Our second story is about a pastor named Choi Hoi Seock who has been ministering to migrants from the Philippines.
Pastor Choi was ordained in 2003. He is junior to me in age but senior at the time of ordination. I think he is a typical pastor who wants to help other people. He says he was curious to know about people from different cultures. And he thought he could do even a small thing to help others.
After ordination, he was given the opportunity to go to Fiji and join the Korean mission team. There he spent several months helping the indigenous people. When he returned home, the village chief gave him a formal traditional costume. And he says he still keeps it at home.
He then went to Canada to join another mission team ministering to the Canadian First Nation people near Great Slave Lake. He said the area he was in was above the 68th parallel north. Pastor Choi’s adventure continued. He literally wanted to meet poor people on the street and hold their hands. At that time, it was very difficult for Koreans to go there. He walked through the countryside of Azerbaijan, and God led him to meet good Samaritans. He shared the gospel with them, received much hospitality, and made many friends. He still meets with some of them regularly.
After returning home and he finally decided to found a church to help migrant people in Korea. At first he started his church at his friend’s home. Later he could manage to rent a small office at a building in Jeonju city. Now he has about 12 congregations. Half of them are women from the Philippines who married Korean men.
The migrant workers have many problems related to living in Korea. Some salary dispute at work, legal procedures for their visas and some unexpected issues while they live in Korean society.
He is busy all the time helping his congregations Every time he hears any help call from his congregations he runs to them to help.
What I respect him most about his ministry is his commitment to the missio Dei. He now receives only 40 dollars a month as his salary from the church. His congregations cannot afford to give him enough salary but he says they are
very passionate about the Christian faith and attending the worship. The lowest pastor salary I have ever heard in my life was 500 dollars a month.
And it was more than 20 years ago. He is getting 40 dollars a month in 2025. So his case aroused me a lot of questions.
I asked him how he could manage his life with that salary. He said he is still single so he does not need to spend for family. He helped many people to marry but he remains as a bachelor. He gets some support from the General Council of PROK denomination about 300 dollars a month. This is not enough yet.
He also regularly sells his blood to make some money. I thought this is not common. When I heard his story, I wondered if our ministry and our calling are worth sacrificing that much.
Sometimes some of his congregation cannot join the worship because of their work schedule. So he routinely visits their homes and worship together with them. I think he is one of the people who know what they should do as a pastor.
