EM Pastor's Column
A Conversation between
2 pastors about EM Ministry
Rev. Jacob Park
I met with the pastor of a successful multicultural-intergenera-
tional church for lunch the other day. He is married to a Dentist,
has a full-time church salary, and is the owner of a successful
small business (he is one of those rare 2nd Gen Pastors who
will never have to worry about finances!). The church that he
serves at continues to grow rapidly and he feels that it is “a
place where I wish every Pastor could experience serving at”.
Half way through our conversation, I subconsciously started
to compare my life with his, and started to feel like a complete
failure… thinking about his life made me feel like someone who
has failed at life.
But a question that he asked me near the end of our conversa-
tion reminded me of my calling. He asked me if I had plans to
take the EM out of the church. He is a second-generation Korean
American, just like me (well, I’m a Korean Canadian, but there
is very little difference). He also served in Korean churches as
an EM Pastor, but he came to the conclusion that something is
wrong with the Korean immigrant church in North America, so
he started serving at non-Korean churches. His thought (along
with most former EM pastors from my generation) is that for
second generation Korean Americans Christians to truly grow,
they need to sever ties with the Korean church. His current
church is not an independent/planted EM, it’s a fully multicul-
tural thriving ministry. In all honest, I felt a bit jealous of him
and his church.
We started to talk about the struggles of EM Pastors. We agreed
on almost everything, but I turned the conversation towards the
need and possibility of having a healthy EM in a Korean Dias-
pora church.
www.fkbc.org
랄리제일한인침례교회
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