Let’s go to the Korean rural church where Rev. Hwang Jin Suk has been serving since 2006.
Before I tell you about this church, I think I’d better start with the general situation of today’s Korean rural churches and ministries. As some of you may know, Korea experienced a great growth of Christian believers after the Korean War and especially during the industrial period in the 1970s and 80s.
This religious boom was the second largest in Korean history after the Pyongyang Revival Movement in 1907. Pyongyang is now the capital of the DPRK, also known as North Korea. This second period of growth, which began right after the Korean War, lasted until the mid-90s.
And in 1997, Korea fell into a major crisis. Korea declared national default status due to a lack of foreign currency reserves. Korea had to ask the IMF for bailout money and in return for this money Korea had to follow very strict requirements like economic restructuring and mass layoffs. Many people were fired from their jobs. Household income dropped drastically.
Since this national economic crisis, the Korean Protestant Church also began to lose its members. Many left the church and some converted to Catholicism. This nationwide economic hardship also affected rural churches and small and medium-sized churches. Many congregations chose to go to larger churches in the cities.
In addition to this economic adversity, there was another major reason for the decline of the Korean church. It is the aging population. The young generation began to reject the tradition of marriage. Even after marriage, many did not have children for various reasons. This trend has continued for more than two decades. The direct result is an aging congregation and almost no children in the church. Today, most rural churches have no Sunday school because there are almost no children.
Many rural churches have only older congregations in their 60’s and even 70’s. So in most cases, the preachers are the youngest in the churches, even when they reach the retirement age of 70 years old. In other words, when the pastors
are 70 years old, they are still the youngest in their church.
Pastor Hwang’s church is in the same situation. Most of the members are elderly women or widows. In Korea, women live 5 to 10 years longer than men thanks to a sober lifestyle without smoking and drinking.
I went to their church and attended the Wednesday service on February 26th. It is a regular service along with the Sunday service. Let’s first watch the video I took that day.
Pastor Hwang is not the only pastor of the church. She has a colleague named Park Mee Sun, another pastor. Pastor Park has her own church nearby and they work together in their ministry. I asked why they decided to work together.
Pastor Hwang told me that two-person team ministry seems very idealistic in rural ministry because there are many elderly people to take care of.
I had a really good time interviewing these two pastors. They are so committed to their ministry and their calling. They knew what they were supposed to do as pastors. I also asked them some questions.
The first question was what is the advantage of being a woman pastor in rural areas. Pastor Hwang answered that in rural churches, the congregation is mostly women. So there is no inconvenient barrier between the pastors and the congregation and they can get along like sisters. I thought that would be a great advantage for a woman pastor.
My second question was whether Pastor Hwang experienced any discrimination as a woman pastor when she worked as an associate pastor. Pastor Hwang said that male pastors still tend to be selfish when it comes to deciding the salary for the associate pastors. Especially the associate pastors are women.
For example, sometimes associate pastors work much more than senior pastors, but they still do not receive what they deserve because senior male pastors do not recognize the value and work of associate pastors. Also, associate pastors usually do not get enough vacation time compared to senior pastors.
This response was very unexpected for me because I am a male pastor. I appreciate that it is straightforward. I think it’s a shame for progressive denominations like PROK. So I urge the PROK pastors to resolve this matter immediately.
While talking with these two pastors, I also heard a very interesting story. Their congregations are very old, but they are still very passionate about worship. Usually, the church family comes out of their house even 3 hours before the
actual service starts and spends time in a nearby community shelter waiting for the service.
Worship is what they really wait for during the week.
I think this story can teach our younger church what they should learn from the older generation.
Now, this was the story of Seongga Church located in Imsil County, Korea. I appreciate Pastors Hwang Jin Suk and Park Mee Sun for their sharing.
Rev June Kim
