Smelly people in church

Here's a great story from last weeks mission meetings in Edinburgh about the beginnings of the world's biggest church.

"Once a woman missionary asked Cho, ‘Reverend, why are there only sick people in this
church? I can’t stand the smell. How can our holy Lord come to this smelly place? Try not to
gather these people anymore. And go out and preach the Gospel. Teach your congregation
on how to take a bath’.

Cho’s answer to the missionary reveals his view of the church’s role
to the poor and suffering,
Rightly said, Missionary. These people are from heaven’s 1st complex. Why is it 1st
complex? Because when Jesus comes, they will be the first ones to go to heaven. It
is not that these people are not cleaning themselves because they do not know how
to take a bath. During winter they have to go to a public bath for washing but they
cannot afford as they are poor. They can only clean themselves in the summer in the
Han River. As a missionary, you must know this. Do you think that Jesus ever took a
bath? Foxes have holes and birds have nests but Jesus had to sleep on the
mountains and fields because He did not have a place to rest His head. Jesus could
only take a bath in the Galilee beach when it rained. Jesus likes poor and smelly
people because he belongs to them. Is there any greater news than healing the sick
and helping the poor? Isn’t this the gospel? Isn’t God our healer, and healing the
gospel? "

Quote from Dr Young-Hoon Lee of Korea, Christian
Spirituality and the Diakonic Mission of the Yoido Full Gospel Church