― Archbishop Yeom Soo-jung was inaugurated as the head of the Catholic Seoul Archdiocese, succeeding Cardinal Chung Jin-suk in a mass at Myeongdong Cathedral. 

― Pastor Emeritus Kim Chang-in of the Chunghyun Church in Seoul made a public repentance for his role in appointing his son Kim Sung-gwan as head pastor of the church, the largest congregation in the “Hapdong” sect of the Korean Presbyterian denomination, in 1997.

― The General Assembly of the Buddhist Jogye Order revised several regulations in a major step toward reforming the largest Buddhist sect in Korea to meet the calls of believers following the disclosure of a gambling scandal involving some senior monks.

These are some of the media reports over the last few weeks concerning the Christian, Catholic and Buddhist societies in Korea, which drew public attention in the multitude of political and economic news items from the pre-presidential election, recession-threatened Republic of Korea.

The above news stories seem to be telling us that the Catholic Church was having the first change of leadership in two decades in an orderly and peaceful manner while the Protestant Christian and Buddhist societies were experiencing troubles that cause frowns even with non-believers.

Religions in Korea, co-existing in a “quantative balance” in our vibrant, dynamic country, constantly compete in terms of the size of congregations and their respective social influences. Religious issues are a sensitive subject in the public forum, yet they merit close social scrutiny because of their significant secular role extending to politics. Constructive self-criticism is more desirable than pointing fingers at other religions.

The Catholic Church is relatively calm but it may be faced with the problem of clerical manpower ― fortunately, sexual issues are saved here; the Buddhist community is fraught with scandals of corrupt monks and the Protestant churches with the “privatization” of some large institutions, among others. Each has its own problems and religious people should take determined reform initiatives before complaining of outside pressures and criticisms.

I have attended the Somang Presbyterian Church in southern Seoul for more than three decades while it grew from a hundred believers filling a small hall in a commercial building to a congregation of nearly 50,000. People moving into Gangnam during the “compressed development” period of the 1980s literally swarmed to the Somang Church led by Rev. Kwak Sun-hee and it soon became the representative church of the “Tonghap” sect of Korea’s Presbyterian denomination along with the time-honored Youngnak Church in Gangbuk.

It was the time of democratic struggles, and Christian churches ― whether conservative ones faithful to scriptures or the liberal ones more inclined to social engagement ― were generally regarded as entities fighting political and social injustices. People who wanted change but sought spiritual peace came to listen to sermons which gave them messages on how to live today as much as what to pursue tomorrow.

The growth of the church continued through the 1990s with professionals of all varieties joining it. The believers’ roster was almost a who’s who of Korean society. When Rev. Kwak approached the mandatory retirement age of 70, he recommended two candidates to “Danghoe,” the assembly of elders, which chose one of them, Kim Ji-chul, who formerly taught at a theological seminary in Seoul.

While Rev. Kim was in apprenticeship, Rev. Kwak prepared for his retirement. Elders collected money and bought a plot of land in Bundang on a plan to build a small chapel where his son, who was an assistant pastor at Somang Church, was to open a new church and Rev. Kwak was to preach. The plan was somehow expanded to a size many times larger and the construction fund was released from the Somang Church budget without close scrutiny by Danghoe. Criticism of “disguised inheritance” arose from inside and outside the church.

After the change of ministers in 2003, disharmony continued for years with elders split between those who kept allegiance to the retired pastor and those who accepted the new leader. But the lapse of time, with God’s grace, restored peace, if still not complete, at Somang with the departure of assistant clerics and elders who opposed the new pastor.

Succession problems gripped most large Protestant churches one after another since the late 1990s as the founder figures retired. Some famous pastors who assembled large congregations from scratch tend to identify themselves with the church itself instead of totally dedicating it to God and loyal believers shared such a notion. While some, retaining the status of pastor emeritus, refused to relinquish power, others sought to have their sons succeed them.

Rev. Kim Chang-in of Chunghyeon Church confessed and repented that he used his influence as founder of the church to install his “inexperienced and unqualified son” as its pastor, even skipping the legally required secret ballot procedure.

He said he was making a “public repentance” to prevent his son from seeking to serve five more years upon reaching the retirement age of 70. As “founder” of the church, Rev. Kim “ordered” his son to quit from all his church positions by the end of the year.

Reading the news stories, I wondered what exactly the old pastor was repenting of. Was he regretting that the number of believers at Chunghyun has dwindled to a half after he named his son, or was he finally realizing that it was the Lord’s church and not his own? In any case, his repentance was too late.

The first-generation pastors after the Korean War have done a lot not only for Christianity but for our society as a whole with their devotion to spreading the Gospel to wandering minds and charity for people in war-ravaged streets, providing spiritual shelters for millions.

But their achievements deceived them and famous pastors, one after the other, fell into the illusion of regarding their churches as their personal monuments. Some succumbed to material temptation and familial bondage, driving perhaps many more people away from churches than the number they had guided to salvation. 

By Kim Myong-sik

Kim Myong-sik, a career journalist, is an elder at the Somang Presbyterian Church in Seoul. ― Ed.