wfn.org | Ontario church members' visit South Korea

[Beth Hawn]

Microsoft Mail v3.0 (MAPI 1.0 Transport) IPM.Microsoft Mail.Note
To:  'Worldwide Faith News'
Date: 1998-07-08 13:21
Priority: 3
Message ID: 2DD09CC83A16D211AAB0006008075ABF
Conversation ID: Ontario church membersÉ visit South Korea 

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July 8, 1998
Mennonite Board of Missions
Beth Hawn
219-294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

Ontario church members' visit to South Korea results in gifts

NEWTON, Kan. (GCMC/MBM/MCC)--A two-week visit to South Korea by some
Ontario Mennonites included service, cross-cultural sharing and renewed
vision for a pastor.

The group of eight, from Vineland (Ont.) United Mennonite Church, made   
the
visit in order to show support for, and learn more about, the work done   
over the
past two years by Chris and Laura Mullet Koop, Overseas Mission   
Volunteers
under the auspices of the Commission on Overseas Mission of the General
Conference Mennonite Church, Mennonite Board of Missions of the Mennonite   

Church and Mennonite Central Committee. The Vineland church is a
mission partner, through a program sponsored by COM, with the Mullet   
Koops.

Chris Mullet Koop is a member of the Vineland church. He welcomed his   
parents,
Paul and Mary Koop, his great-aunt Lydia Wichert, and his pastor Dave
Brubacher and wife Lynda, as well as Laura Gossen and Kathy and Robert   
Janzen,
to Abba Shalom Koinonia in April. Abba Shalom is a Christian community   
where
the Mullet Koops live, along with eight Koreans.

Adjusting to different food and ways of eating it was one challenge for   
the
Canadians, Chris says. "They all managed the chopsticks pretty well, but
they were all put to the test when the live Bing-Ah (minnows) came out!   
 My dad,
Dave Brubacher and Robert Janzen managed to catch one with their   
chopsticks
and stick it in their mouth. Kathy Janzen was the only brave woman.   
However,
she didn't savor the taste like the rest of them did."

The group crammed a number of activities into their two weeks, including   
work
around Abba Shalom. They planted flowers, refinished benches, built a   
wood
shelter and cut and stacked wood to go in it, and fixed windows and   
screens.

The group also helped to lay hot water pipes underground to hook another   
of the
community's houses to the boiler. Earlier in the year, Abba Shalom   
received a
woodwater furnace from  Canada, a heating method that will greatly reduce   
the
community's heating bills.

One of the group's excursions included a look at the Demilitarized Zone,   
the
heavily guarded border between South and North Korea, not far from Abba
Shalom.
"We rode in military jeeps--a dusty, steep climb--to the Demilitarized   
Zone
where we could see North Korea from an observation tower," says Chris.   
"Most
of the questions the groups asked the guide, however, went unanswered. We   

were told that they were 'inappropriate.'  Oops. Though we didn't get to   
learn
much, we did get a clear look at North Korea from the mountain top only   
1.5
kilometers away."

"We also went to see a tunnel, the second of four tunnels found, dug by   
the
North, and inside the tunnel we actually walked to the MDL, which is the   
center
line of the DMZ. The DMZ is supposed to be 4 kilometers wide, but the   
point we saw
was less than 3 kilometers."

A special part of the trip, Chris says, was a visit with some Korean   
Christians
outside Abba Shalom. "The [Ontario] group was billeted twice by the   
members
of the Jesus Village Church, which was a great experience. The Vineland
church folks brought a banner for JVC and matching stained glass window
hangings for each family in JVC. The stained glass was a yellow circle   
and
inside was a white peace dove overlaid on a green circle representing the   

earth. They looked beautiful.

"The group sang a blessing song for the JVC members and suggested that   
this be
the beginning of an ongoing personal relationship between the Vineland
church in Canada and the Jesus Village Church in Korea. The last Sunday
together was filled with prayers, and at the end the JVC members gathered   

around the Vineland group to lay hands on them and pray for them. It was   
very
moving."

Dave Brubacher had several opportunities to share with various groups   
about
Anabaptism, Chris says. "He [talked about] some of the important aspects   
of
the Christian faith that we as Anabaptists/Mennonites hold strongly,
particularly in the area of leadership and authority. It was interesting   
to
be a part of those discussions. The Korean seminaries don't touch on
Anabaptism in their history classes--it is listed with the sects:   
Mormons,
Anabaptists, etc. Peace and pacifism also came up in a discussion with   
our
Hwachon area pastors' English class."

Brubacher's experience in Korea has resulted in fresh personal enthusiasm   

for mission and church-planting. "One thing that gripped me was the   
vision of
the Abba Shalom Koinonia community and Jesus Village Church--Yoon-sik Lee   

is the pastor and spiritual leader for both--to plant an Anabaptist   
church in
Korea," says Brubacher.

"Part of that vision might include planting an Anabaptist church [among
Koreans] in North America. Yoon-sik told me that Toronto has more Koreans   

than any other city in North America.

"After my contact with Yoon-sik," Brubacher continues, "I decided that   
when
I got home, I was going to talk to some of my colleagues on the Mission   
and
Service Commission of MCEC [Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada]. We   
got
home at about 11:30 on a Tuesday night. At 8:30 the next morning, I got a   
phone
call from the MCEC gifts discernment committee, asking me if I'd be the   
chair
of the Mission and Service Commission."

Brubacher says that before the trip to Korea, he'd have said 'No' without   

hesitation, because he had recently decided to take a year's "sabbatical"   

from conference committee work, after 14 or 15 straight years of serving   
on at
least one. With this kind of timing, however, he knew he had to give the
invitation some thought. "One thing about Yoon-sik is that he's a man of
prayer," Brubacher says, "and maybe this was an answer to his prayer." He   

agreed to chair the commission.

The group's visit "turned out to be an excellent venture," Chris says.   
"They
sure got lots done. One couple could not say enough how exciting it was   
for them
to come first hand and see another culture from a non-tourist standpoint.   

After the first week, they regretted not bringing their children along   
with them.

"Now the group has left, and Laura and I are experiencing the 'empty   
nest,'
and we're not even parents."
                

     * * *
   

Melanie Zuercher is news Service editor for the General Conference
Mennonite Church