Goodbye to South Korea and landing in UK

   I am now back in Worcester Park, but feel tired. I slept 7 hours yesterday evening, but was unable to sleep anymore as my body clock is 8 hours ahead. Do hope it won't take too long to recover from the jet lag.

   Here is a picture of my hosts (on the left) and my friends and me (on the right) saying goodbye on Saturday evening. We are having a meal at Shabu Shabu: it is a Japanese meal.

 Shabu Shabu it includes cooking meat and veg in a big pot and then dipping it into a sauce. Here is a picture of the pot.

Lots to think through, and I had a wonderful time, but also glad to be home.

Meeting more Baptist's and a trip to the sea

    Yesterday I visited Suwon Christian Academy founded by Pastor Joseph Kim. The school has a nursery, primary, and middle school. I was very impressed with what I saw of the children who seemed polite, the ethos of learning that seemed both academic and fun, and the general Christian ethos. I also spoke to the secretary who was very helpful in explaining why so many parents want their children to go there. Firstly, it is not so exam based as other schools. There is an acceptance of subjects like art which isn't so much in other Korean schools. They learn English, which is seen as very useful as it is a universal language. Then of course there is the Christian ethos which doesn't seem so  Conservative as other schools.

   Pastor Joseph is also the pastor of one of the churches that meets on the school premises. It is a Baptist church, which he planted. It has a congregation of 1,500 members and he was the senior pastor. He believed God was calling him to split the congregation off into smaller churches of 300 members so that they have deeper fellowship with each other, and since then these smaller churches have continued to grow and plant more churches. His Father is Pastor Billy Kim, a Baptist minister and was President of the Baptist World Alliance in 2000; the first Asian. He is also the President of Far East Broadcasting Company, which is a sister company to FEBA ( I know some folk at WPBC support that radio station). My friends and I had lunch with Pastor Joseph and his wife Annie. Pastor Joseph and Annie are Korean American and speak good English. They were both educated in America, and seemed interested in the UK and especially Baptist churches there. It was great to spend time with them.

   After that we took the fast train to Busan, and stayed over night. Busan is a big city next to the beach. Today we went on the famous Haeundae beach, and into the sea, at 9.30am the sand was quite hot to walk on. We walked around the cliffs, and in the market. We had noddles, gimbap, and ice cream for lunch before heading back to Seoul. The trip is almost over, and lots to reflect upon, but I am very grateful for the hospitality and generosity I have experienced.

Update: time with friends and new church experience

   So you may be wondering what I have been doing the past few days. I have been spending time with friends. Yongbom is at a Theology conference here. Diana and I went to meet him on Monday lunchtime and met with some of his colleagues who are lecturing in Univeristies in America and Korea. It was interesting meeting up with them and talking about the quite different world of academia. Highlights also include some more normal experiences, which are a little different in Korea, including getting my haircut (I've not done that through translation before), and going clothes shopping (the styles are quite different in Korea).

  Yesterday my hosts wanted to show me another quite different experience. They wanted my friends and I to be prayed for by a Korean pastor who is known for having a particular spiritual gift in prayer ministry. This pastor holds courses to train pastors and other people in this area. So we went into the church and we took our shoes off. I could hear people shouting, and coughing. It is quite disorientating going into a place where you are not sure what is going on. In two separate rooms there were people being prayed for in a manner I've not come across before. One person was laid on the floor, and four people were surrounding them. One person was at their feet, holding their feet, one at their head, also holding their head, and then two either side of their body. One of the people were gently hitting their chest, and side of their body, and all them were shouting this one word. The person laid down was coughing. We sat and watched. I then turned to my host to ask what it was they were doing, I had never seen anything like this before. She said they were casting a demon out of the person, who was trapped inside the person, and they were shouting 'get out'. They then prayed over the person after this. What I found very strange was these people were Christian's, a few it seemed had come because they were sick, but mostly they were people who wanted to learn about prayer ministry. I was told by my host that these people had to have a demon cast out of them before they could do prayer ministry. The idea of Christian's having demons is a whole new theology that I have not come across before.

   After this finished, there was a service, and then lunch. After lunch we were invited to meet the Pastor who was a very gentle and humble person. Unfortunately he didn't speak English so parts of the conversation was translated. Anyway, my hosts asked if we would like to be prayed over by  the Pastor to receive a blessing; and I thought, well, you can't have enough prayer. So the pastor laid hands on me and prayed for me. My friend Yongbom translated the prayer for me. He prayed for God's blessing on my ministry, that it would be fruitful, that God would annoint me with many gifts, and revival will come to the church. I felt more peaceful afterwards. He also prayed over my friends as well. A quite different experience, but I am thankful for his prayers for me.

 

Services in South Korea

   Yesterday my friends and I went to our friend, Pastor Lee's,  church to their young adults service. It was good to see a number of students and young adults at the service praising God together. Here are some hallmarks that I have observed in Korean worship services and some lessons:

1. Passionate and heartfelt worship and prayer. When you can't understand what people are saying it is good to know that they at least they sound heartfelt.

2. Bible reading. When reading a bible passage the preacher will read one verse and the congregation will read the alternate verse. This means a couple of things: everyone has a Bible with them following the passage, people need to really pay attention because they are expected to join in, and it involves everyone in engaging with the text.

3. How important language is for us to really encounter God, and how this might effect people with language barriers. I think this is the same for us in Britain, but this has not been a problem for me as I know the language. When I don't have a translation I have to engage with the service on a different level, which for a short time is ok but long term it is unhealthy. It has made me think how we might be able to make services more accessible for people to engage who have poor English language comprehension, and conscious how wordy I can be in services.

4. How difficult and confusing it can be if you are not sure what is coming next or really what is going on. That is good to remember especially when folk come to the church for the first time, we presume quite a bit.

Making new friends, and reconnecting with friends.

    This post is all about friends.  Thursday I went to the Korean traditional folk village just outside of Seoul with new friends I met at the Woncheon Church last Sunday. It was great to go around and look at a traditional folk village, and spend sometime with folk that are around the same age as me so I can understand a bit more of what life is like for young adults. Here is the picture of me with Nara.

Here is a picture of me with her husband dressed in Korean traditional costume (for the occasion!)

Then on Friday I went to see Dr Dongwan Kim, his wife and son. It was lovely to see them all, especially as they have all been to WPBC on a Sunday, and to find out how life is with them. It was also quite exciting that his new books have now been published, including explanations of biblical text and study guides for churches. Looking forward to reading it when it is translated into English. We then had lunch with one of the Elders and his wife at Darim Methodist Church. Then I met some Korean's who are planning to come over to the UK to study. I tried to help them as much as I could in the practical questions they had about housing, schooling, car insurance, churches, integration, weather, health care, and shopping. It gave me another insight into some of the concerns that folk have when they come to the UK.

Then in the evening it was great to see very good friends of mine; Yongbom and Diana (friends from Bristol). I have been staying with Yongbom's parents since being here and it is wonderful to see them again. Really looking forward to spending time with them also during the next few days. 

Visit to the Demilitarised zone

   Today I visited the Demilitarised zone, the border between South and North Korea with Pastor Kim. This isn't too far from Seoul and gave me more of an insight into the real tension between North and South Korea. We went on a bus tour to visit some of the sites. Firstly, we had to go through the gates where the South Korean military checked our identity. Then we drove to the furthest station point at South Korea, passing lots of farm land, but not many houses. We then went to the farthest point north of South Korea, and was able to see the zone between North and South. The line was established after the Korean War in 1953 and it was agreed that both parties would retreat 2 km from the line. There is a space that you can see through the high trees, into and an empty space. No humans, no buildings, just wildlife live there. In the distance you can see mountains, and buildings, into the unknown territory of North Korea. The area is 970 km long. It seemed strange peering into a country we can't go into.

   We then visited another place, watched a film, and went on a small shuttle train down into one of the tunnels that was made by the North Korean's for a surprise attack on South Korea. There are four tunnels in total that were discovered in the 1970's and then one in 1990. As we went into the tunnel, wearing hard hats, it was then that it hit me how very real all this was. These were made for the purpose of attacking the country I had spent time in. How very long these tunnels must be. We then walked deeper into the tunnel, and came to the end where we could see barbed wire, and a big metal door with a padlock. It felt strange to think behind that behind that door was North Korea. Not a pleasant feeling. We were that close, but yet so far away. It all felt quite strange, and slightly concerning. I feel I can understand a bit more now of that fear and tension that South Korea faces. Though in one respect I was glad to get out of the tunnel, I am glad I did it. I pray tensions will soon cease and this country can be unified once again, it must feel strange to know that North Korea could attack at any time. So I pray peace for this land.

More food, and conversations on preaching.

      Yes this post refers to more food! (I'm sure I am gaining weight). This time a Chinese meal, and a really good conversation about preaching. Yesterday I met up with Pastor Yoon, who is a friend of Pastor Abraham (pastor of Korean church that meets on the premises at WPBC) and he introduced me to another Korean Pastor; Pastor Kim. Pastor Kim is ministering in Seoul at a Presbyterian church. He is completing a years course in preaching, and is attending the classes two days a week. Now when I say a day, I mean 12 hour days! I was quite interested what this course was about. Pastor Kim explained to me this course gives him a tool to apply to preaching. One of those tools was a grid with 60 sentence structures, which helps to explain the main subject of a text to the congregation, rather than the secondary subject. For example a text  may be describing the life of Paul, but Paul isn't the main subject of the, text God is.  What is important is what God is doing through Paul. What God is doing in and through Paul needs to be emphasised when preaching, so that it can be applied to the congregation. He explained that this concept was particularly hard for Korean Pastors and so he was learning a technique to help him. I was quite intrigued by this; it hadn't occurred to me that God was not the main subject of the bible passage. I can recall now my tutors saying to me we always need to think about where is God for you in this passage, and where is God's good news for us? As we talked it seemed that Korean Pastors (at least when he studied 20 years ago) did not have this kind of training.

   We both agreed there is a challenge for ministers to make sure that God speaks to us first through the text, before even thinking about sharing it with the congregation. We also shared the need for confidence in the Word as transformative to people lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is good to be reminded of this, and the seriousness of preaching prep. Sometimes other demands seem to take priority but our first call as ministers is to preach and teach God's word and so we need to take this seriously; I think God might be trying to remind me something there.  Also good to remember
what a privilege and responsibility it is. These are very similar conversations to ones I had with Pastor Kong and Dr Dongwan Kim. I don't think this just an issue in Korea, but one for us in the UK as well. Perhaps there is a need for more learning together.