For the very first time, a commissioned officer has been appointed chaplain at a battalion-level Korean Army base. This case may become a model for the strengthened role of the army chaplain, from the perspective of strengthening spiritual fighting power through faith. The star in this first assignment of a battalion-level commissioned chaplain is First Lieutenant Hong Yeong-taek.
1st Lt. Hong (Rev.), a graduate of Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, located in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, was posted to the 22nd Division’s frontline GOP (General Outpost) battalion in Goseong, Gangweon-do, this past December. It is the same base where the June 2014 shooting rampage occurred.
Ordinarily a newly commissioned military chaplain carries out his duties at a regiment-level base with 1,500~2,000 troops, but 1st Lt. Hong’s GOP has only about 500 soldiers, so it is possible for him to build close relationships with them.
“In this environment I can get close to the soldiers one by one, and help them,” said 1st Lt. Hong. “As we eat, sleep and live together, I want to go beyond evangelizing them, and prevent mishaps on base.” The commissioned Army chaplain not only helps the soldiers with their faith life, but plays the role of stabilizer for these young men, classified as a “protected and watched group,” by listening to them sympathetically and serving as a communication channel.
This base has a “container” church (photo, with 1st Lt. Hong) at each of the various outposts where the soldiers stay while on guard duty along the frontline border area between South and North Korea. It is hard to gather all of them at one church for Sunday worship, because they cannot leave their assigned areas when they are on duty.
“The core maxim of my ministry is ‘Every day is Sunday.’ I go around to one or two outposts every day to hold worship with the soldiers. So whatever day I go becomes ‘Sunday.’”
On some days the felt temperature has been as low as -30 degrees Celsius during his 4~5-hour round-trip walk to visit the outposts. For outposts he cannot visit on a given Sunday, he sends the worship guidelines to the soldier on religious duty, and the soldiers use it to hold worship.
He said that life at the border is continuously tense. He feels anxious because an unfortunate incident could happen at any time.
“If there is an incident, then doesn’t my assignment as the first commissioned chaplain at a battalion base lose its meaning? I can’t go to sleep, many nights.
“Of course we need to do all-out prevention, but such incidents always have elements that are difficult to control by human power alone. So I do the best I can, and for the rest all I can do is hold on to God and pray.”
He has also awakened to keen realization of the importance of military mission.
“I hold worship with the soldiers, and more than half of all the troops have come to church. Among them, half are non-Christian. The thought came to me, ‘Ah, this is a place where soldiers can easily open their minds to Christianity.’ As the Korean church these days is losing its youth members, I feel I have been sent here to plant the Gospel in these soldiers. I will do my best to carry out this calling.”
Reporter Lee Yongsang (sotong203@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)
Photo courtesy of First Lieutenant Hong Yeong-taek
Click here for the original article in Korean
Rev. Hong Yeong-taek: “Worship at frontline outposts, prayers for soldiers’ safety”
2016-02-04 17:23
