From September 18th to 20th, Volunteer In Mission training took place in Seoul, hosted by the United Methodist Church GBGM (General Board of Global Ministries) . First of all, let me tell you why this program is called a “lay missionary school” in Korean. Several years ago, Korean UMC leaders had asked GBGM to start a denominational lay missionary education program. In New York and other big cities, other denominations have missions education programs for Korean laymen and we also wanted one from our denomination . GBGM agreed that it was a very good idea but regretfully had no one to take charge. So I volunteered to make a program of 4 days and 3 nights and tried it in Los Angeles. GBGM was worried that we would have less than 30 registrants but to its surprise, we had more than 60 people registered. Those registered had taken days off from work to attend from all over the States including Hawaii, Florida, New York and many from our church. Later, there were requests for more but circumstantially, I could not do but one more.
In the meantime, as Korean American Mission Council was revitalized, we decided to do the “Volunteer In Mission” program, which has been done in the American churches for a long time, in Korean and got to continue the "lay missionary school". We first tried it in Tampa (Tampa KUMC) and followed by a great response , it was done in Hawaii (Christ KUMC), New Jersey (Cherry Hill KUMC) and one is in the planning in LA (Valley KUMC) next year. We also wanted to introduce this program in Korea. We were worried that 30 reserved spots would not be filled because it was a program that was not known to Korea. But we received 38 registrants and had to move to a bigger place in haste, and later we were busy apologizing because we could not accept any more.
When asked why they got to attend the program, most answered, "The pastor made me," but once the training started, I was encouraged and energized to see how eagerly and joyfully each one was participating. Since Korea has already established itself as a missionary power in the world, I thought that laymen might not be as eager to learn as before, and that passion might have cooled down. That was our misunderstanding! As I watched an ex-ambassador to Senegal taking days off to attend, a commuter attending everyday from Cheonan and other eager participants, my pride and faith in Korean leadership in global missions were reestablished. Missions started in Japan, China and Korea around the same time but God is using the poorest out of the three to be the global leader in missions. I am spending my days here in Korea filled with thanksgiving and Korean pride.
