Mega-church in Korea builds on Methodist legacy
By Melissa Lauber
One of the advantages of global partnerships is the opportunity to see God at work in churches around the world. Sansung Korean Methodist Church, one of the fastest growing churches in Korea, recently offered insights into its faith journey to 21 leaders from the Baltimore-Washington Conference.
The BWC leaders, led by Bishop Marcus Matthews, were in Korea to renew the conference's covenant partnership with the South Conference.
On July 14, Sansung's senior pastor, the Rev. Sung Up Ji, and his interpreter, the Rev. Sang Lee, shared how the 56-year-old church in Daejeon has grown to 3,000 members, doubling in size in the past seven years.
The church has eight services; five in Korean, and one each in English, Japanese and Chinese for its members and visitors. While it is clergy-driven, said Ji, it is the members who bring other people.
"They have a positive image of the church and a joy in them," he said. "They've found hope through the church and they know they need to share that. The worship and the sermon are why people come here. The laity grow our congregation."
Another essential element, Ji said, is prayer. When the new building was completed five years ago, he made sure that all of the church's money was not invested in the building. When that happens, he said, "the building becomes an idol and gets in the way of ministry."
However, he did invest in the prayer room and an attendant to keep it open 24 hours a day. "If one person in our community wants to pray here, we need to be open for them," he said.
"There are 168 hours a week and someone is at the church praying during every one of them," Ji said. "Our light doesn't go off. We are a spiritual community and no one will ever be left alone without prayer."
The church is also mission-oriented, operating a coffee shop in its building to raise funds for outreach, and sponsoring a restaurant in Daejeon, run by an ordained Elder, to help immigrants from other Asian countries.
BWC leaders spent more than an hour asking questions about the church. "What they're doing really resonates with me," said the Rev. Evan Young, superintendent of the Annapolis District. "These principles of immersing everything in prayer and empowering the laity to do significant outreach and evangelism are strong principles that we stress in our new starts and would be beneficial for all our churches to consider, " he said.
One of the advantages of global partnerships is the opportunity to see God at work in churches around the world. Sansung Korean Methodist Church, one of the fastest growing churches in Korea, recently offered insights into its faith journey to 21 leaders from the Baltimore-Washington Conference.
The BWC leaders, led by Bishop Marcus Matthews, were in Korea to renew the conference's covenant partnership with the South Conference.
On July 14, Sansung's senior pastor, the Rev. Sung Up Ji, and his interpreter, the Rev. Sang Lee, shared how the 56-year-old church in Daejeon has grown to 3,000 members, doubling in size in the past seven years.
The church has eight services; five in Korean, and one each in English, Japanese and Chinese for its members and visitors. While it is clergy-driven, said Ji, it is the members who bring other people.
"They have a positive image of the church and a joy in them," he said. "They've found hope through the church and they know they need to share that. The worship and the sermon are why people come here. The laity grow our congregation."
Another essential element, Ji said, is prayer. When the new building was completed five years ago, he made sure that all of the church's money was not invested in the building. When that happens, he said, "the building becomes an idol and gets in the way of ministry."
However, he did invest in the prayer room and an attendant to keep it open 24 hours a day. "If one person in our community wants to pray here, we need to be open for them," he said.
"There are 168 hours a week and someone is at the church praying during every one of them," Ji said. "Our light doesn't go off. We are a spiritual community and no one will ever be left alone without prayer."
The church is also mission-oriented, operating a coffee shop in its building to raise funds for outreach, and sponsoring a restaurant in Daejeon, run by an ordained Elder, to help immigrants from other Asian countries.
BWC leaders spent more than an hour asking questions about the church. "What they're doing really resonates with me," said the Rev. Evan Young, superintendent of the Annapolis District. "These principles of immersing everything in prayer and empowering the laity to do significant outreach and evangelism are strong principles that we stress in our new starts and would be beneficial for all our churches to consider, " he said.
Login/Register to leave comment