Our Story

God prepared me three years for this ministry

In September 2007, Pastor Cho Kwang-ho, who works at the House of Grace (Homeless) because he can speak English, gave me an English sermon. After that, the words God poured on me while in charge of praise and preaching in the House of Grace were the words of Luke 4:18-19. I was able to find God's will to spread the gospel to the poor, the captive, and the blind. I confess that I was not as free as they were when I first encountered homeless people. But gradually, as I talked to them, I had the opportunity to get to know them in detail. I've been suffering from drug addiction and alcoholism, but I've found that they're really vulnerable and weak-willed. I also thought a lot about how to change their minds about the gospel. However, in the House of Grace, there were not many opportunities to express my thoughts and wishes. As the years went by, there began to be a holy burden on them.

Pastor Deborah gave me the opportunity to visit the house in February 2009 and also to be in charge of praise and preaching every Monday. It was a beautiful sight to see the door closed in time for worship and worshiped for an hour with people gathered inside. Also, the dedication to feeding homeless people two meals a day was really touching.

From September 2008 to April 2009, I had a direct and deep experience of learning about multicultural policies in Canadian society during the hospital's original internship course at Vancouver General Hospital. And what I learned through that process was that I was able to train myself to listen more. The fact that those called God's ministers make many mistakes is that they feel pressured to teach the saints more, so they sometimes don't know what the other person is talking about, and focusing on God's ministry made me realize that maybe it's God's work and that socializing with God can be put on the back burner.

God is preparing me specifically to serve

In January 2010, I heard that two places where I was serving as a volunteer have entrusted my ministry to someone else due to your circumstances. During the two-month hiatus, God led me to deep despair and mire, making me see my hubris and pride. Then he made me see my weakness and confessed that only God could do everything. God was pleased to receive such a confession, but God led me to the position of Director, not Volunteer so that I could carry out the plans that I had experienced while watching and listening to the house of grace and the earthenware house for the past three years.

I heard from the pastor of the Canadian Church that there are about 60 homeless people because the downtown has already been formed in the Cloverdale area. Of course, some of them were severely ill and others were not. There was also already a church serving dinner. But they saw that God's gospel was not delivered, but only served meals.

Shepherd House Opens Door

On April 1, 2010, every Thursday, it opened with an advertisement that offered lunch to homeless people with nutritious Korean food. Of course, only five people attended to the homeless on that day, but they and the volunteers shared their benefits by worshiping together. On Thursday, April 8, the second opening, nine people attended. And one of the people I talked to said, "Thank you so much for listening to me and thank you for giving me such a delicious meal," and ate bulgogi rice deliciously.

I think I'm busy with praise, preaching, and preparing food by myself. It's my first time, so I'm lacking a lot. We also need a computer and a projector for worship. In order to show the word of God to the homeless, we are preparing praise lyrics, words, and illustrations every time using PPT. Also, I dream of opening every day from Monday to Saturday, not just for one day on Thursday, so that I can take care of the sheep, rest, and feed them. That's why he named it The Vancouver Shepherd's House Society.

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Rev. Clara Choi
Executive Director, Mentor