This year I
have been working on obtaining my bronze medallion from Koinonia Institute (KI).
In a few more weeks, I hope to have completed this first phase. To date, it is
a medal that I will be most proud of having earned.
The next
step in this learning adventure will be to earn my silver and finally gold
medallions. These medallions can take years to earn.
To earn a
bronze, one simply has to listen to approximately 36 hours of instruction, pass
quizzes and tests, and also complete written assignments. This has not been
very hard, and it has been fun to be learning in a school-like setting again.
However, to
earn a silver medallion, one must complete over 250 hours of instruction, pass
quizzes and tests, complete written assignments, and give oral presentations. One
must also earn 10,000 “K-credits.”
The gold
medallion requires many more hours of instruction, tests, papers, presentations, and an accumulation
of at least 30,000 K-credits.
K-credits. I
felt frustrated when I learned that I could not earn ANY K-credits just for
completing regular course work. So how could I earn them?
There are
many ways to earn K-credits, but best
way it seems for me to earn them is to serve locally. For people who teach Bible
school or lead home Bible studies, work in soup kitchens, assist in service
projects, go on mission trips… they can count their service
hours to earn K-credits. You get approximately 10 K-credits for every hour
spent in unpaid service to the Lord. To earn a silver medallion on this route, one is
required approximately 1,000 hours of service. That averages to more than 2.5
hours of service a DAY for one solid year. And I don’t care who you are, you're probably not that holy.
I think this
method of earning K-credits is fantastic. It goes along with KI’s desire that
other people should never need to ask if we are a Christians. If people have to
ask, then we are doing something wrong. Our loyalties should be evident by the
way we live, and we should be active servants in our communities.
At my
current rate of service I don’t know if I could even earn my silver medallion
in 5 years, and this was sad to me. Of course, now I am motivated to find ways that
I can serve in my community so that I can earn myself some K-credits!
But what
about the “credit” I will be earning with God?
What about
all of the years, and days, and hours that I have wasted up until now when I
was not motivated to be about the work of my Lord? What kind of credit do I get for that?
If I were
called to Heaven today, would I hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful
servant?” I am ashamed to answer that question.
And so this
desire in me to earn some K-credits so that I can eventually earn my silver and
gold medallions is shaming, humbling, but also encouraging. I am motivated to
do better. I want to serve when no one is watching. I want to serve because the
Lord sees those things that are done in secret, both good and bad and HE
rewards the good.
And hey, if
I can document my time and earn myself some K-credits along the way, I’m just
fine with that. Because someday, I want to have that bronze, silver, and gold
hanging on my wall: tokens of the race I’m in. They will be my small victories on
this way of choosing God over self.
