EM Pastor's Column
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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.
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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
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