World Christian TKD Mission

GRANDMASTER SHIN TAKES CHRISTIAN MISSION GROUP TO MEXICO!

For 35 years, Grand Master Seoung Eui Shin has been teaching Tae Kwon Do to the residents of the greater Nashville area, and especially to the residents of Bellevue. His guidance in the martial art of Tae Kwon Do has touched many, many lives of the children here. He has nurtured the physical, mental, and spiritual lives of adults, as well. Over the past few years, Grand Master Shin has accompanied his church on mission trips to the Yucatan Peninsula, during which his students performed Tae Kwon Do demonstrations for the local citizens. Through the demonstrations, he was able to spread the word of Christian faith to many who attended the events. Also, during this time, Grand Master Shin attained Master Degrees in both Divinity and Theology. His lifelong goal has been to use his martial art to help others and now it is being used to bring the Christian faith to those who are in need. June 14th to 20th, 2009 was the first mission trip that he conducted himself and in which he and his students ministered to the spiritually and financially impoverished population in the Yucatan area. These people are living lives of hardship, with little hope and much spiritual emptiness.

In Matthew 28:19-20 Christ gives us the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit . . . and I will be with you to the end of the age.” The Holy Spirit guides us to fulfill this calling and spirit of Tae Kwon Do provides the vehicle to accomplish this goal.

The importance of this mission trip is that the participants are all Tae Kwon Do students of Grand Master Shin’s and it is the first Christian mission using only Tae Kwon Do to spread the word of the gospel. Today, there are more than 180 countries with 70 million Tae Kwon Do practitioners. It is Grand Master Shin’s hope that, through his example, more Tae Kwon Do people will become involved in Christian mission work so that more people can live in faith. There are many pockets of hopelessness in the world and through missions like this one perhaps many human lives and conditions will improve.

The effects of this first mission trip became quite obvious to Master Shin during the preparation for the mission, during the mission, and after the mission. The preparation for this mission involved many of his students in activities that included fund raising and devotional meetings. Ironically, the students who went with him on this trip had very limited experience with Christian faith. Their spiritual growth was apparent to many observers. Even the fund raising activities included many people of both Christian and non-Christian faith. During the mission trip, those whom God chose to go with Master Shin experienced an opportunity to become witness to the positive effects that faith provides. By working directly with the people in Mexico, they became the tools of God’s work as they travelled the streets and small gathering places to spread the word of the gospel. After the mission trip, a video presentation of their journey was made to Master Shin’s students and families during a testing day. This presentation brought tears to the eyes as people watched and understood what these Christian mission participants experienced. As a result, there has been a renewed commitment on the parts of all his students toward developing plans for the next mission trip. The positive effects on the mission centers in Mexico were also enormous. The idea that a martial art such as Tae Kwon Do can develop Christian spiritual leadership is unique and profound. Master Shin says that this first trip was like planting a seed for future spiritual growth. It will have long-lasting effects and will be the spiritual food that provides for many.

Today, there are more than 180 countries with 70 million Tae Kwon Do practitioners.

How is all this possible? It is through the nature of Tae Kwon Do. Usually in mission trips, the main focus is providing those that you mission to with material goods, medical and personal physical services, preaching, and religious brochures. These things are good, but they can often neglect to deeply enter the heart of the people you are trying to reach. They are somewhat temporary and the effects are short-term. The difference in using Tae Kwon Do as a tool for Christian faith is that the most important aspect of this martial art is the spiritual level that it develops in a person. For example, when you build the self-esteem of a child with breaking a board it will forever live in their heart. Breaking the board is like breaking a problem in their life, the same way that Christ breaks our problems. Showing them how to kick and block will give them the type of skills that they can use forever, making a lasting memory of the moment that they were brought to Christ with messages given during this moment. In the act of fighting in Tae Kwon Do, we are not fighting in the typical sense. What we are actually doing is fighting our own ego and showing love for others with self-control. Even the ranking system in Tae Kwon Do is like climbing a ladder towards submission to God. The higher in rank a person goes, the more humbleness they achieve. Additionally, the mission pastors have observed that Tae Kwon Do seems to help the mission centers through its unique ability to create an idea of mission service that truly gets into the hearts of those who experience it.