Easter Sunday @ Korean Congregation

On June 5, 2005, Pastor Shadrach H. Jung and his wife, Jai Suk held the 1st Korean Baptist worship service in Montgomery. 4 attended that first service. The Jungs have worked diligently since that time to developing a core group to begin a strong church.

Baptist groups in the area have given liberally to help make this work possible. Groups include: Elmore, Montgomery and Autauga Baptist Associations; Beulah Baptist Church (who furnishes a house for the Jungs); Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions; FBC of Prattville and Montgomery.

The numbers of Koreans in the River Region have increased since Hyundai built the automobile plant in Montgomery. It has been projected that there are up to 3000 Koreans in a 50-75 mile radius of Montgomery.The congregation meets at 52 Adams Ave, Mtgy. Worship service has increased from 4 persons that 1st Sunday to 18 persons. The Jungs are praying, visiting and worshiping and the Lord is blessing!.

The congregation's schedule is: prayer meeting (4:30 AM. Mon-Sat), prayer meeting on Wed and Fri evenings; worship services Sun ( 11:00 AM + 7:00 PM); and Bible study in Prattville and in one factory.

Pray for Pastor and Mrs. Jung that their labor will continue to be effective as they seek to grow the Korean congregation in the River Region.

Southern Baptist Korean Strategy

SEATTLE, Wash. (BP)--Gihwang Shin, a church-starting missionary to the 177 language groups in metropolitan Seattle, has been called by the International Mission Board -- and funded in partnership with Korean Southern Baptist churches – to enlist Korean Southern Baptists to be involved in going, giving and praying for international missions.

Korean churches across the Southern Baptist Convention have become increasingly strategic in their global focus, said David Gill, former second-vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Where Koreans once focused primarily on the needs of Koreans in the United States and abroad, today they’re reaching out globally to many people groups. And increasingly they’re doing it in partnership with the International Mission Board.

“We have 6.5 million Koreans in 172 countries,” said Gill, pastor of the Concord Korean Baptist Church in Martinez, Calif. “It is God’s providential will to spread so many Koreans in so many countries for world mission.”

Gill arranged a meeting last May that brought together 11 pastors of Korean Southern Baptist churches in the United States with IMB leaders and 11 pastors of Baptist churches in South Korea to discuss what they saw as God’s direction.

“We wanted to learn and discuss how Korean churches can work together with the IMB to reach out to other people groups in the world,” Gill said. “We have 213 (Korean) missionaries; we are aiming for 1,000 with God’s help. So Gihwang Shin will be a tremendous asset for this recruiting and mobilizing.”

“This is a kind of giant step – for Korean Baptist churches to work with the IMB with the same goal and same vision,” Shin said. “In the past, Korean churches had a focus on missions, and especially overseas, but they didn’t know how to do it in a cooperative way. They just did it by themselves.

“In the past two years they have seen more power and more fruit with the IMB and Cooperative Program. Many laymen are ready to go out and serve – both in career and long-term (volunteer) missions.”

IMB President Jerry Rankin noted a growing interest on the part of Southern Baptist Korean churches to partner with the mission board.

“(SBC Korean churches) are catching the vision of cross-cultural witness to unreached people groups, and hundreds of their members are surrendering to missionary service,” Rankin said. “Gihwang Shin has been a key influence in helping to nurture our relationship with these churches and will be a great asset in training and equipping them for involvement in our Great Commission task.”

The International Mission Board has led at least 10 missions-awareness programs in Korean churches in recent years. At one of the first such meetings, conducted at Los Angeles’ Berendo Street Baptist Church in May 2003, more than 400 people accepted a call to career or long-term global missions involvement. In all, more than 800 Korean Baptists have made similar responses.

“This is a pretty amazing thing,” Shin said. “Now is the time to follow up.”

Shin, his wife, Hyesun Kim, and their three children children moved in December to Richmond, Va., where the mission board is located.







Related Photos:
KOREAN MOBILIZER
KOREAN MOBILIZER AND FAMILY

What About the Hispanics in our Town?

My own excitement about KIA and the significant welcome we offer the Korean community has given me pause. Has our church neglected the significant number of Hispanics already in our midst? Why haven't we offered English as a second language classes for the swelling number of Hispanics? Has our partnership with the local Hispanic Ministry exemplified Christ's welcome? Hasn't our assistance in local Hispanic ministry been more patchwork than planned? With over eleven mission trips to the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Mexico, have we missed local ministry opportunities right here?

Pssssssst. Have you heard about so-and-so?
Gossip. Like nothing else, it has the power to undermine friendship and poison a community. Unfortunately, churches are often breeding grounds for gossip... God's kids aren't immune from the tempting tidbit that highlights a brother or sister's glaring flaw or embarassing failure.
That's why at Western Heights we agree not to triangle with others in hurt, pain and gossip. If our brother or sister offends us, we go to them, and them alone. We commit to "Safeguard the Unity" of our church in 3 ways:
...by loving one another (1 Peter 3.8)
...by refusing to gossip (Ephesians 4.29)
...by resolving conflict quickly (Matthew 18.15)