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A Burden for Ministry: The Legacy of Momentum

The Word of Life Bible Institute educational philosophy is founded on the core principles of study, life and ministry. Our mission seeks to, “educate each student with a rigorous academic and structured discipleship atmosphere, preparing him or her to live a life of maximum effectiveness for the Lord.” We desire to equip students with the tools necessary for ministry while allowing them to gain experience through sharing the gospel, experiencing missions, and using their gifts to serve others.

The students have numerous ministry opportunities as the Bible Institute is situated on Jeju Island where only two percent of people attend church. One of the largest ministry opportunities the students participate in throughout the year is an event for teenagers called “Momentum”. With fun games, tasty food, meaningful worship, and clear Bible teaching, this event is the perfect gateway into the lives of the teenagers in the community. Sergei Li, a 2014 alumnus of WOLBI Jeju, originally designed Momentum with the desire to help Jeju Island churches strengthen their youth ministries. Sergei knows Word of Life is passionate about building into the next generation saying he believes, “Word of Life is one of the biggest ministries for teenagers in the world.”

As a student, Sergei could not believe the Bible Institute did not have specific ministries for teens on the island. With the help of his classmates and direction from staff, Sergei set off to start Momentum saying, “we have a facility, we have people willing to help, there’s hundreds of unreached students, we are a Bible Institute…let’s do something!” Sergei worked hard to set a clear vision for Momentum with his goal to “initiate a movement for the next few years.”

Kortni Maria Photography

Sergei knew the