THE KUKMIN DAILY

On September 16, Rev. Lee Young-hoon, moderator of Assemblies of God Korea (Yoido Full Gospel) was inaugurated as the 20th executive director of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK). New Executive Director Rev. Lee said that during his term of one year and four months he would focus on achieving Korean church unity and solving issues related to heretical groups.

On this day the CCK held both the farewell service for 19th Executive Director Rev. Hong Jae-cheol, who resigned early, and the inauguration service for 20th Executive Director Rev. Lee in the Grand Ballroom on the second floor of the 63 Convention Center in Yeouido, Seoul; and announced the official beginning of Rev. Lee’s administration. He will lead CCK until January 2016, which is the end of the original term of the former executive director.

In his inauguration address, new Executive Director Lee said, “I will do my best to help CCK recover its spiritual leadership and bring the Korean society and people onto the right path according to God’s will… CCK will mobilize all its potential to enable the Korean church, in the spirit of the cross, to end its history of conflict and division among denominations, sects and churches, and to recover its original unity.”

Approximately 500 leaders of church and political circles participated in the farewell and inauguration services. Rev. Yonggi Cho, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, delivered the sermon, titled “A church united and living together,” and Kim Mu-seong (National Assembly member and representative of Saenuri Party), Lee Sang-hun (chair of the National Seniors Council), Jeon Byeong-heon (National Assembly member from New Political Alliance for Democracy) and others gave congratulatory addresses.

With his inauguration, Rev. Lee now has the task of healing the worst-ever division and conflict within the Korean church, while at the same time strengthening and extending CCK. Currently CCK consists of minor denominations, except for Assemblies of God Korea, because the major denominations withdrew their membership due to the conflict over acceptance of some heretical groups while former executive director Hong was in office.

Rev. Lee’s beginning, at least, is very different from that of Rev. Hong, who received congratulatory messages only from CCK member denominations. Many persons from church circles made encouraging remarks at the start of Rev. Lee’s term, including Park Jong-wha (board chair of Kukmin Daily) of the “progressive” Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK), Chai Sooil (President of Hanshin University), and Kim Geun-sang (former moderator of the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK).

It is highly possible that new Executive Director Lee will proactively utilize this support from church circles to bring about the unity of the entire Korean church. His foremost challenge appears to be the recovery of a channel for dialogue with the Communion of Churches in Korea (CCIK), which consists mainly of the denominations that withdrew from CCK. The implication of Rev. Lee’s will to solve problems related to heretical groups is highly positive, since the issue of heresy is not only damaging to the growth of the Korean church but was the core element causing conflict between CCK and CCIK. It seems that Rev. Lee has figured that eradication of heresy will elevate the capacity of CCK in the Korean church and enable dialogue with CCIK.

In his inauguration address, Rev. Lee said, “With my work experiences at both CCK and NCCK, I will be able to help both organizations carry out dialogue and cooperation.” With this comment, he clarified that he plans to go beyond unifying CCK and CCIK, and to bring harmony between conservative and progressive churches.

Reporter Se Ook Koh (swkoh@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)Photo by senior reporter Kang Min Seok


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