How We are Organized

Bones.  It’s the stiff, white stuff that makes up your skeleton.  Depending on the context, skeletons can either be unglamorous or down-right frightening.  However, it is this often maligned skeleton that keeps us from being amorphous blobs.  The rest of our biological apparatus literally hangs on this undergirding structure.  Our skeletons not only allow for proper form and function, but also beauty and purpose.  In a very real way, the skeleton helps us realize the vision for what it means to be human.

We believe the same is true for our church.  Rather than randomly forming ministries in an undifferentiated mess which can cripple a church’s ability to focus on or even to realize its vision, we have organized our ministries along strategic pillars that address the four major elements of New Mercy’s overall vision.  These pillars literally make up the backbone of our church.  By forming ministries along their respective pillars, we ensure that each ministry is focused at helping achieve the purpose of its pillar.  And it is these pillars combined that help us realize our overarching vision as a church – to be a church for the broken.

This pillar structure also allows us to realize the holistic and team-based aspects of our approach.  Pastors, leaders, and members will focus on the pillars that most align with their respective strengths and each pillar addresses a different part of our individual and communal lives.

Restoration & Renewal

Seeking to bring holistic healing and restoration to people on an individual and relational level.

Jesus reveals to us that we are all broken people who need restoration and renewal.  This pillar seeks to build ministries that will bring restoration and renewal to people no matter where they find themselves on the spiritual spectrum.

The restoration and renewal ministries will seek to help people experience God’s grace and healing on both the relational and individual levels.  These ministries will also be offered to the surrounding community.  Led by Pastor John Huh, Pastor Hannah Huh and Deacon Timothy Yang & Deacon Sean Park.  If you are interested in serving in any of the ministries in this pillar please email restorationrenewal@newmercy.cc.

sports  using sports evangelistically and to build community within New Mercy and with our neighbors

medical  offering accessible medical counsel and advice as well as providing educational/practical classes, clinics and medical missionary teams

family groups  helping people experience God and community and growth through small groups

college helping college students navigate faith and life as they grow in one of the most formative stages in life

prayer  making prayer central to the culture of New Mercy by providing education and training, opportunities for different types of prayer and setting up intercessory teams

green  providing New Mercy with educational resources and green initiatives so that we may be good stewards of God’s creation. the goal is to be missional by alleviating and preventing suffering locally and globally as well as to build a brighter future for our children

health & fitness  teaching people and providing activities so that both men and women can be faithful stewards of their bodies

counseling  providing confidential pastoral counseling services as well as professional referrals so that people may experience healing and restoration emotionally and mentally

Spiritual Formation

Bringing growth to our worship and spiritual lives at both the inner and corporate levels.

C. S. Lewis says that we praise those things in which we find the most delight.  Whether it be a delicious culinary masterpiece, a rapturous concert, or a breathtaking landscape, when we experience those things praise pours forth naturally and spontaneously from our hearts and lips. In fact, expressing praise enhances and completes our experience of those things.  This truth is foundational to our understanding of spiritual life and worship.  God designed us in such a way that when we are most connected to him, worshipping and delighting in him, we find fullness of life and joy.  And so God calls us to grow in our spiritual lives and worship so that we can experience more of him and find fullness, purpose and joy in our lives.

Pastor Kee Won Huh, Elder John Kim and Deacon Melissa Yoon will be leading the effort in developing our spiritual lives at both the inner and corporate levels.  They hope to establish a gospel-centered foundation for NMCC’s spiritual formation initiatives.  If you are interested in serving in any of the ministries in this pillar please email spiritualformation@newmercy.cc.

interactive  providing technological support (hardware, software and internet) to ministries so that they may more effectively communicate and achieve their respective visions

worship  building an environment and worship service that will facilitate a distraction-free, smooth and dynamic experience so that people can worship freely

media  using video and photography to enhance our worship experience and to support ministries so that they can more dynamically communicate information

praise  using music as a powerful vehicle for worship and evangelism

publications  providing printed media support to help the church’s communication and reach

audio visual  crafting the audio and visual experience during service to enhance the worship experience and to reach more effectively the people in today’s modern context

spiritual development  prayerfully researching and creating structures, programs, and materials to assist people in their spiritual growth

writers guild  using the gift of writing to communicate the life, personality, and initiatives of New Mercy and its people

Education & Formation

Using education to enhance the development of our church body through the various stages of life and faith.

Faith is often seen as being opposed to reason.  But this fallacy could not be further from the truth.  Notice, the Apostle Paul does not say, “We walk by faith, not by reason.”  He says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” Sight often leads our hearts and minds astray.  For example, when a patient enters an operating room for a simple, low-risk procedure, seeing the instruments can often trigger anxiety.  To calm herself down, the patient will use her reasoning to remind herself that the procedure is a simple one with little to no mortality rate. Reason is used the same way in the Christian faith – we use our reason to see reality more clearly.  Peter exhorts Christians, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet 3:15).  And Paul teaches to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2).

At NMCC, we believe that a large part of the renewal process lies with the mind.  And so we have dedicated two pastors (Patricia & Hannah) and two deacons (David Kim & Sharon Lee) to building an educational program that is holistic and comprehensive, sensitive to context and age, creative and engaging, all the while building continuity between the various stages of life and faith.  If you are interested in serving in any of the ministries in this pillar please email educationformation@newmercy.cc.

nursery providing a safe babysitting option for parents so that they may rest and enjoy service (ages: newborn–1)

mercy munchkins (toddlers ministry) investing in the healthy development of our toddlers holistically (ages: 2–4)

mini mercies (elementary & youth) investing in the healthy development of our children holistically (ages: 5–up)

Compassion & Service

Serving the surrounding community and world faithfully and creatively through the redemptive gospel.

In an alarming number of churches, outreach programs are often relegated as almost secondary, if not peripheral concerns.  It is our belief at New Mercy that this is a fundamental perversion of Jesus’ message. Jesus did not give only a portion of himself to help people, he gave all of himself.  Why then is it that churches tack on mercy ministries as an afterthought?  We take the lion’s share of God’s grace, and whatever is left over we toss around. If we understand Jesus correctly, it is clear that for those who are truly transformed by the gospel, we should see the exact opposite.  Christians should be people so moved by the radical grace they were shown that they, in turn, long to pour out their lives on behalf of others.  Biblically, the truest expression of real faith is radical mercy, nothing less. In the Prophets, God rails against people of faith who refuse to offer justice and mercy.  God says in Micah 6:8, “And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  Then in Hosea 6:6, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”  James writes in his letter, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”  Paul writes, “Mercy triumphs over judgment!”

We at New Mercy believe we have been shown great mercy, and so we have made showing mercy the very center of our name, vision, and every single one of our pillars.  Each pillar will offer its ministries both inwardly and outwardly.  We do not wish to have a parasitic relationship with our surrounding community.  Rather, we will embed ourselves in the community, serve them, walk with them, celebrate and cry with them, and offer them all that we have.  This particular pillar, however, does have some specific initiatives.  It is led by Pastor Won Jae, Deacon Young Ko, Deacon Hera Yang, and Deacon Ed Yoon.  If you are interested in serving in any of the ministries in this pillar please email compassionservice@newmercy.cc.

creative witness  finding innovative and contextually sensitive ways of reaching the unchurched

local missions  serving the local community through consistent partnerships and action

overseas missions  impacting those around the world through global partnerships, projects and service

facilities  assisting in setup and being faithful stewards of our facilities, equipment and storage so as to bless our congregants and to maintain a robust and friendly relationship with FDU

transportation  providing transportation so that people may attend, serve, be blessed and grow at our services and activities

fellowship  creating a environment through the arrangement of space and food where people may build friendships

welcoming  providing a comfortable experience for newcomers and helping them get integrated into New Mercy. building a welcoming culture at NMCC.