wfn.org | Leadership opportunities beckon to Korean-American church

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 11, 1998     Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-35-71B{293}

NOTE:  This story accompanies UMNS #292.

LOS ANGELES (UMNS) - Korean Americans, who have built a thriving new
addition to the United Methodist house, must now step out and provide
leadership throughout the church, society and world, key speakers said
at a missionary gathering.

The sense of mission and opportunity could be felt throughout the
Korean-American United Methodist Mission Convocation, held May 4-7.
Bishop Hae-Jong Kim and Board of Global Ministries chief staff executive
Randolph Nugent led the call for the Korean community to take the reins
of leadership in the church at large and in worldwide missions.

"God is challenging us ... to move forward," said Bishop Kim, who leads
the New York West Area of the United Methodist Church. "That is the call
of God for us."

The Korean community must produce solid spiritual leaders who can enter
into the mainstream of society and make a difference, Kim said.

The evangelical fervor of the Korean community can be harnessed to bring
a lot of  good to the United Methodist Church, he said. Noting that the
community tends to be ingrown because of language limitations, Kim said
the big challenge is for Koreans to go beyond those boundaries and
provide leadership in the larger church.

The vision of having a small niche is so limiting, he said. "God's
vision for us is much greater than that."

Kim compared the Korean immigrants in America to the Jews during the
Babylonian captivity. God, speaking through Jeremiah, told the people to
be patient, set down roots and become part of mainstream society, the
bishop said during an evening worship service. Likewise, the
Korean-Americans must settle down and root themselves in the new soil of
the new land, he said.

Get married and have "lots of children," he told his listeners. The
Korean-American community must grow in numbers, he said, but the main
job is to raise people with integrity, strength and wisdom, who can be
spiritual leaders.

"We need to plant a Christ-centered value system into the hearts and
minds of our children," he said.

Nugent also called on Korean Americans to participate fully in the
denomination, so that eventually, they "would permeate the structure of
the United Methodist Church to the core."

He urged the convocation attendees to be active as missionaries around
the world. Koreans, who have experienced separation and even war in
their own country, have a background that would enable them to reach
other people suffering around the world, Nugent said.

"This is a very special moment in which Korean-American United
Methodists should take a major role in the worldwide missionary
movement," Nugent said. "You have the strength, you have the vision, you
have the faith, you have the community. You undergird it, and you have
the spirit."

During a worship service, 35 newly commissioned mission pastors were
recognized. The Board of Global Ministries created the mission pastor
designation recently to help establish new congregations. The
designation allows the pastors to bypass some of the normal United
Methodist structure and move more quickly in starting new churches in
the Korean community, said the Rev. Jong Sung Kim, executive secretary
of Asian-Pacific American Ministries with the Board of Global
Ministries. The board is providing the pastors with health insurance and
other benefits, in addition to a salary supplement, for a three-year
period.

Sharon Maeda, deputy general secretary with the Board of Global
Ministries, is a third-generation Japanese American. At one point during
the convocation, she said that her grandfather was a lay leader in
Oregon who never had the opportunity to attend seminary or become a
pastor.

For her, the recent commissioning of the mission pastors carried special
meaning. "It moved me to tears," she said, "and it was a very
significant moment."

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