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Korean council to meet in San Jose


COLUMBUS, Ohio (BP) — The 34th annual meeting of the Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in America is set to take place near San Jose, Calif., June 15-17.

Meeting concurrently with the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, but in a different state, the Korean council will gather at New Vision Baptist Church in Milpitas, located just outside San Jose.

“We don’t have any Korean churches in Columbus so we have to find another place,” explained C.O. Aum, executive director of the Korean council, a fellowship group of about 800 Southern Baptist Korean churches in North and South America.

The Korean council prefers to meet in the same city where the SBC annual meeting takes place, so its messengers can also participate in some of the SBC annual meeting’s activities and business sessions. However, it takes several Korean churches to host the council’s annual meeting in order to provide meals for the 800 or more who gather for fellowship, to hear reports and conduct business.

In Ohio there are only seven Southern Baptist churches with “Korean” in their name.

New Vision Baptist, with more than 2,200 people in Sunday morning worship in this San Jose suburb, is perhaps the largest of the 58 Korean Southern Baptist churches in California.

The Korean council’s theme this year is “Give Him no rest til …” is taken from Isaiah 62:6b-7. “You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of God.”

Reports are to be given by the Korean council’s education, home missions and overseas missions departments, and by its Woman’s Missionary Union.

Breakout sessions targeting specific issues also are being planned. Teens again this year will participate in a high-energy youth conference led by Jey Lee, designed to help build understanding between Korean and American cultures and generations.

Special guests are to include two pastors from Korea: You Kwan Jae and Koh Myung Jim.

Korean council’s President Sung K. Wee, pastor of New Life Church in Fremont, Calif., across the San Francisco Bay from San Jose, said at last year’s annual meeting that he would focus his efforts on planting multi-ethnic missions in addition to Korean language churches, according to a June 30 Baptist Press article.

“We want to open our hearts to others,” he told Baptist Press. “I think the Lord wants us to reach more people.”

Recognizing the declining attendance in churches overall, Wee said this is a crucial time for the church.

“We need praying churches,” he said, “and also revival among our existing churches.”

Business at this year’s annual meeting is to include election of officers.

“We will be together for fellowship and to hear reports,” Aum said. “We will be refreshed and renewed for what God has for us to do to bring Him glory.”