Worshipping at a Korean Baptist church

   Yesterday I experiencing something of how busy Korean Christian's are! I went with my hosts to Kangnam Joongang Baptist church. The first service we went to was at 10 am; one of the many morning services that the church holds. I was greeted at the door and introduced to one of the stewards who gave me a notice sheet, however it was all in Korean language so I couldn't really appreciate it fully. The sanctuary has rows of pews, the front had a high pulpit, communion table, and to one side pews where the robe choir sat. To the right hand side sat the elders of the church; all older men in black suits. There must have been a good 700 people at the service, maybe more, I'm not very good at guessing numbers!

  The service started with one of the seven assistant ministers welcoming us to the service and then an introit was sung by the choir. The congregation stood as we prayed and sung our first hymn together, it was Jesus the name high over all. Unfortunately I couldn't recall all the words in English, it is very hard when everyone else is singing a different language. As it has been translated into Korean the tune has been slightly tweaked to fit the words- some of the notes seemed a bit longer than what I remember. We then said the Lord's Prayer together. Then came the notices, and one of the ministers who spoke English kindly gave me an ear piece and someone was speaking into it translating the service into English for me. This was a great help; although it wasn't perfect English it was a great help in understanding the overview of the service. The notices consisted of some of the many activities and special services. I was also welcomed by them as a minister from the UK. We then prayed together and the choir sang a piece, before the senior minister then stood up to read the bible passage from Romans 5. He then spent about 30 mins preaching. The best way I could describe his style would be academic, traditional, Calvinistic (what I could make out was that he was saying that those who hold a general theology of salvation are not real Christian's but the translation might have been wrong).  Possibly a style you still might find at Spurgeon's church; Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. The service was closed with a hymn and blessing. The service was just shy of an hour. Everyone then quickly filed out as the next service was about to start and we went down stairs for tea and coffee. It was then that I was ushered into the back offices to the Senior Ministers office. What a room! It was filled with books, a long table, a mounted wall hanging of one of Spurgeon's sermons, and coffee, and fruit laid out on the table. I was invited to sit while the senior minister hosted me. He gave me an enormous amount of food to try, and then talked to me about his visit to Spurgeon's college, and asked whether we were still facing persecution as Baptist's like Spurgeon did in his day; he obviously had read about the history of UK Baptist churches but had not kept update! Then I was quickly ushered out as he got ready for the next service. I was also ushered along to the English service.

   The English service was a very different style, was that because it was in English and they wanted to follow our culture, or was it because the minister leading was younger? According to my host it was probably the latter. We sung modern English songs, prayed using images from the PowerPoint presentation, and the style of the preaching was much more familiar to me. After the service they gave me lots of food including Sushi, donuts, and coffee. They were so interested in asking me questions; they had met American's but not English people. They wanted to know was the UK church Calvinist or Arminian, how many people attended, what are the challenges we face, and how did I become a sole minister of a church being both young and a woman. I wanted to stay longer and talk but my hosts were keen to go to a prayer meeting for North Korea and we had to go and have some lunch before the meeting.

   So next was lunch at the church in a big canteen; the lunch consisted of Kimchee, rice, bean sprouts, and green beans. After this we went to the prayer meeting about North Korea. Unfortunately I didn't understand most of it, but the missionary who was talking had been working in China with people from North Korea and he established a school where he shared about Jesus with the children.

  We then drove out of Seoul to another town to have a meal with friends of my host. There was about 10 people there, and it was good to spend sometime out of Seoul. It was so cool and the air seemed much cleaner. We arrived back after 10 pm after quite a full day. As you can see lots to think about regarding the differences between Korean Christian's and ourselves.

Update and being a tourist

   On Friday I visited Pastor Abraham Ahn's friend Pastor Joshua Yoon who is involved in children's education both in school and within church. We shared some perspectives from both cultures. It seems that both countries are experiencing decline with children and young people. He feels education is quite key to that. He is going to be setting up some meetings next week for me when Pastor Abraham arrives so I can meet with other ministers.

   On Saturday I was a tourist, and went on the Seoul city bus tour. I stopped at the national museum of Korea. Here is a picture of the building.

There are lots of exhibitions; it is quite similar to the British museum in London. Here is one particular wall hanging that has a very Eastern look to it.

I also visited one of the Palaces built in 1483 called Changgyeonggung Palace. Most of the palace was destroyed by the Japanese invasion, but it was rebuilt in 1987. Here is a picture.

Today I will be worshipping at a Baptist church so watch this space for some of my thoughts on that experience!

Meeting students at the Methodist Theological University

     Yesterday was a long day, so I didn't manage to write a blog post so I am writing it on Friday evening. I went to the Methodist college where Dr Donghwan Kim is a lecturer. He came to Worcester Park Baptist in the summer and his wife has been attending the church. Here is a picture of me with him and some of his students outside the university.

The young man to the right of me, as you look at the photo, spoke good English and is wanting to become a Methodist Minister in South Korea. The woman next to Dr Kim is doing a PhD in John Wesley, and is learning English. It was good to talk to them, as students in their late twenties, and to see their understanding of the Korean church and culture. It is quite different from the older generation. I am finding there is a quite a gap between the generations in terms of their thinking and understanding of faith. Although the Korean churches are quite large they are loosing the young generation. Partly they believe this is because faith is not deeply embedded within the people so when struggles and hardships come they are just looking for God to bless them rather than having a faith that endures. They are just into a faith that is all about getting a blessing. 

After enjoying an Italian meal; I was then interviewed by Dongwan , and the students asked questions. Here is a picture of the students that went to the seminar.

 They wanted to know the work we do in the church for children and families, how the churches in the UK are responding to ethical issues, and how to disciple young people. It came obvious through our time together that the issues they face are not that dissimilar to the issues we encounter. I was drawn to say to them that the UK have not got all the answers to these issues. We don't have the  formula to apply, but rather we all need to recognise that neither country has it all sorted and recognise we face these issues together, as equal partners. From conversations I have had so far I feel quite passionate that we need to come together as Christians from different cultures around Jesus. Jesus came to transform us and bring about a new culture; the culture of God. That is what we are called to do, and unite around that. 

Initial reflections

I have only been in Seoul for two days, but I want to write down some initial reflections. I went to a class at the church this morning the subject was learning about coffee from around the world; it is a course that my hosts are going to and so they invited me to come along. I learnt a bit, but it was in Korean so it was hard to fully understand it; although my hosts tried to translate some of it. However it was just the experience of meeting other women that interested me. Firstly, a young woman who knew a bit of English, said it was good to meet me and asked me straight away my age. Now I have been told before that this is important in the Korean language to know whether the person you are speaking to is older or younger, but I was still surprised by this. It just goes to show how ingrained cultural assumptions are within me, I was embarrassed to be asked this by someone I had just met. I guess also my host had already said I was a Pastor and they looked quite surprised ; I think they thought I was young, so perhaps it was my own sensitivity to this that made me more embarrassed by the question of my age. Then she was embarrassed when my host explained that this would be quite rude in my culture; so we ended up being both embarrassed! I explained it was ok, my mistake not hers. Perhaps this is something to think about further how much this is cultural embarrassment especially for women, and how much this is my own personal reactions when people ask me my age.

  Secondly the subject matter would not be something I would think about taking a class in. How to make filtered coffee and to understand all about coffee; wouldn't be something I would choose to learn about, yet these women wanted to understand better. They weren't all from the church but it was though the church was acting as a place to go and learn new skills; a bit like a college. I also think they probably wanted to learn with other people; to be part of a community was important to them. Our learning is probably more individualistic, and I like the idea they see the importance of being part of a community and to learn and have fun together.

 Thirdly the women giggled when I spoke a little Korean. Partly it was intonation that seemed funny to them, but according to my host it is more than that, they wouldn't expect me to learn Korean, the expectation would be they learn English. We are seen as the advanced country that Korean's want to emulate and not the other way around. People seem quite surprised that I would want to come and learn about Korean culture and church life. I guess that is one of the legacies that the West has, but I think we have lots to learn from them.

  Tomorrow will be quite different as I will go to the Methodist Theological University and meet students training to be ministers. Looking forward to hearing their perspectives.

Arrival in Seoul

I landed safely in Seoul yesterday afternoon after a 10 hour flight. The weather at the moment is in the mid twenties so I can cope with that, although it is quite warm at night. I am of course still trying to get over the jet lag; Korea is eight hours ahead of the U.K. My hosts live outside of the main city centre but it still feels busy to me! From the window I can see many apartment blocks and down into the main shopping area. Here is a picture from the apartment block.

It is about a 15 mins walk to the tube station. Today, Tuesday, I have been trying to understand the tube network. I went to the South side of the city with my hosts. You have probably heard of Gangnam district. It is a very popular place to go shopping, but expensive! We just went to look, and then went for some lunch. I was surprised to see how busy it was. I also went into the local church where my hosts go to the early morning service at 6am. I didn't join them for the service today as I was still asleep! However I went into the Sanctuary: it is very big and probably holds about 1,000 people. They have a multi site church with classes taking place during the day including an art class this afternoon. The church is very much a community place. My initial impressions of Seoul is that it reminds me of America: busy, big tower blocks, and even the cars look American, but yet the city is surrounded by hills and mountains. I am very pleased that at the back of the apartment where I am staying there is some trees.

Here is a picture of the back of the apartment.

 The people seem friendly, and polite especially the older generation. The children in the street kept looking at me perhaps they haven't seen a white person before! There is quite a bit to take in, and I am glad I had a taste of Korean food before so I am little familiar with some of the food. However when we went shopping it did feel quite a lot to take in, the supermarket was on two levels and you can even try some of the food before you buy which was a great help in working out if I would like some of the food.

Guide to Korea

  Yesterday I wrote about background reading about church life, today I will share some things that might be interest regarding the culture. Here is one of the books I've been reading.

A couple of interesting facts about the country

1. The peninsula is about the size of the U.K.

2. Over 70% of Korea's landmass is mountains

3. Over 80% of Koreans live in cities.

4. Government has an elected president who serves a five year term. The President is assisted by an appointed prime minister.

Background Reading

    I have now had an opportunity to do some background reading about Korea. This has included: tourist books that recommend sites to see, and give a glimpse of the culture; and two other books produced by the World Council of Churches. One of the books gives a general introduction to Korean society and history, and the other, particularly looks at Protestant Christianity. Thanks to friends who have let me borrow these books.

 Couple of interesting facts regarding Protestant Christianity:

1. Christianity came to South Korea one hundred and thirty years ago.

2.  John Ross a Scottish Missionary to China translated the Bible, with some Korean traders, into the Korean language in 1887.

3. The two major Protestant denominations within South Korea are Presbyterianism & Methodism - and the churches have been highly influenced by American missionaries.

4. The church contributed to class levelling and medical benefits within the country prior to 1945.


Here are some further reflections from my reading.

  After the Korean war in 1953 the government gave a big push to restart the industry, as much of the industry has been destroyed during the war. Churches also had been effected: many had burnt down, and also many church leaders had been killed or imprisoned. Industry boomed within a couple of decades due to a number of factors; low-cost labour force, favourable international political climate (seen in troops being sent to help S. Koreans in the Korean war), technological innovations, and new markets. Close on the heels of this new industrialised economy was the church; strategically planting into these growing urban areas.

  The church offered solidarity and community, which was much needed within a fast paced industrialised society.  People had moved into the cities, which alienated them from their strong family connections, and due to the fast paced culture change; many experienced feelings of anxiety. The booklet suggests that many Korean people turned to religious activities to find a place of solace and peace.

   It will be interesting to see whether this seems to be so in practice within the churches. I guess a question might be: do folk in South Korea see church bringing comfort or challenge to their lives? How does the church help in bringing about places of community and solidarity within the society at large? It seems to me this is a similar question that the UK church faces.

   Since 1995 church attendance has declined. The booklet suggests this could be due to loss of spiritual power, and qualitative growth. I wonder what this might look like in practice? We need to bear in mind here what we mean by decline: South Korea has some of the biggest churches in the world. How do you measure spiritual power of churches? Could there be other reasons for the decline in church attendance?

   Well, some food for thought as I start to prepare for my travels.