As a whistleblower, its traumatic as well, because there are so many places of pain and injustice along the way, Park said. One of those associate pastors was KJ Kim, the new head pastor of CFC. We grieve the fact that our churches have both knowingly and unknowingly created environments where abuse could happen and be kept in the dark. These include the SOLA Network, a group of Asian American pastors, and the Joshua Generation, a high school ministry that the minister also founded. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-controls .mejs-time-rail .mejs-time-current { Though disappointed, the whistleblowers said that they were not surprised with KCP's ruling, citing the environment at CFC where Chung leads and the congregation's high regard for the minister. } .mytheme-mejs-container.mejs-container, The motion requires two-thirds vote. Former CFC member Janet Park said that when she confronted Chung in 2009, he told her that he kept the matter a secret because the victim had insisted on doing so. A July 13 vote narrowly missed that threshold, with 22 in favor of rescinding the decision, 12 against, and one abstaining. He has either founded or served in leadership for several youth and college ministries throughout the country, and was a board member for international missions organization SIM from 2006 to 2019. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse by Dr. Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys. It requires public forms of accountability and repentance. Over the course of the past few years, the leadership of Covenant Fellowship Church has sought to investigate claims of abuse regarding our founding pastor, Kim wrote in a statement to TRR. It also alleges that Chung urged a woman not to go to police when she sought his counsel after being sexually assaulted by another church member. CFC also hired The Center Consulting Group to conduct surveys and evaluate the health of the church. For us, Pastor Min is more than just a gifted pastor and teacher. The SJC decision stated there can be no reasonable hope of just proceedings with no cooperating victim, although Chung himself had admitted to sexual misconduct. I would be interested to know how much of the loss of members comes from the PCA and how much comes from the-once much larger-PCUSA(not PSUSA). Frank Barker, whose 4,000-member Briarwood Presbyterian Church grew from a Birmingham, Alabama, storefront before he helped found the conservative Presbyterian. Women in many Korean churches are told to be submissive, former CFC members said. Dr. Min J. Chung is the founding and lead pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church, an Great! } Sources at GRACE told WBEZ that the group had conducted interviews with more than 40 former and present CFC members, many of whom spent hours talking about their experiences. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-float-current, According to a lengthy investigation by National Public Radio station WBEZ in Chicago, Covenant Fellowship Church and its former head pastor Min Joshua Chung for years fostered a misogynistic environment that included sexual mistreatment and oppression of women. Diane Langberg, a prominent psychologist and leading voice on abuse within church communities, said CFCs termination of the GRACE assessment is yet another move to silence the individuals the church has hurt. I have really chosen to not respond to many of these issues but when I was a young man right before I went to college to study for the ministry one of the men who was a brother to a popular board member of the church attempted to molest me at my parents home while I was recovering from a severe pneumonia. font-size: 13px Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of "Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse" by Dr. Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys. To Pergamum: Do Not Compromise | Revelation 2:12-17 (Pastor Min Chung) margin-top: 18px The former AG pastor led his congregation out of the 1.8 million member Pentecostal denomination and presided over the change of policy in his local church on same-sex practices. The KCP which consists of several pastors who were close with Chung had determined that he had been restored to God, as well as the woman. The regional Photo: Illustration by Andjela Padejski, Photo by Manuel Martinez/WBEZ News, Move over, Bruce Willis: NASA crashed into an asteroid to test planetary defense, Students protest University of Illinois investments related to fossil fuels. In October, the church board released a nine-page report from the CCG. Growing up in San Francisco, Yep felt alienated. In 2020, the SOLA Council was notified about a past incident involving council member Min Chung, in which he acted inappropriately with a female young adult whom he was pastoring. We see this is the third article this month youve found worth reading. /* Current track progress and active audio volume level bar */ .wp-caption p.wp-caption-text { I am probably going to get myself in trouble making this next statement but the context was always a sense of Hyper-Complimentarianism or some hybrid form of it because the Denomination that I refereed of believed in women Pastors but the culture was steeped with this type of theological thinking. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse by Dr. Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys. In this case, Id say this is the logical result of Korean Cultures Confucian-infused hierarchy: father-son, king-subject, husband-wife, elder-younger, friend-friend (where one is above the other in rank). Also, any comments with profanity, name-calling, and/or a nasty tone will be deleted. An arm of the Presbyterian Church in America is allowing Min Joshua Chungarguably the nations most prominent Korean-American pastorto return to ministry despite allegations of sexual misconduct and cover-up. margin-top: 9px; SEOUL, South Korea A prominent church pastor whose behavior came under scrutiny when the #MeToo movement took hold in South Korea was Yet this generations aggrieved version of sexism has taken on a different character from their fathers more traditional version of sexism featuring machoism and strict gender roles., https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/opinion/south-koreas-misogyny.html, https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/23/young-south-korean-men-hate-liberals-feminists/. Toll free: (866) 364-9980, Florida Youth Pastor Arrested for Attempting Sex with Teen Student, Cedarvilles Plan to Save Anthony Moore Abandoned its Students and Moore, Missouri Church Leaves Presbyterian Church in America Over LGBT Issues, Archbishop Resigns from Anglican Church of Canada over Sexual Misconduct, Cedarville Reinstates President White After Misconduct Investigation. Pinyo told TRR that shes advising her current church leadership on how to be a safe and healthy church that doesnt turn a blind eye to problems. into silence those who knew of the incident, the report states. Rhee told WBEZ she reported the incident to Pastor Chung. Covenant Fellowship Church is nondenominational, has no elders, and is not a PCA member. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse by Dr. Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys. I have the privilege of living near a large population of Korean Americans, both Christian and otherwise. /* .jet-smart-listing__featured-box-link:before { There was never a feeling that this should be reported.. So they think that they can have some level of control of the process some access to information before they get to the final product, Singer said. Biblical discipline, especially of a pastor or elder in ordained office, cannot be conducted in solitude by the offender. Ive been very hesitant for some while about getting really committed and really involved and back to serving with a church, but I feel like my appetite is coming back, he said. Sungwoo Nam, KCP clerk, said in a statement. background-color: #efefef; TRR reached out to Min Chung for comment, but he did not respond. We are sobered and shudder at the human propensity for sin; we seek Gods grace so that we can be committed to keeping the church protected and honored as the Bride of Christ. Ministry Watch 2022 All rights reserved. After that, he was She bangs on his door all hours of the night until he finally comes and gives her justice, LeCroy explained. WILL and the Illinois Newsroom are committed to bringing you in-depth, relevant coverage that keeps you informed and engages you with our community and state. The victim was suicidal and traumatized by her initial and continuous interaction with Pastor Min, the friend stated in testimony included in the report. The city of Detroit is suing a pastor and his church over the stalled development of a new mega-church at 7 Mile and Woodward Avenue, saying blight has emerged as a result, according to court documents. We also introduced two new members of the [], Editors Note: This panel discussion is from SOLA Conference 2021. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-horizontal-volume-total { Especially in the Korean community, to call out a pastor, youre going against God-given authority.. Since there is no room in the culture for open candor, exchange of perspectives, and helpful permissive dissension, there is only a cycle of abuse that continues at all levels of leadership," Dan Lee, a whistleblower, revealed. Other whistleblowers said in the report that that isnt true. WebWorked at Associate Pastor of New People Baptist Church (Sae Kook Min Baptist Church (1978-1987) and PoDowon Baptist Church (2006-2010) Lives in Gimpo Pastor Cyrus Chung Chung .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-hovered, Web[130609] On the knowledge of God. In a situation like this, we believe real accountability, discipline, and repentance are required. I went to my head pastor and I was emotionally distressed, she said. CFC separated from Chung on May 27 and has contracted a third-party investigation into his conduct. Many people were waiting to see what came out of this and then what their response would be to that, Pinyo said. background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); But he said the church had recently decided to hire an outside group to investigate in order to work towards rebuilding trust and create a healthier culture that better reflects Jesus.. CFC has already disassociated with Chung on May 27 and hired the services of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment(GRACE) to investigate the pastor. Last weekend a sermon by Evangelical pastor Francis Chan went viral, as in the sermon Chan shared about Communion and his discovery of the scriptural and historical basis for transubstantiation - that the bread and the wine become the literal Body and Blood of Christ. He also spoke at youth and college-aged events, counseled university students, and preached in several countries. Through the Presbyterian Church in America's ruling body, Korean Central Presbytery (KCP), Min Joshua Chung, the founder of the Covenant Fellowship Church (CFC) in Champaign-Urbana, was restored to his post as a minister in April this year. Our King Jesus, in his incarnation, wept at the suffering of man and in his full glory he will wipe away every tear as he welcomes us into eternity. They gave a couple of examples [of bias], which were tenuous at best, Singer said. How Can the Church Support Asian American Women? Nov. 22, 2018. Chung continued to speak elsewhere during this time. The decision came before an investigation by WBEZ of Pastor Min Joshua Chung of the Covenant Fellowship Church on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. Per a New York Times opinion piece from June 13, 2016 called South Koreas Misogyny, Women made up 86 percent of all violent crime victims in 2013, according to police data (most violent crime is sexual in nature, and women suffer disproportionately from sexual crimes)., Per a June 23, 2021 article from foreignpolicy.com, sexism has been a long-standing issue in South Korea. The Austin-area congregation declared itself open to LGBTQ persons on staff and that the church building would be available to host same-sex wedding ceremonies. For the sake of the churchs purity and healing, we desire for there to be a thorough, fair, and independent investigation completed regarding the incident and the aftermath. Follow her on Twitter @estheryjkang. 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