L'Abri Newsletter, August 2025

August 13, 2025

Dear praying family,

Lately, the eaves of our roof have been bustling with birds seeking refuge from the scorching sun. Amid this record-breaking heatwave and uncertain days, where have you been finding shelter?

Although I was born and raised at L’Abri—a word that means “shelter” in French—for many years I did my best to run away from God. But at last I was captivated by the beauty of Christ, and since October of last year I have been serving here as a worker. These past ten months have been filled with the thrilling joy of witnessing God’s work each day. At times I cry out in anguish over the ways my past and present sins affect the community. Yet again and again, God draws me back to himself—as though rushing me into the emergency room—where he never fails to flood me with his love and strength.

I am deeply grateful to all of you who have prayed for me. First of all, I want to thank God—and you—for the ways he has answered the prayer requests we shared in previous letters.

Wheelchair Access Ramp for the Main House & Old Gas Station Renovated

Thank you for praying for the construction of a safe entrance to the main house so that those with disabilities could come and go at L’Abri without danger. Here, too, the creativity and hard work of Gwang-sik Jeong also shone through in many ways.

Now that there is a safe path, a guest who was badly injured a few months ago on the steep slope in a wheelchair returned to visit us. Seeing him roll up the ramp with ease and beam with a broad smile was an immense relief!

As funds become available, we hope to add non-slip protection to the wheelchair ramp and repair the sloped driveway leading to it, so that it will remain safe even in snow or rain. Please continue to pray that people of all kinds may come and go here without fear, and that during their stay they may be drawn one step closer to God.

At the end of July, the young adult group from Daecheon Central Methodist Church came and renovated the old gas station building. They repaired ceilings, walls, and floors that had been badly damaged by leaks and mold and made the electrical system safe again. From morning till night they worked with diligence, but that was not all: they had raised the construction funds themselves and even gave offerings so that we could purchase materials and hire workers for the parts that could not be repaired by their own hands, including the wheelchair access ramp. Their open hearts, generous giving, and hard labor were both astonishing and beautiful.

Summer Term and Helpers

Thank you also for praying for the summer term, and for the helpers who came to serve with us in the heat—Gwang-sik and Nam-jeong; and Tae-yoon and Hyeon-ji with their 18-month-old son, Aru. We cannot express enough how grateful we were for their self-giving love and timely help.

This summer term was special in many ways. Among those who came were guests facing truly difficult circumstances. In the workers’ meetings, we often wept and prayed together, asking God what he would have us do for them.

One guest, after presenting a thoughtful comparison between expressive individualism’s view of the self and the biblical view, left us with these words: “Someday I will come back to L’Abri,” and with a promise: “Once a week I will pray honestly to God.” If the Lord wills, I long for the day we might meet again—this time embracing one another as sisters in Christ.

Please pray that, though our love is lacking and our efforts are clumsy, the Lord would cause only the good seed to remain and bear fruit.

L'Abri School of Christian Worldview

Thank you for praying for our School of Christian Worldview, the first we’ve been able to hold since COVID. Altogether, counting both full-time and part-time participants, about forty people gathered to learn and share fellowship. We were especially grateful for Dr. Yoon-seok Lee (Director of the Seoul Institute for Evangelical Worldview) and his wife, Young-mi Lee, who stayed with us from start to finish—serving not only through a keynote lecture but also through their warm and insightful feedback.

Thirteen participants prepared and presented papers out of their own questions and concerns, which sparked lively discussions. We also enjoyed lovingly prepared meals, a mini-concert, and late-night conversations. Allow me to give you a glimpse into our time:

• One participant, though severely disabled and typing each word with great effort, presented a paper exposing how the “gods” in Korean TV series are deeply flawed beings who, in the end, must themselves be saved by human love.
• Another came from Japan and spoke candidly about how her past misunderstandings of calling were reexamined in light of Scripture, and how she wrestles with living faithfully in a society where Christians are such a small minority.
• Yet another, a lifelong installation artist, shared her desire to embody in her work the message that the greatest “holy waste” in history is the incarnation, cross, and resurrection of Jesus.
• Beyond these, there were presentations on politics, sociology, education, vision, freedom, and mentoring—all given in a serious search for Christlike discernment and faithful obedience. At times our heads ached, at times our hearts throbbed, and at times our hands itched with eagerness to put these shared ideas into practice.

If I had to choose a theme that unexpectedly emerged from this School, it would be “lowliness.” In our present reality, where even the next step feels uncertain, how can we live as lowly and obedient as Jesus did, while enjoying his joy, freedom, and abundant delight?

• One musical writer, who confessed that each looming deadline left her feeling crushed and small, as though being marched to execution, found rest in the character and filmography of God, the ultimate Storyteller, and began to take steps forward in joy. Her testimony deeply moved many, including my mother, Kyung-ok, who wept as she listened, having witnessed the long road of hardship this writer has endured.
• One participant, who had long suffered under “villain” bosses at work, realized while preparing his paper that he, too, carried a villain within himself. Together, we reflected on how not to become villains ourselves, how to forgive those who hurt us, and how to love them wisely in the context of community.
• A teacher who came all the way from Vietnam presented a talk titled “Jokes Only the Lowly Can Enjoy.” He shared the secret of how freedom from worldly standards and personal complexes can transform our lowliness into joy and cheerfulness.
• Another presenter introduced us to the life and thought of Os Guinness. Drawing especially from his book Fool’s Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion, he challenged us to share the gospel even with the indifferent and the cynical—by paradoxically employing humor and satire, weakness, storytelling, and imagination.

According to Gordon D. Fee, the lowliness—or humility—that the Bible speaks of flows from our creatureliness. It is, in a sense, facing reality honestly before the Creator. We are marked by sinfulness and finitude, yet at the same time, we are made in the image of God and are the glorious bride of Christ.

To be a creature is to live as a creature—relying wholly on the Creator and reorienting our perspective to his. True humility is freedom from the tyranny of self-focus and from the endless human ladders of higher and lower. May the paradoxical gospel of Jesus—who was brought to the lowest place and through it exalted to the highest—be the source of joy for you, our praying family in Christ, as you embrace lowliness of heart and love one another (Philippians 2:1–11).

Our next School of Christian Worldview is planned for January 2027. Because the summer tourist season made outside accommodations too costly, we are moving it to a different season this time. We look forward to participants who will once again wrestle honestly with their questions, prepare their thoughts, and share them with us from many different fields.

Finally, let me share some prayer requests:

1. For our guests – that each of them would continue in their journey with God, and that what they learned and wrestled with here would remain and bear fruit.
2. For our fall term (open daily for two weeks: September 6–19 and October 18–31) – that those who most need to come may find rest and restoration in God’s Word and love, and that Pastor Seong-jun Park and his wife, Mi-ra Dong, as they come to serve as helpers, may do so with health and joy.
3. For our finances and workers – that the Lord would supply all that we need in his time, and that the workers, who have gone beyond their physical limits, may be restored in body, mind, and spirit.

Even though we are in different places, I recall your faces as fellow workers who fix their eyes on the one Lord, and I find renewed strength and courage in prayer.

In Christ,

Haejin

Translated by Ye-Jin Ahn