순례자의 샘터 Soonsam 2019 Spring | Page 12

EM Pastor's Column " PJ: I’m fully convicted that as long as there is immigration, there will be an immigrant church, don’t you agree? PK: Yes, and there will always be 1.5 and 2nd generation correct? PJ: Yes, you see where I’m going with this… PK: Yes, but in order for the 2nd generation to mature properly, they need to leave. Kind of like a child when he/ she grows up and needs to leave home in order to fully become an adult. PJ: I somewhat agree with that. I don’t want my sons living with me forever… We don’t have that type of money or insurance… PK: You should get a side hustle. Have you thought about franchising? PJ: Teaching maybe… but back to our conversation, the EM at FKBC is not the typical EM you’ll find at some (most?) Korean Churches. Our Sr. Pastor recognizes this too, and he supports the EM more than any other Sr. Pas- tor that I’ve worked closely with. It’s part of the reason I’ve been at FKBC almost 7 years now… Many Korean churches think EM is just “Youth” ministry, but I know that God has a bigger plan for EM than just being a place for the children of the KM. The KM needs to realize that one day, their kids will be FULLY English speaking and part of Western culture… they will gradu- ate from college here, they will get married here, they will work here, and most importantly, they need to learn how to minister in the western context. A healthy EM will help them be salt and light in this society. 12 순례자의 샘터 I also know the majority of Korean churches put great emphasis on overseas missions (which is a VERY good thing), but do not put anywhere near enough emphasis on living as a missionary here in the US! (which is a terrible thing!!!) So they teach their young people to be good “Ko- rean Overseas Missions Christians” rather than “World Christians who are Salt and Light in their own society” PK: Completely agree with you there! PJ: I also think that KM/EM relations need to be more than a mother/daughter type of relationship. Yes, for most Ko- rean Immigrant churches, the EM is comprised of children of the KM… But at FKBC, that’s not the case. The over- whelming majority of our EM are not children of FKBC KM members… But I think that we STILL have a responsibil- ity in our church (FKBC) that comes with understanding western culture and speaking English fluently… PK: How so? PJ: I am convicted that since us 2nd Generation Kore- an Americans can speak English fluently and understand how western culture works natively, we have an even greater responsibility to the immigrant church. There will come a day when the EM outgrows the KM, we will be the ones taking care of how the church runs from day to day… those duties will include being good ministers and servants to recent immigrants (helping them navigate through the process of acculturation). This will only happen if EM Pastors are brave enough (or stubborn enough) to stay in the immigrant church for the long run. Currently at FKBC, we have close to 30 couples (aged 25-60) in our EM, about 40 young adult singles, and about 70 college aged young adults. We are still a long way off from being the main source of finances for www.soonsam.org