Mission life: THE KUKMIN DAILY

Modo Church: Recipient of CEMK “2014 Good Church Award”

2014-12-17 14:10

There isn’t even a neighborhood store on Daemo-do (“do” here means “island”), which is a 50-minute boat ride from the island of Wan-do in South Jeolla Province.

The ministry of Rev. Han Jeong-bae (56) and his wife made a unique start when, right after his ordination at the age of 50, they began their work at Modo Church, the only church in this island village. They shared home-grown bean sprouts and handmade tofu with the villagers. Every Thursday they offered the residents snacks of sweet-bean bread, and in summer they visited the old folks with homemade patbingsu (a traditional shaved-ice delicacy). They helped the people with various simple house repairs; and made and delivered side dishes (to eat with cooked rice) to old people who lived alone. Similar to the role a neighborhood store would play, the church fulfilled the needs of the residents.

The residents, in their mid-70s on average, started “setting foot” in the church because, they say, “We were so thankful to the minister, we would have felt sorry if we didn’t attend the church.” Starting out with 18 members at the beginning of Rev. Han’s ministry, the church has grown by 83.3% to its present congregation of 33, as of this December 14. The total number of residents in Moseo-ri, Cheongsan-myeon, Wando-gun, where the church is located, is just 88.

On December 15 at the “2014 Good Church Awards” ceremony, sponsored by the social welfare committee (Elder Ri Chang-ho, chair) of the Christian Ethics Movement of Korea (CEMK), Rev. Han received the “Church Together With Local Community Award.” Meeting with Kukmin Daily after the ceremony at Gocheok Church (Rev. Jo Jae-ho), on Jungang-no, Guro-gu, Seoul, Rev. Han explained, “Due to the unusual island setting, it was hard for the church to be self-reliant, and it had already lost the residents’ trust due to its pastors’ high turnover rate; so the only way open to us was a serving ministry.”

Modo Church’s ministry of service has expanded to include the area of education. Three years ago it opened the “Modo Happy School” with classes in Korean and singing, and now it operates a class for the elementary school graduation equivalency qualification exam. In November last year, 36 years after its founding, the church held a ceremony proclaiming its status as a “self-reliant church.” According to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), Rev. Han’s denomination, a church with its account exceeding 20 million won per year in transaction can be categorized as self-reliant. Rev. Han expresses his hope: “I want to serve the residents of our neighborhood until I retire.”

This year’s CEMK “Good Church Awards,” which include four categories, were granted to eight different churches and organizations.

Reporter Jaechan Park (jeep@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)

Photo by senior reporter Kang Min Seok


Click here for the original article in Korean

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