‘Gangnam Style’ Crisis Ministry in Adventist Churches in South Korea

Koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Visiting Professor

Department of Liberal Education

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

2 September 2012

           Think of a congregation where the treasurers “pocket” money, members cook food on Sabbath at church, children are playing soccer in the street, deacons cannot come to church on a Sabbath when it is market day for their supermarket since it is the best for their business. Deacons do not pay tithe. Already the traditional Adventist will say: “Wow”. That is the reality of the country church in South Korea. Farmers come to church and then go back to their fields to take care of their fields after church. They watch TV’s on Sabbath, read newspapers, listen to the radio. They almost come to church only the worship hour. This Calvinistic Presbyterian Style Adventist is not just Gangnam-Style, but is reality at country churches.

           The pastors talk and outline and explain and preach, but all fall on deaf ears. They do not see, do not listen, do not comprehend. “My people go under due to a lack of knowledge”. Very interesting. Lack of what?

           It took me a long time to find the solution. I think I finally made a prognosis of the problem and for that matter now can suggest a solution:

           Problem: At the heart of the problem is a lack of leadership training in the churches. None of the deacons, elders, not even the head-elder has a Church Manual. It is a surprise to me that the head-elder is without a Church Manual. They sit and talk for church meetings talking about where to go for entertainment on a Sunday and argue for hours this place or that place. They created a praxis consensus that they believe is Adventist and although unbiblical, they believe it is sacred and permissible.

           Here in South Korea, the farmers almost operate with a “tribalism” where the women gather together in the street and sit in the shade talking until 22h00 before they go to bed. The men gather together elsewhere and do the same. Farmer wisdom, farmer consensus, farmer politics and farmer leadership develop in this way. The psychological effect of this “group sessions” is that no one wants to be gossiped about. There is a lot of gossip. Gossip is the name of the game. Now this consensus style of the farmers, women sitting around and gossip and men as well in their circle, is what the country church is all about. It becomes a political engine with grass-roots leaders who continue this consensus style and politics in the church. There is a VIP group around the leaders and they want to follow the consensus of the group even if it is against the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy. Permissive and so-called embrazing leaders of the VIP group consensus sanctioned the “pocketing of church money” by a treasurer and this crisis for the traditional Adventist lead to serious repercussions and church-“fights” or “conflicts”. The consensus vs the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy.

           Any young theological student who graduates in South Korea from Sahmyook Seminary, will face these problems in his country church.

           A faithful, spiritual, Bible- and- Spirit- of- Prophecy following pastor, will experience major stress in the country-side. Some of the pastors had to go to doctors for their stress, secretly so that their members do not know.

           While the pastor is preaching in the main hall, the Marthas are cooking in the kitchen and they talk about other weekly and daily things that have nothing to do with the sermon. Distracted, because of her preparations from the worship, as Luke wrote about Martha in comparison to Mary in his gospel. That, despite the fact that manna had to be picked up by the people on Friday in preparation for Sabbath during the Exodus. Our pioneers did not cook on the Sabbath for campmeetings but the modern church, here in South Korea, comes unprepared.

          When a member has a good voice and her work takes her on busses to sing norebang music pomchak and trot, she brings her machine to church and with the same arm-waving, want to sing gospel pomchak and gospel trot in church, loud over equalizers and loudspeakers, a noise affair. That despite the Church Manual’s counsels. And that is the key solution.

           The Union of South Korea for Seventh-day Adventists, may make it mandatory that each new deacon be supplied with a free copy from the Press of a Church Manual. In this way all Adventists are talking the same language, no mixed messages, consensus partitions and politics against the pastor or the Word of God or Spirit of Prophecy. It is easier to see the path and easier to see the deviation for them. Right now, none of the members, and none of the officers in the church, deacons, elders and head-elders has a clue what is right and what is wrong. No wonder long-time Adventists are experiencing so much stress in local churches. It is a wonder that they are still Adventists, and one can only thank the ministry of the Holy Spirit for working so hard in the country side in the past.

           The interesting thing is that the survey revealed that these country-side deacons are very eager to get a Church Manual. Never heard of it and looking at the topics yesterday, the deacon was very eager to obtain a copy.

           If we train our young leaders today correctly, we will have less stress as geronti in future, if the Lord decides to delay His coming slightly. The Church Manual to all officers is the answer. A officer in the Seventh-day Adventist church of South Korea without a Church Manual is no Seventh-day Adventist officer but maybe a Presbyterian officer or other mixed form, but do not speak and understand the language of the Seventh-day Adventist ministry properly. So what happens? A pastor comes to a local country church and faces this wall of consensus that is against the principles and rules of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. Some pastors are young and do not want to experience stress, so they rather want to ride the wave of popularity than controversy, so they become surfers and as Malachi says: “You caused many to stumble in the Torah” (Malachi 2:8). If the pastor wants to be a populist he is no longer a shepherd. He is also a political pastor who wants to use group-dynamic psychology to run the church and when this happens, it is not the Spirit of God leading, not the Bible or Word of God nor the Spirit of Prophecy, but human endeavors alone.

           The Church Manual gives everyone the same jargon, the same language, the same gates of difference or sameness, and this is the strength of an Adventist group, that they talk the same together as a team.