wfn.org | UMNS# 05160-Korean-American United Methodists have gifts to give,

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Korean-American United Methodists have gifts to give, bishop says

Mar. 17, 2005	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {05160}

NOTE: A photograph is available in the Photo Gallery at
http://umns.umc.org.
This story and related resources are available online at
http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=6973.

By Linda Bloom*

NEW YORK (UMNS)-Bishop Jeremiah Park believes that Korean-American
United Methodists have gifts and resources that can strengthen the
entire denomination.

Park, who oversees the denomination's New York Area, is the new
president of the United Methodist Council on Korean American Ministries.

The council supports the denomination's Korean-American National Plan, a
program of General Conference, the church's top legislative body. The
2004 General Conference approved a budget of $3.2 million for the plan.

Since its beginning in 1903, the Korean-American United Methodist
community has grown to more than 420 congregations with 100,000 members,
along with more than 540 Korean-American clergy members.

"We will continue to serve the church by fulfilling the mandate that we
have from General Conference relating to the national plan," Park told
United Methodist News Service. "But we really would like to present
ourselves as a council, that we are not just a funding body."

One function of the council, he added, would be "serving as a think tank
for the community and the church."

Council members believe the Korean-American United Methodist community
has matured and is ready to share its gifts with the rest of the
denomination, according to the bishop. Those gifts, he said, include a
"spirituality forged in prayer life," expertise at evangelism and
stewardship, and "a wonderful culture of hospitality and respect."

"The council wants to be a catalyst for sharing these gifts and its
resources with the church," Park explained.

At its organizing meeting in late January, the council set six goals
that incorporate the national plan's "vision areas" of servant
leadership formation, next-generation ministries, and congregational
development and redevelopment of existing ministries.

A strategy for servant leadership formation will focus on clergy,
professional staff and lay leaders for "first and next-generation"
Korean Americans. That strategy will include emphasis on the church's
connectional system, community outreach and justice ministry,
intergenerational partnership, mission interpretation and cross-cultural
communications.

The council hopes to help the Korean-American community see "new
possibilities" for work as partners in mission, Park said.

Other goals include leadership formation and integration for
Korean-American clergywomen; the establishment of 15 new next-generation
congregations and campus ministries; recruitment of next-generation men
and women for training and ordination through United Methodist-related
seminaries; the establishment of 15 new Korean congregations and
strengthening of existing congregations; and the expansion of resource
materials and national data on Korean-American churches and mission.

# # #

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service
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