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August 2007
PROK IN FOCUS
1. Ecumenical community prays for Korean hostages
As the captivity of the Korean hostages held by the Taliban in _?xml_:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Afghanistan stretches to agonizing length, the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) and ecumenical partners are praying in united faith. The killing of a second hostage prompted the PROK to send out an urgent appeal for prayer on July 31st, calling on “the entire ecumenical community around the world to pray to God that the killings of innocent people may stop and that these hostages may safely return to their families.” Expressing appreciation of the earlier appeal to member churches and assurance of prayer sent from the World Council of Churches to the National Council of Churches in Korea, PROK General Secretary Rev. Yoon Kil-Soo further wrote, “We urge the global community to work for true peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. Particularly, we sincerely request the governments of both Afghanistan and the US to lead the negotiations with the Taliban for the sake of the safe return of the hostages… Let us all continue to pray for all people whose lives are threatened by conflict situations and to make our utmost effort to work for abundant life for all people.”
As receiving churches and organizations in turn shared the appeal through their own networks, the circle of prayer widened, and prayerful responses received, to this point, from partners and individuals in India, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Myanmar, Hungary, England, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, and the US strengthen our conviction that indeed we are one family in Christ. In this ecumenical unity we shared the responses with Saemmul Church, of a different denomination, which sent the young volunteers to Afghanistan. Perhaps the suffering families of the hostages will be most encouraged by the letters and color postcards sent by the children of one congregation in the US; praying for the safe return of the hostages, the members and children of that congregation promised, “Our prayers will not stop until they are home again.”
2. Youth enjoy learning in “Resplendent Nurture” Program
Seventeen middle-school youth from the PROK and the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) are enjoying a one-month intensive and integrated English-language, spirituality and nature study program named “Resplendent Nurture”. The program is hosted by the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) at its new Youth Development Centre, Quezon City, Metro Manila from July 23 to August 22, 2007. Several young adult members of the UCCP are taking responsibilities in nurturing the youth. The program is the fruit of cooperative planning by the PROK and UCCP. In late 2006 the PROK approached the UCCP with the wish of Seoul-North Presbytery to initiate a project for young people in the Philippines. A project was subsequently conceptualized and approved; the PROK contributed a financial grant to UCCP Southern Luzon Jurisdiction for the construction of a Youth Development Centre, while the UCCP in turn provided the land on which the two-storey building would be constructed. Even before construction of the new Centre was completed, the new training program was underway.
The “Resplendent Nurture” program focuses on cross-cultural training, enhancement of English proficiency skills, nature discovery and spiritual nourishment. It aims to inspire relationships between trainers and co-learners; encourage shared accountability among fellow-youth; and guide young people in developing a meaningful worship life and in learning about Jesus Christ in actual life situations. It seeks to equip the youth with skills in cross-cultural interactions; support their development of wholesome personality; and enhance their appreciation of God’s creation through ecological exposure.
For five days each week the youth interact with the learning facilitators and with fellow youth in the varied and creative structured-learning activities, looking forward to the weekends when they travel to learn new things with people in local communities and enjoy the scenic beauty of the Philippines. One weekend they visited contrasting urban-poor and affluent communities in Manila and attended Sunday service in nearby UCCP churches. In succeeding weekends they will visit other communities and travel to Palawan Island with its pristine beaches and natural parks.
The parents of the youth in South Korea and Taiwan together with their respective churches have given their spiritual and material support to this program, hoping that their children’s learning experiences will strengthen their Christian faith, give them a broader perspective about life and teach them how to protect God’s creation. On the part of the UCCP program leaders and trainers, it is their commitment to and joy in educating the youth that gives them great satisfaction.
3. Eglise Reformee de France team visits PROK
The PROK was pleased to host fourteen members of the Reformed Church of France (RCF) from July 10-20, giving them a balanced program of exposure to the PROK and to Korean history and culture. The group included the General Secretary and the Ecumenical Officer of the RCF, all except the latter holding membership in the Paris Batignolles Church of the RCF.
After a general introduction to the PROK and to the PROK Graduate School of Theology, Hanshin University, and visits to two historical and cultural sites on the first day, the group traveled as early as the second day to the DMZ separating South and North. One participant, later sharing the felt impact of this visit, reflected, “From Europe we had a theoretical view of the division; but then we faced the visible wound, the pain. I was impressed by the will for reconciliation, but also felt that the two countries are not at peace; I felt an atmosphere of war. Reunification seems to be a strong wish, but its achievement is far distant.” Another, referring to the reunification of Germany, reminded us in response, “History can move very rapidly.”
After a day of sightseeing, shopping and viewing a traditional cultural performance offered a lighter counterbalance to the intensity of the Panmunjom experience, weekend overnight visits to local congregations gave our French friends a small taste of home life, further cultural exposure, and the chance to worship in a variety of churches ranging from large to small, long-established to new, and a small alternative church community experimenting with a new model of “being church”.
In Taebaek, where several years ago the government opened the first, and so far only, casino open to Koreans to offset the economic depression which followed the closing of most of the mines in that area., the group were hosted by Rev. Won Ki-Joon, PROK minister of a small church and involved in a variety of grassroots ministries. The visitors were impressed by the ecumenical cooperation between Rev. Won Ki-Joon and the Roman Catholic priest in a neighbouring town, visiting two centres, directed by these two men, for children of low-income families. Learning of other social issues such as increasing gambling addition resulting from the presence of the casino, the visitors also had a chance to visit a small, ancient Buddhist temple, and to ask many questions.
A later visit to one of the PROK migrant workers centres in Seoul gave the visitors some understanding of the issue of Korea’s dependence on the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers flocking to Korea in search of jobs, and the PROK strong initiatives in the related justice issues.
Experiencing some of its worship life and social outreach programs and learning its history of working for justice, one participant later observed, “the PROK, besides giving leadership in social justice, has kept a strong spirituality of resistance. In the case of our church in France, we have a choice between social action and evangelism; but PROK does both.”
The later words of Rev. Didier Crouzet, RCF Ecumenical Officer, reflected the rich gift of ecumenical partnership: “Through prayer, worship, discussion, we felt very strongly that we were one family, that of the children of God, sent the one to the other for mutual encouragement, mutual nourishing in the Gospel.” This visit will be followed by a return visit of the PROK to the RCF next year, and further strengthening of the partnership through various program initiatives.
ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT IN FOCUS
In our Korean people's journey toward peace and unification, the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the Korean Christian Federation (KCF) in the North have, since 1989, jointly written an annual “common prayer for peace and reunification” in commemoration of the August 15th anniversary of liberation from Japanese colonial rule, followed too soon by the cruel division of the peninsula. The ecumenical community around the world is asked to join the Korean people in this heartfelt prayer of pain and faith-filled hope, on the Sunday closest to August 15th.
Common Prayer of the North and South for Peace and Unification
August 15, 2007
God of righteousness and peace,
We thank you for having listened to our nation's mourning in pain under the Japanese occupation, and for opening the door of unification and peace on the Korean peninsula 62 years ago.
We thank you for calling the churches in the North and the South to be disciples of Christ and to gather together to pray in one voice for peace and unification on this Liberation Memorial Day.
God of love and unification,
We pray that you lead us to do our best to create a new history of unification beyond division, and lead our people to help each other to move beyond the suffering of war and to achieve common prosperity.
We pray that you give us a new sign of reconciliation and cooperation on the Korean peninsula to which you call us, which will contribute to peace in North-East Asia and all the world.
God who gives us strength and wisdom,
You showed us that peace is to be achieved through humiliation and service just as Jesus came to us in a humble manger, in communion with sinners and washing the feet of the disciples.
You taught us, through your death on the cross offering a sacrifice for atonement,
that unification and unity is to be fulfilled through self-sacrifice.
We will follow your teachings through our oneness in prayer as churches in the North and the South.
We will do our utmost to be a church proclaiming national unification and peace as well as practicing it
with mildness and humility, not with threats,
with justice and love, not with force,
with patience and devotion, not with oppression.
God, we pray that you fill us with strength and wisdom.
Believing that you call us to be workers for our nation's unification and peace,
that you call us to work today and continuously,
and that you guide us to open a new history of our nation's unification and peace,
we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
This Common Prayer was jointly written by the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the Korean Christian Federation (KCF).
PROK E-News is a publication of The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK).
Editor: Rev. Yoon Kil-Soo, General Secretary
