “EC” as “English Congregation” – because it would be difficult for the average American, as it would be to even visit our church. On Sunday’s, I’ve been announcing a primary reason for a few weeks now – that the term “English Congregation” has to be terminated – it is trivial as we live in the most English-speaking nation of the world – why would we need to tell those outside of this community that we are “English-speaking”? Although it makes sense if Bethany were, for instance, a church in Seoul, Korea, to keep calling ourselves “English congregation” as English would be a second-language in that setting - we are not in Seoul or Incheon or Busan. We are in north Dallas, Carrollton, Texas, where apart from our time at the church or with our parents or in Carrollton’s Koreatown, etc., English is still the majority language while Korean is the second language of this land. This leads me to a second subpoint.
(2b) If we keep the current phrase “English Congregation” – our potential to fulfill the Great Commission (MATTHEW 28:18-20) to make disciples of all nations will be far hindered by the fact that we will *always* be known as a congregation or church that is secondary to Korean, and gives priority to Korean-speakers first, and consequently English-speakers second. For those who have grown-up at Bethany, you know very well that Bethany is primarily a Korean church. It caters primarily to Korean families and Korean-speakers. That is why 99.9% of our current members are ethnically Korean. There is nothing wrong with this(!) – the Korean ministry must continue to flourish, and we are committed to that. However, the question is – is this all you want for the English side of our church? And is that all God wants and desires for us? Just catering to Korean families, their English-speaking young adult or adult children, and accommodate those who may desire to matriculate into young adulthood from high school? After 28 years of this(!) - and not much growth at that - I pray that God puts in our hearts a wider missional scope of His Kingdom, to reach people far from God that no church has been able to touch. This will take much more than remaining as an “English” ministry within the shadow of the Korean church. For example, many of you know I live right next to church – The Springs of Indian Creek apartment complex. Not one person from the hundreds of apartment units here attends Bethany English Congregation, nor has taken the chance to visit, although I have spread many flyers and gospel pamphlets around in car windshield dashes and doorsteps. One day, I went into the leasing office and struck-up a conversation with one of the long-time office workers. Certainly knowing she knew about Bethany just across the street, I just asked her – “Hey, do you know that building over there across the street… you know… the one behind the Chevron gas station?” She said, “Oh yeah, that’s just a Korean church.” I replied, “What if they had an English community, would consider visiting?” Although she was not a Christian, she was still open to spiritual things, as we talked. She quickly replied, “No, I would not consider… there are other churches.” Of course, she knew nothing about me. I went on to explain how I was a Pastor over there of the English community, and although she was glad to hear, she politely declined. I mention this story because for over 28 years, this is what has been happening at Bethany. There are potential souls that are looking for a gospel-preaching, loving community in Christ primarily *in English* (no matter what size the community is), but have bypassed Bethany because it’s “just a Korean church for Korean people only" and the priority is to cater to Korean immigrants.
(2c) I believe this third sub-reason is most important concerning why we need to pray about this issue of our name. Now, having addressed the issues with the label “English Congregation” – I want to address the possible complexities with the actual name “Bethany” - although it certainly is a viable choice to keep this name. I did explain this in brief at the initial website (https://www.bethanydallasec.org/new-church-name.html). Keeping the name “Bethany” is certainly an option! While cutting-off “English Congregation” as a qualifier, the name “Bethany” is certainly an option(!). However, there are some consequences to consider. First, our Korean congregation’s official name is, “The Bethany Korean Presbyterian Church of Dallas.” Now as we move toward an incorporated church, a church co-located at the same location with the same name is very much possible but can also cause a lot of unnecessary confusion. We would still have to change the ending, “Korean Presbyterian Church.” Therefore, one of the options deduced has been, “Reformed Presbyterian Church” (**explanation in the final paragraphs). Still, when sharing the name “Bethany,” it would be advantageous in our unity with the Korean congregation, yet again we would have to resort to explaining to any visitor or newcomer that the “Reformed Presbyterian Church” is the “English” church, while most obviously the “Korean Presbyterian Church” is the Korean church. Also, with now the ability to raise our own ordained officers and install the Pastor, would there have to be two lead Pastors of “Bethany” and two spiritual leaderships of “Bethany”? It is certainly possible but would cause confusion in spiritual leadership, finances, and most important the covenant partners/members. *We also want to respect the Korean church culture, where the "Senior Pastor" position is a very much guarded and revered position of a church. If there is a duplicate "Bethany" with another Senior/Lead Pastor of the English church, it could cause unnecessary confusion and unintended disrespect. I wanted to explain these complexities so you are clearly aware why we need to vote on either keeping this name or changing it to “Hosanna Presbyterian Church” (**explanation in the final paragraphs).
Finally, I want to clearly explain how the Servant-Leadership arrived at these two names – and only two names – for our congregational vote.
Concerning “Bethany Reformed Presbyterian Church” – we wanted to give the option of keeping the name “Bethany” as suggestions came in from the poll for this choice. Another suggestion came in for the qualifier “Reformed” – as one of our central tenets being reformed theology, tracing our roots back to the Reformers of the Reformation, who restored the authority of Scripture, the purity of gospel truth (justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone), and a high view of God (His absolute sovereignty over all things). This qualifier would also distinguish us from the “Bethany Korean Presbyterian Church” by replacing the “Korean” with “Reformed.”
Concerning “Hosanna Presbyterian Church” – this is a name suggested by a congregant that all three Servant-Leaders agreed upon. The name “Hosanna” was backchecked with names of churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. There is not a single Korean church named “Hosanna/호산나” in this area, nor is there any English church named “Hosanna” – except one in south Dallas that is named “Church Hosanna Full Gospel” – a very small church in south Dallas that is mainly a full gospel African-American community. Yet still, there is no “Presbyterian” church named “Hosanna” in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This would be a possible unique name for a new community in our area of north Dallas and the larger Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. **Most importantly, "Hosanna" is the Hebrew term of a calling to Jesus as "Savior" or "Deliverer" - or more literally as an imperative "Please, save us!" or "Please, deliver us!" - it is an expression of sincere praise and adoration. It was given to Jesus at His triumphal entry as the people waved their palm branches and as He entered the city on a colt, fulfilling the Scriptures, which we celebrate on Palm Sunday.
Other name suggestions were considered (which will not be mentioned here) – and all were very good names! However, backchecking them with the names of other churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area proved that there were multiple churches with those names or a combination/variation of that specific name in this area. Therefore, to incorporate a new church community with these names would not prove helpful as it would confuse our identity with other nearby churches that carry the same name.
Once again, here are the two options that we will pray over until the in-person vote on 4/23 (Sunday). Please take some time to pray and be ready to cast your vote courageously and confidently!
- Bethany Reformed Presbyterian Church
- Hosanna Presbyterian Church
Thank you, and we love you, Church!
Let’s get excited for what God has in store for the next chapter of HIS CHURCH! All glory to God!
Prayerfully,
Brother Chester