My kind parents drove us to the Newark Airport, treated us for dinner and headed home. We stayed the night at an airport hotel in anticipation of our early morning flight.
June 15th- 16th, 2016
Breezed through security, caught our first flight from Newark to Vancouver, Canada (six hours). After a brief layover we took a ten hour flight from there to Seoul. After customs we were greeted at the airport by the pastor of the Singal Presbyterian Church, his son, and a missionary from the United Church of Canada. The day ended with a stop for dinner to a town about an hour outside of the city and an introduction to our host family.
June 17th 2016
Our first visit of the day was to a lovely home for retired pastors of the PROK (Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea). Several years ago a PROK pastor was about to retire after 38 years of service to his church. A deacon in his congregation was worried about his well being since the pastor always lived in church provided housing. An idea was formed. The deacon and his wife donated land and built a retirement home for any PROK retired clergy that do not have homes of their own. Currently 13 couples and three singles live on the campus. The day we visited the entire campus was gathered in the fellowship hall peeling garlic from this season's crop.
We were impressed that three former moderators of the PROK lived at this property. The campus has a small chapel, library, common room, a large fellowship hall, one and two bedroom apartments, a walking trail, and several vegetable gardens from which the residents eat organic crops for each meal. Our translator for the day was a wife of a renown professor of church history, together they spent 14 years as missionaries teaching in Kenya after his retirement from the seminary.
The original couple who built the property continues to be very active in the lives of the residents and they continue to provide for all of the needs of the campus so that the pastors do not need to pay any rent to live there.
After our visit to the home we went to the memorial for the March 1st 1919 uprising when 26 Korean men were burned alive in a church for supporting the country's independence while under the control of the Japanese. Interestingly, a Canadian missionary helped bring the plight of the Korean independence movement to the world through his documentation of the Japanese atrocities. Many years later the Japanese formally apologized for their actions and raised a new church in the location of the massacre.
After a much needed afternoon nap we enjoyed dinner at the largest sushi buffet I've seen in my life.
After dinner we toured the Singal Presbyterian Church, a sprauling campus for a congregation of 1,000+ members. The church boast 47 small groups (affinity groups and cell groups) , five levels of Sunday School, family and advanced Bible study, three services on Sundays, active new member classes, a welfare center, multiple staff, a discipleship and outreach programs as well as classes in traditional Korean instruments. The church has seven Elders and over 100 Deacons. The senior pastor Rev. Lee and his son are our main hosts for this portion of our stay. Elder Che and his family are hosting us in his home.
We attended Friday night prayers, which is a common practice in Korea. The worship service started at 9:15pm and lasted over an hour; comprised of praise music, scripture and intercessory prayer. Over 100 people were in attendance.
June 18th 2016
Breakfast was a hoot, our host family doesn't speak a word of English and try as we might to master the basics of "hello", "thank you" and "goodbye" we still don't speak a word of Korean.
Our day consisted of a visit to the Korean Folk Village, to experience Korean history:
To learn more follow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Korea
The village is a replica of the epoch when Korea was united under the Joseon Dynasty:
To learn more follow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon
We enjoyed seeing indigenous methods of cultivation, fabric preparation, and metal working. The village also contained a Buddhist temple and Confucius learning center:
To learn more follow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Confucianism
We also enjoyed demonstrations of traditional Korean dance, drumming and horseback riding.
In the evening we attended Shema, a family oriented Bible study at the church. Shema is a curriculum that provides workbooks for both parents and children (children ranged from infants to teenagers). It was delightful to see families gathered together to explore scripture and talk to one another about the texts. Rev. Lee explained that most Korean teaching is lecture style so children, and later adults, are very passive. Shema is important for the church because it is a dialectical type of learning that encourages parents and children to engage in the weekly scriptures in ways in which conversation and dialogue is encouraged.
The evening ended with a delightful traditional Korean meal with Rev. Lee, his wife, and son. Three of the associate pastors, a pastoral intern, and our host family. Korean food focuses on multiple side dishes, including the ubiquitous kimchi.
To learn more follow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi
June 19th 2016
Sunday included participation in two of the three worship services at Singal Presbyterian Church. The first included an orchestra, the second a praise band and choir. The sermon was titled "But Now" based on Romans 3:21-31 talking about how we have freedom to live differently because of Christ (the pastor was kind enough to supply us with a summary in English). I gave greetings from the United Church of Christ in both services. Between services we visited the new member's class, choir rehearsal, the kindergarten, elementary, intermediate, middle and high school Sunday school classes as well as the welfare center where members bake bread during the week to provide for those in need. The energy and enthusiasm for the church and even more so for Christ is palpable. It was inspiring to be present in a congregation where the commitment of the members is so deeply evident and desired to learn about God's word and to practice it in community is central.
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