What is the Seoul Presbytery, PROK?

  21 Mar. 2009

    

                              What is the Seoul Presbytery, PROK?

                                                     

 

The Seoul Presbytery is one of the Presbytery out of 24 Presbyteries in the PROK(PROK has 24 Presbyteries, 124 Circuits,1,600 Churches and around 350,000 membership as of now) and it follows the Constitution, and Vision and Mission of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea( PROK).

 

1. Presupposition for Understanding the Seoul Presbytery

(1) The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea(PROK)?

The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea(PROK) which started in 1953 with Spirit of Freedom of the Gospel, Freedom of Faith, Self-Reliance and Independence follows the tradition of the Reformed Church as one of the mainline Protestant Church in Korea.    

 

Looking back to history of the PROK as a glance, it is as follows;

“In 1884, the first Protestant Church in Korea was built by Suh Sang-Ryun in Sorai, Hwanghae Province in what is now North Korea.  Suh was a lay person who was baptized in Manchuria and returned to Korea to evangelize it.

 

One of the particular characteristics of Korean Christianity is that Koreans themselves, on their own initiative, began to translate the Gospel and built churches before foreign missionaries came to Korea.  The early Protestant Christians was printing the New Testament in Hangul, the Korean alphabet which all people could read easily.   The decision to print the Gospel in Hangul was highly significant, because the elite and the government used the Chinese alphabet at that time.  Rev. John Ross, a Scottish Presbyterian minister serving in Manchuria, worked with several Koreans on the translation”.     

 

In 1907, the Presbyterian Church in Korea was organizes and the first General Assembly was held in 1912 by Presbyterian missionaries from Australia, the United States, and Canada.  It is truth that the numbers of Christianity began to increase since Foreign Missionaries arrived in Korea.  However, at that moment Christianity in Korean was completely influenced by the conservative, fundamentalist theology propounded by the foreign missionaries.   

 

A conflict happened inside the Presbyterian Church In 1953.  It was regarding theology and methods of biblical study taught  Chosun Theological Seminary(now the Graduate School of Theology, Hanshin University of PROK).  The existing authority of the Presbyterian Church did not allowed the progressive theology and methods of historical critical interpretation of the Bible.  They decided to expel the progressive group during the General Assembly in 1953.  People who were dismissed were the origin of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK). This conflict in 1953 divided the Presbyterians into the PCK and PROK.

 

2. The Line of Mission of the PROK

The PROK accepted ‘the ‘Missio Dei’ in 1960 as a theology for Mission.  Also it stands firmly on the prophetic stance for Democratic Society and serving the least and the marginalized in society and on the line of Ecumenism.  PROK will continue to concern “for democratization, human rights, peace and unification, the disabled, farmers, the elderly, orphans, undocumented migrant workers, homeless teenagers, sex workers and unemployed and their families.

 

3. What is the Seoul Presbytery of the PROK

(1) Membership

- The Seoul Presbytery is composed of ordained pastors who are working for local churches or organizations in 7 districts(Dongdaemun-gu, Mapo-gu, Seodaemun-gu, Yongsan-gu, Eunpyeong-gu, Jongno-gu, Junggu-gu) in Seoul and elders being elected in 7 districts in Seoul as delegates who can attend the General Assembly of PROK(being held once a year) that year.  In this case, the elder has the 1 year-membership. 

 

During the General Assembly being held twice a year, retired ordained pastors, and non-ordained pastors have the right only to speak out his(her) opinion about agendas during the session.  Also, the rights only to speak out his(her) opinion about agendas in session are given only 3 people among the Evangelist,  the member of Church Women’s Association , or the member of Church Men’s Association, the  member of Church Youth Association , the member of Christian Education Teacher Association, the member of Sunday school Teacher Association who were invited by the Seoul Presbytery.

 

(2) 7 Circuits                                                           

- It has 7 Circuits( Yongsan Circuit, Jongno Circuit, Junggu Circuit, Dongdaemun Circuit, Mapo Circuit, Seoeun Circuit and Organization Circuit) and the Organization Circuit embraces all Pastors who are working for organizations in 7 districts in Seoul, for example, the Seoul Hospital, the Seoul Migrant Workers Center and the Stock Mission Group.

 

(3) Officials

- Officials of the Seoul Presbytery are comprised of  1 Moderator, 2 vice Moderator(1 from Ordained Minister, 1 from Elder), 1 Secretary, 1  Assistant Secretary, 1 Recorder, 1 Treasurer, 1 Assistant Treasurer and 1  Director.  The terms of all officials are1 year except the Director and all  officials maintain positions in their local churches, if they are serving for their churches.

 

(4) The General Assembly

- The Ecclesiastic Calendar of the Seoul Presbytery starts in January and its General Assembly are regularly held twice a year in Spring and Autumn.  Namely, they start on Tuesday after the Third Sunday of April and on Tuesday after the Third Sunday of October.   However, in the case of emergency situation, Temporary Conference can be assembled according to the process of the Constitution of the Seoul Presbytery.

 

(5) The Staffs of the Office

- The Staffs of the office of the Seoul Presbytery consist of 1 Director, 1

 executive secretary and 1 assistant.  One term of the Director is 3 years and he (she) can hold his(her) position up to 2 terms consecutively.  The present Director is Rev. In Tae Kim.

 

(6) Numbers of the Church Workers, churches and total members 

- Numbers of Church Workers are 297 as of Oct. 21, 2008(175 Mogsa, 21 Junmog, 21 Jeondosa, 80 Mogsa Hubosaeng)    Out of 175 Mogsas(Ordained Pastors), 29 are Euntoi Mogsa(Retired Minister)

 

 

	Male	Female	Total
Mogsa(Ordained Minister)	153	22	175
Junmog	8	13	21
Jeondosa(Evangelist)	8	13	21
Mogsa Hubosaeng	44	36	80
Total	213	84	297

 

 

 

- Numbers of Church are 47 (35 Local Churches, 5 Worshipping Congregations and 7 newly established Churches) as of Oct. 21, 2008

- Numbers of membership(except children) are total 9,414 people (Out of 9,414 people, 7,437 people was baptized) as of Oct. 21, 2008.

 

(7) Committees in the Seoul Presbytery

1) The Standing Committee

   1 Steering Committee

   2 Examination Committee: Its job is related to the examination for the Candidate for being the Minister.  Its role includes educating, supervising and taking a care of the Candidates for being the Minister.       

   3 Mission Committee : The Mission Committee is divided into 3 departments, namely, the Inter-Mission Department, the Church Establishment Department and the Overseas Mission Department.      

- The Inter-Mission Department: It emphasizes is working in relation to

Domestic Mission.  Particularly, it focuses on Mission of the

Seoul Migrant Workers Center, the Mission in the Military Camp,

Ecumenical activities with other denominations and etc….   

    - The Church Establishment Department : It supports and supervises the newly Established Churches and church workers who are serving for these newly Established Churches.

    - The Overseas Mission Department: It is relevant to  Mission Co- Workers in the oversea and holding a prayer meeting for Peace in South East Asia.  From the Seoul Presbytery, as of now, 8 Mission Co- Workers were dispatched to Taiwan, China, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippine, India and Germany.

4 Christian Education Committee: The Christian Education Committee is in charge of the Training Program for Sunday School Teachers from the local churches.

‘The Institute for Mission and Education of PROK’ being one of Institute in PROK publishes every year many different kinds of text books which are used in the local church for worship, Bible Study, Sunday School,  the Summer Vacation Bible School for children and young people and  Christian Special Occasion according to the Ecclesiastical Calendar.

 Every year, this committee has activities and education program for publications from ‘the Institute for Mission and Education of PROK’.

 

 5 Finance Committee 

 

 6 Reunification and Society Committee : It concerns with making the Movement of Unification and issues in Korean Society.  Its programs are Education Programs and Seminars for Unification, Programs and actions for Peace and Unification.  Also, it supports for the social welfare programs and responds to the wrong Policy of the Government.  Every year, this Committee has been providing the Visitation Program of Place having pain history and tragically traces due to conflicts and separations between the North Korea and the South Korea.

 

7 Laity Committee: The Laity Committee tries to make programs for fellowship and the unity of all local church members.  This Committee are connected with Lay Associations(the Church Men’s Association in the Seoul Presbytery, the Church Women’s Association in the Seoul Presbytery and the Church Youth Association in the Seoul Presbytery).  Every year, it not only hosts an athletic meeting with whole local church members in the Seoul Presbytery but also a the Concert to help the poor in our society.   It sometimes supports activities of the Church Youth Association in the Seoul Presbytery.

 

2) The Temporary Committee

1 Local Church Recording Inspection Committee

2 Audit 

3 Election Committee

4 Seoul Migrant Workers Center Board 

5 Three Presbyteries joint Mission Committee 

6 Ministers' Minimum Income Supplement Committee

7 Discipline Committee

8 Pastor’s Sabbatical leave Committee   

9 Nominations Committee      

                                    

(8) Ecumenical Relationship of the Seoul Presbytery                     

As of now, existing International Partnerships with the Seoul Presbytery are with the PresbyterianChurch of Myanmar and with ‘일본 기독교단 동경교구 북지구’(영어 표기?).  The Partnership with the latter was made in 2002 and with the first in 2005. 

   The Seoul Presbytery had experienced the partnership with the Nairobi Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa(PCEA) and the Washington Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in the USA before.

 

4. Challenges of the Seoul Presbytery

Out of 24 Presbyteries, the Seoul Presbytery of the PROK which covered the Old City in Seoul had had main roles in the PROK like an elder son.  One reason is that the Soul Presbytery has been located in Seoul City, the Capital city of Korea and the other is that the Seoul Presbytery has had the biggest and the most famous Churches in PROK which are known to people like representative churches of PROK.  However, according to the policy of Government since 1970, the southern part of Seoul which is called as KangNam began to be developed with huge residential areas.  The other words, KangNam became the center of Seoul in terms of economy and education and big size of churches started to b established there with big number of congregations. 

 As a result, Seoul City already became too big city.  So, the Seoul Presbytery divided into 4 Presbyteries gradually and gradually (the Seoul Presbytery, the North Seoul Presbytery, the South Presbytery and the East Presbytery) 

Even though the Seoul Presbytery maintains many traditional inheritances in the PROK, this kind of change has been a big challenge to the Seoul Presbytery.   

Particularly, the recent plan of Government of Seoul City intending to renovate the areas of the Seoul Presbytery with big on large scale which already started lets many churches in the Seoul Presbytery face difficulties to transfer to other place or be shut down.  

 

[21 Mar. 2009]