KENORA, Ont. – Building bridges is Jay Kim’s greatest mission in Northwest Ontario.
For two years, Kim has served as a Nehemiah Church Planter among the First Nations People (Native Canadians). Painful scars from the past cause them to consider Christianity “the white man’s gospel.”
“Most of them survive in their reserves, isolated from the major modern community and kill their time with the influence of alcohol and drugs,” Kim said. “They lost their future and hope. We lost the bridge of the gospel.”
The First People of Ontario remember the residential schools operated by churches and missionaries. These schools caused them to lose the pride of the culture, Kim said, and many suffered physical and sexual abuse. Now he and other Baptists are working to show them that the saving grace of Jesus is for all people.
“For recovering the bridge of the gospel, we must come to them and show them our care and love through serving them, so they recover to trust us and pay attention to our witnessing,” he said. “Our endeavors should be consistent and continuous with patience until they open their hearts.”
Missouri Baptist mission teams in 2011 helped open communication between the white and native communities.
“It was so amazing to see the native people open their hearts and express their thanks to the mission team and even ask them to come again,” Kim said.
Kim answered the call to the mission field after losing his first wife to a heart attack. He fell in love with a widowed, mission-hearted woman, then graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Now he and his wife, Miran, and two sons, John and Joseph, live in Kenora, Ontario.
Kim has a vision to plant 10 churches in five years in the region. Since April, they have started three Bible studies on reservations. A church building is now under construction at White Dog. Families are also meeting for Bible study in Shoal Creek and Minaki. Two more churches are expected to be planted in 2012.
Mission teams from several Missouri Baptist churches and college Baptist Student Unions are planning to work in Ontario this summer. In addition, Korean churches from Toronto and Dallas, Texas, will send mission teams. They will be involved in a wide range of activities, such as Bible school, sports camps, block parties, witnessing and community service.
But Kim said all their work has one goal.
“The mission focus of 2012 is reaching closer to the needs of First Nations communities and to build up bridges,” he said.