90th Anniversary Worship
A service to commemorate the 90th anniversary of NCCK was held at the Salvation Army Building in Seoul, Korea, under the theme, “The Trembling Church, Again into the Wilderness,” where more than 300 people came together to celebrate the 90th anniversary and agreed to work for the realization of social reform through reform and change, starting from this service.
The worship began with a hymn, confessing that God is our creator while the representatives and those in charge of the service followed the cross and the bible to the front. Along with nine strikes of a gong symbolizing the 90 years of history of the NCCK that is offered to God, all participants confessed their sin of not living by the words of God, trying their best to make the church the cradle of life.
Representatives of the NCCK member denominations came to the front singing a hymn about the Glory of God and looked back upon its history under the themes of Youth, Consistency, Females, Justice, Human Rights, Peace, Diversity, and Life and proclaimed the next new 10 years. After that, 22 workers who were fired by SsangYong Motors presented a special hymn. After the song Mr. Kim Deuk Jung, one of the fired workers said that NCCK always gave him strength and help to fight against the company during such a harsh time.
A special presentation was made during the Offering. They offered postcards full of prayers for encouragement and consolation which were collected not only from the family members of the victims of the Sewol Ferry, people suffering from the transmission tower construction in Milyang and Chungdo, villagers of Gangjung, people with disabilities, immigrant workers, and workers of Ssangyong Motors, but also from those people attending the service indicating that all of them will listen to the voices of suffering people.
Kim Young Ju, General Secretary of NCCK, said at the press conference before the service that NCCK will keep doing its best for the cooperation of the denominations and that they have to come together to make one voice. He also said that he will consider how the church can be better used as a tool of God preparing for the 100th anniversary.
90th Anniversary Debates
On September 12th the NCCK 90 Anniversary debate was held with the topic, “the history and change of the Korean Church in International Relations, and the challenges of the future.” The purpose of this debate was to seek many different ways to approach the right direction of the Korean Church in international relationships and solidarity with the world church.
The debate was divided into several themes. Prof. Lee, Hae-Young (Faculty of Hanshin University) presented the “Theory of East Asia and Progress,” and Prof. Park, Chang-Hyun presented the “Contribution of the Korean Church in World Mission.” “The Missionary Task of the Ecumenical Movement” was presented by Lee Yoon-Hee, Secretary-General of the National Federation of the Korean YMCA.
Professor Park Chang-Hyeon (Methodist Theological University) pointed out the reason why the growth of the Church in Korea has stopped. He said that it’s because it lost its credibility for itself, and so the church must be proactive in communicating with the society.
He also said that the Korean Church lives only inside the church and does not relate to the society and the world; instead of following the words, “you will be my witnesses to the end of the world”(Act 1:8). He emphasized the need for communicating with the society by giving an example of the action of Pope Francis who had cried, laughed, and stayed with the poor and the alienated. Professor Park saw, in this action, the one Church in God.
Executive Director Lee said in her presentation that the ecumenical movement must be a tool for life, justice, and peace in order to make God’s rule and order and that this must be secured. She also mentioned that if we cannot recover the essence of the ecumenical movement, its future will be very negative. He said, “Most Korean churches adjust themselves to the 세상적 질서 (“worldly order”), such as material greed, and we have to struggle with this task as to how we can overcome it.”
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