Korean Pastors Learn About the CRC

Pastor David Seung Kim recently participated in the annual Korean Institute of Ministry (KIM) training program as part of the process of becoming a minister in the Christian Reformed Church.

Along with eleven other Korean pastors from various churches and denominations, Kim spent nine days learning about the CRC’s confessions, its history, its polity, the process leading to ordination, and how to read and interpret Scripture from a Reformed perspective.

Kim is one of the Korean pastors working toward bringing their churches into the CRC, while others who took part in the KIM training are already serving Korean CRC congregations.

“The CRC has been guiding me and teaching me through this program,” said Kim, pastor of New City Church in New York City, a congregation of young families and single adults. Many of the members are Korean.

“The KIM training was days of hard work, of hearing stories, and of learning how the CRC is willing to help us” become members of the denomination, Kim said.

Kim learned of the CRC through colleagues involved in a joint CRC/Reformed Church in America church-planting initiative in the New York City area. His congregation worships on Sundays in a middle school on Long Island.

From the start, Kim has been impressed by how the CRC has been willing to use its strong theology as a basis for embracing various kinds of pastoral and outreach work.

“I’m also impressed that the CRC went through its own immigrant experience,” he said.

Pastors came to the KIM training from all over North America. Many of them are already ordained in other churches and want to become CRC pastors through the Article 8 process provided by the Church Order, said Rev. David Koll, director of the CRC Candidacy Committee.

“Several of the pastors are church planters who have independent ministries and want to affiliate with and gain the support of an established denomination,” said Koll.

“They also want to become part of a more multiethnic setting that is serious about the confessions and Scripture.”

The KIM training has been in place for about 10 years, and more than 100 pastors have participated in the program.

“Many of the participants of KIM this year did not know each other, but having been in a learning community for nine days—with listening, learning, fellowshiping, eating, and sharing together—they have become brothers and colleagues in ministry,” said Charles Kim, director of Asian ministries for Christian Reformed Home Missions.

Kim said participants had a chance to learn about the CRC from Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary professors, as well as from denominational leaders.

“Participants especially appreciated the rich history of the CRC as we toured Graafschap CRC [one of the first CRC congregations] and the Holland area, where the CRC began” he said.

There are about 110 Korean CRC churches now, and each year more Korean churches are joining.

“I am excited to see the CRC become more diverse as more ethnic churches join—and Korean churches now make up the largest ethnic group of churches for our denomination,” said Charles Kim.