KAC Timeline – Korea Anabaptist Center

KAC Timeline – Korea Anabaptist Center

KAC Timeline

2001

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• KAC opening in Seoul (Nov 2)
  • Founding members include Tim Froese, KyongJung Kim, and Lee JaeYoung, as well as 3 steering committee members (Lee YoonShik, Ahn Daniel, and Cha SungDo from Jesus Village Church)
• Supporters include JVC, MVS grads, other individuals
• Sheldon Sawatzky visited and gave a message at the opening worship service
• Publications include:
  • Anabaptist history and confession
    ~ A combined book of small articles on Anabaptism and
    ~ The Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective

2002

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• KAC Library is set up
• Education
  • Victim and Offender Mediation Program at Soongsil University
    ~ Erwin Wiens – guest speaker, Lee JaeYoung- KAC staff
• Service Work: IVEP
  • Kim JiYun – KAC’s first Korean IVEPer, served in Canada
•  Networking
  • MMN Learning tour led by Stanly Green
  • Kim KyongJung visit to Canada
  • MC Canada office, Charleswood Mennonite Church, Pandora Press
  • Office location changed

2003

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• Major Event: US invade Iraq
  • Sister Ryu Eun-Ha witnessed to the violent situation for Peace and Justice
  • SIV(Salam Iraq Volunteers) include:
    ~ A group of Korea volunteers organized and sent to Iraq for service and relief work
    ~ The Frontiers, Dongahn Presbyterian Church, and KAC
•  Publications
  • Anabaptist Seeds – Arnold Snyder
  • Is a peace church possible – Alan Kreider
• Peace education
  • World Friendship Center invited KAC staff to visit Hiroshima in Japan for peace education and networking purposes
  • Peace and Peer Mediation Workshop led by Robert Harries and Lee Jae Young
  • Lee JaeYoung participated in MPI (Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute) in Philippines
• Peacebuilders education program
  • Guest speakers include Alan and Elenore Kreider, teaching on the Early Church and Anabaptism
• Service Work
  • IVEP: Ko Il-Young served in Ontario, Canada
  • SALT: Anita Streicher from Canada
  • CMU Intern:  Cheryl Woelk from Canada
• Networking
  • Lee Wheeler (MCC worker) shared his trip to North Korea as an agricultural specialist
  • House of Sharing (A shelter for women under Japanese colonization)
  • Mennonite World Conference in Zimbabwe
    ~ JVC became an associate member of Mennonite World Conference
    ~ Tim Froese, Kim KyongJung, and Erwin Wiens participated in the event

2004

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• Publications
  • Worship and Evangelism in Pre-Christendom by Alan Kreider
• Guest speakers Harry and Agnus Huebner from CMU, Canada
• Service Work
  • IVEP: Kim HongSeok, served in USA
  • SALT: Rachel Vermeer from Alberta, Canada
• Networking
  • AMC (Asia Mennonite Conference) executive committee gathering
  • A Hibakusha from World Friendship Center visited
  • House of Sharing
• Tim Forese family returned to Canada
•  KAC’s English language Institute, Connexus, is started

2005

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• Publications
  • Building on the Rock
  • Mennonite Story
  • Peace and reconciliation as a new paradigm
• Guest speaker Jacob Elias from AMBS
• Peace education
• Service Work
  • IVEP: Seo Eunji served in BC, Canada
  • SALT: Lauen Sauer and Douglas Friesen from Ontario Canada

2006

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• Major event: Asia Anabaptist Discipleship Training Program (AADT)
• Guest speakers
  • Tom Yoder Neufeld
  • Anthony Brown
• Education
  • Theological Joint Consultation together in Macao for Anabaptist Seminary
  • Conflict Prevention Seminar
• Service Work
  • IVEP: Oh Eun Kyung served in MCC office, Akron, Pennsylvania, USA
  • SALT: Kevin Leeder
• Networking
  • Helped church-to-church exchange program
  • Trip to visit Japanese Mennonite churches in Tokyo area
  • Korean Anabaptist Mission Fellowship (KAMF) formed

2007

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• Publications
  • Mediation training manual
  • Hutterite life
  • Confession of faith in a Mennonite perspective
  • Discipleship as political responsibility
• Education
  • Hun Lee
  • Christian Peace Academy
  • Hizakias Asefa
• Service Work
  • SALT
• Networking
  • Grace and Peace Mennonite Church
  • Korean association of church community
  • Korean Anabaptist Mission Fellowship (KAMF)

2008

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• Publications
  • The History of the Hutterites – John Hofer
  • Claus Felbinger’s Confession of 1560
  • The Radicals DVD – Korean subtitles
  • Work and Rest in Biblical Perspective – Waldemar Janzen
• Guest Speakers Mark and Mary Hurst
  • Anabaptism and Homeschooling
  • Peace education
    ~ Conflict Resolution
    ~ Restorative Justice
• Service Work
  • SALT: Sarah Wilson, served in Sarangbang Community Church
• Networking
  • Korean Anabaptist Mission Fellowship (KAMF)

2009

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• Publications
  • Anabaptist Vision
  • Ein Esndbrief Bruederliche Gemeinschaft das hoechste Gebot der Liebe Betreffend – Andreas Ehrenpreis, 1652
• Education
  • Christian Peace Academy
  • Speakers Pat and Earl Martin
• Networking
  • North East Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute (NARPI) – first year; network-building stage
  • Peace camp in China
  • Dandelion Community
  • Bible Korea
  • MCC Korea Reunion
  • Korean PAX team visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan
  • Mennonite World Conference
  •  Korean Anabaptist Mission Fellowship (KAMF)
  • KAC 8th anniversary
  • KAF 1st gathering in LA

2010

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• Publications
  • Dying to Live with Christ – Merle Ruth
  • Journey Toward Reconciliation – John Paul Lederach
  • How Christians made peace with war – John Driver
  • Changing Lenses – Howard Zehr
• Education
  • Parmer Becker
  • Al Fuelutes – Trauma Healing
  • Kim ChangKyu – Hubmiar’s view on Anabaptist salvation
  • Restorative Justice
• Networking
  • North East Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute (NARPI) – second year; foundation-laying stage
  • Peace camp in China
  • KAC 9th anniversary
  • KAF 2nd gathering in Calgary, Canada; 3rd gathering in ChunCheon, Korea

2011

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• Education
  • Peace-building workshops led by Joe and Janet Campbell
• Service Work
  • IVEP: Park Jin Ju served in Elmira, Ontario; Song Yeoreum served in Pennsylvania, USA; Kim Seung-Hwan, served in Denver, Colorado
• Networking
  • North East Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute (NARPI) – third year; operation stage
  • Peace camp in Korea
• KAC and Connexus separate; KAC moves to ChunCheon city and Connexus moves to Deokso
•  KAC 10th anniversary

2012

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• Education
  • Kingdom builders led by Erv Wiens
  • Boundary workshop led by Marian Wiens
• Service Work
  •  IVEP: Jung Su-Hyun serving in Pennsylvania, USA
  • SALT: Deborah Wiens from British Columbia; Alexandra Loeppky and Jessica Klassen from Manitoba
  • YAMEN: Cindy Tristiantanri from Indonesia
•  Networking
  • Asia Anabaptist Diakonia Conference held in Salatiga, Indonesia
  • MCC Korea Reunion
  • Global Anabaptist Service Network
  • MWC general council

예수촌 Anabaptist Movement Flourishing in South Korea | Mennonite World Conference

Anabaptist Movement Flourishing in South Korea | Mennonite World Conference

Anabaptist Movement Flourishing in South Korea

John D. Roth, MWC Faith and Life Commission secretary, was invited to speak at the Korean Anabaptist Conference held in January 2016. Photo: Austin Headrick.

Release date: 

Monday, 15 February 2016

Goshen, Indiana, USA - On 30 January 2016, nearly 100 people gathered in downtown Seoul, Korea to participate in the first Korean Anabaptist Conference. The goal of the gathering, according to Bock Ki Kim, director of the Korea Anabaptist Center and co-sponsor of the event, was “to introduce Anabaptist theology and values in a public, academic setting” and to “challenge ourselves as Korean Anabaptists to see who we are and what we have to do in South Korea.”

Participants listened and responded to presentations by five speakers on the theme of “What is Anabaptism and Why is it Needed in Korea?” Presenters included John D. Roth, secretary of the MWC Faith and Life commission and director of the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism at Goshen College; Baptist seminary church historian Byung Doo Nahm; Sang Kyu Lee of the Presbyterian Kosin Theological Seminary; conference organizer and Baptist professor Ki Hyun Kim; and Won Bum Jung of the Daejeon Theological Seminary.

In the conversation following the presentations, the question of nonresistance sparked the most vigorous exchange. For the past 60 years, South Koreans have lived in the shadow of a nuclear power to the north. Consequently, military service is an important part of Korean cultural identity, especially for young men. The only recourse for conscientious objectors is imprisonment, a choice recently exercised by Sang Min Lee of the Grace and Peace Mennonite Church in Seoul, but his decision remains a highly controversial topic among Korean Anabaptists.

Today, South Korea is home to one of the most creative and dynamic expressions of contemporary Anabaptism anywhere in the global church, with potential for explosive growth in the future. The origins of Korean Anabaptism can be traced back to multiple sources. In the decades immediately following the Korean War (1950–1953), Mennonite Central Committee had a modest presence in the country. In the 1980s, several key Korean leaders, based in part on their contact with MCC personnel, began independent theological study of the Anabaptist tradition. Several pursued training at Mennonite seminaries in North America. In 2001, a more formal relationship with Mennonite Church Canada Witness, combined with the energetic leadership of members of the Jesus Village Church, led to the formation of the Korea Anabaptist Center, which has since served as an important resource to the growing movement.

Dae Jang Gan Press has overseen the translation and publication of nearly 100 Anabaptist-Mennonite books into Korean. In fact, church leaders and others celebrated the book launch of the Korean translation of John D. Roth’s Beliefs: Mennonite Faith and Practice before the conference began.

Through this Korean Anabaptist Conference, various Anabaptist groups came together to offer a unified voice within the larger Korean Christian context.

“People want to see a healthy, biblical church, justice in the public square, and a tangible community based on the Anabaptist movement,” says Bock Ki Kim. “We hope that the conference can be a small catalyst for the future movement as well as a clear invitation to the participants to follow the way of Jesus Christ in their daily lives.”

-MWC Release by the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism

  

The World Fellowship Sunday celebrations at Jesus Village Church, one of the oldest Anabaptist-related congregations in South Korea. Photo: Bock Ki Kim.

A participant comments at the first-ever Korean Anabaptist Conference in January 2016. Photo: Austin Headrick. 

Click here to see a high resolution version of the cover photo. Click on the other photos to see the high resolution versions. 

Geographic representation: 

Asia and Pacific

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1812 We can become one again - MCC is back in South Korea

We can become one again

We can become one again

12.31. 2018  Posted By: Ron Byler

Photo: Adults from right are Jae Young Lee, Karen Joy Spicher (Jae Young’s wife) and Hyung Gon Lee (Jae Young’s father). The children are Jae and Karen’s children. Jae Young is director of the Peace Building. Photo by Ron Byler.

Only when Babylon’s 70 years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. –Jeremiah 29:10

Just after the Korean War in the 1950s, Hyung Gon Lee was a farm manager for the Mennonite Vocational School in Taegu, South Korea, established by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) relief volunteers.

Following the war, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. Food, fuel and electricity were scarce and there was massive unemployment. A third of all the houses in the entire country were destroyed, as well as almost half the industrial facilities.

Mr. Kim’s rural school at Shin Dong, South Korea (circa 1956 – photographer unknown), with tin roof made from MCC meat cans. Photo provided by the author.

Beginning in 1952, MCC set up feeding stations and distributed clothing and bedding. Hyung Gon says MCC provided a serving of milk and rice to 5,000 people each day. The vocational school trained hundreds of orphans for jobs in post-war South Korea.

I heard second-hand from one of these orphans who is now a successful businessman in Chuncheon, “Every Thursday the MCC truck would come in and we were so excited because we knew we would have meat in our soup that day.” He said the tin from the meat cans was later used to repair house roofs.

More than 75 MCCers from North America served in South Korea from 1951 to 1971. Rapid economic growth in the country meant that MCC could leave South Korea after just 20 years in the country.

In the 1990s, South Koreans who were studying from the Bible on their own decided that Anabaptism best described who they were as Christians and Jesus Village Church 예수촌, and later, Jesus Heart Church, were formed.

Today, MCC is back in South Korea, and its ministry focuses on providing peace education in the northeast Asia region, being a reconciliatory presence within the two Koreas and providing exchange opportunities for young adults from Korea, northeast Asia and North America to learn more about what it means to follow Jesus.

One MCC partner is the Peace Building and the Korean Peacebuilding Institute (KOPI) begun by Hyung Gon Lee’s son, Jae Young Lee, and others. KOPI’s 15-member staff teach restorative justice and peace building skills in the public schools, to the local police and elsewhere.

“Without the scholarship MCC gave me to attend the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, I couldn’t be doing what I’m doing today,” Jae Young tells me.

Jesus Village Church and Jesus Heart Church meet together for worship in Chuncheon, South Korea. Photo by Ron Byler.

Jae Young also partners with others, including MCC, in the annual two-week long Northeast Asia Regional Peacebuilding Institute for peace activists, practitioners and educators.

We sit in the Peace Building coffee shop with Jae Young and his father, Hyung Gon, and talk about the possibility for peace between North Korea and South Korea. When Jae Young hears about MCC’s peacebuilding work in North Korea, he says he remembers MCC’s work at the Mennonite Vocational School 70 years ago.

“What MCC did in the past in Korea touches people like me who are working in the same spirit of peace today,” Jae Young says. He believes the young people he trains today will be part of bridge building between the two Koreas tomorrow.

 Jae Young’s father, Hyung Gon, points to the prophet Jeremiah’s hope for Israel that the Jews could return to Jerusalem 70 years after their exile in Babylon. Hyung believes that 70 years after the war in Korea began, north and south can become one again. “We are brothers and sisters,” he says, “and MCC is helping to build trust between us.”

Ron Byler is executive director of Mennonite Central Committee U.S.

Personels - Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) - Korea

Personels - Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) - Korea

Personels

Yoon Shik Lee   Bong Gi Choi (Peace Fellowship Church, Virginia Mennonite Conference pastor) - Virginia   Hun Lee   BokKi Kim   James Lee (Virginia Mennonite Conference pastor) - Virginia   Hur Hun   JaeYoung Lee   KyungJung Kim   Sang Jin Choi (Fourth Street Community Fellowship, Virginia Mennonite Conference pastor) - Washington, DC   <Contact Information> 202-939-0754(w), 571-259-4937(cell), 202-939-0864(f), appachoi@gmail.com, www.iamappa.org   -MCC Washington Office (reference committee member), MCC East Coast Washington Offfice (reference committee member), -Washington Annabaptist Peace Center (board member)    <Church/Ministry>

Mennonite Vocational School (1953-1971) - Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) - Korea

Mennonite Vocational School (1953-1971) - Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) - Korea


Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) - Korea

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HOME: Dedication to...‎ > ‎MCC in Korea‎ > ‎The Analysis of the MCC's Economic Justice Policies toward South Korea‎ > ‎Economic Justice Policy for Education‎ > ‎
Mennonite Vocational School (1953-1971)








From its beginning, MCC has been concerned about child welfare. The minutes from a 1920 MCC meeting in Chicago state that “orphanage work may be opened on the field if such seems needed and advisable.”46 MVS was MCC’s largest project in Korea. MVS was founded in October 1953 near the town of Kyung San in Kyung Sang Book Do soon after the Korean War cease-fire.47 A seventy-eight acre plot of land was purchased by MCC for the establishment of a vocational school at the junior and high school level for older orphan boys. The site was originally planned by the Japanese (during the period of Japanese rule ending in 1945) to be used as an agricultural college. With the withdrawal of the Japanese forces from Korea, many of the twenty-seven buildings were never completed.48 the first program of this school was the agricultural program. The objectives of the farm program were to provide practical agricultural work experiences for all students, to help with financial support for the educational program, and to serve as a model to neighboring farmers and thus aid in the extension of service.49 Older orphan boys were taught agriculture and worked in the rice farming project.50 Christian Children’s Fund (CCF) helped in partial support of some of the younger orphan boys, while major support came from MCC “sponsors” in the U.S. and Canada.51

In 1954 MCC Korea started to repair many of the buildings. They were assisted in the task of rebuilding and repairing the physical plant with grants of money and materials from UNKRA (United Nations Korea Reconstruction Agency), UNCACK (United Nations Civil Assistance Command of Korea), and AFAK (Armed Forces Assistance to Korea- the organization through which the various branches of the U.S. Armed services in Korea gave aid to schools, hospitals, and other welfare institutions).52 The farm project consisted of a physical plant of more than 60 tillable acres of land with some 40 buildings and a native staff of more than 20 people.53 This included teachers, vocational instructors, farm personnel, laundry workers, cooks, etc.54

The objectives of MVS were to teach basic academic skills, vocational skills, and Christian moral education. The technical educational program included academic subjects and training in metal work, printing, carpentry, and agriculture.55 The Christian moral education program provided spiritual and moral guidance so that a graduate can be a positive and in many cases Christian, influence in society.56 In 1959, the first class of 23 students graduated from MVS.57 In 1961, MCC bought a house that served as a Boys’ hostel for graduates from Mennonite Vocational School (MVS) in Taegu. On March 1, 1961, twenty–one graduates moves into the hostel. Graduates could live in the hostel until they found a job and a house.58 In spring of 1963 the building programs got underway with the arrival of Walter Rutt. Walter Rutt was a supervisor to this construction program.59 Through this project a new principal’s house, the Byler dormitory, and kitchen and dorm parent’s rooms were built for MVS, as well as two churches within one mile of the school.60

Mennonite Vocational School added a new class in typing in 1965, and a class of electronics – radios and basic electronics, in 1966.61 In 1967 MVS had changed to a three-year school for only high school age boys.62 MVS applied for accreditation from the government as a technical high school, because without an official diploma it was difficult to enter or gain employment. This was a very serious problem for MVS students. In December, 1962, a conference was held at MVS, reviewing problems and suggestions for possible changes. The main topics of that conference were government accreditation, clarification of objectives of school program, the guidance of students, teacher-pupil relations, etc. Unfortunately, however, MVS was not able to obtain sanction as a technical high school for orphans from the Korean Government. All of MVS’s properties and responsibilities were turned over to the MVS national board of directors on July, 1969.63

A total of 332 students graduated from MVS. MVS principals included L. Robert Kohls, Kenneth Brunk, John Zook, Leland Voth, and Dong Keun lee. Even thought MVS was changed, its efforts and results during its 20 year history were very admirable. By the survey of MVS graduates conducted by Prof. Man Choon Kang on June 21, 1965, the employment and income level of MVS graduates were higher than those from other vocational schools. By Professor Kang’s survey, 26.9% of those employed are in clerical type work, as compared to 6.3% for KAVA (Korea Association of Voluntary Agencies); 11.5% are in management type in contrast to KAVA’s 7%. This was primarily because many of MVS students had English Ability in speaking and writing including technical ability.64 While 88% of MVS graduates claimed to be leading a religious life, only 72.2% from KAVA claimed it.65 And 9.5% of MVS and 18.1% of the KAVA groups left their faith after being taught it.66 Now many graduates are working as engineers, business managers (including top managers), teachers, pastors, artists, and so on.

-------------------------





References

46. “Monthly Aid Helpers 1000 Children,” The Mennonite, November 9, 1965, p.698

47. MCC Korea 15th Anniversary Brochure, 1968, p.10.

48. See The Report on the Kyug San Mennonite Vocational School for Orphan Boys Submitted to the United Nations Women’s Guild, May, 1955, and The Asia Foundation, January, 1956.

49. See The Report of MVS Conferences held at MVS, reviewing present program and suggestions for possible changes on Dec. 1962, found in the file entitled “MVS Reports 1954-1970,” Box 1, File 41, in the “MCC Korean Files, AMC.”

50. The Annual Report of the MCC, 1953, Relief Section, p.12.

51. Ibid., p.12.

52. See The Report on the Kyong San Vocational School for Orphan Boys Submitted to the United Nations Women’s Guide, May, 1955; The Annual Report of the MCC, 1955, Relief Section, p.2.

53. Ibid., p.12.

54. The Annual Report of the MCC, 1954, p.2.

55. The Annual Report of the MCC, 1956, Relief Section, p.6.

56. See MVS Report Operated by MCC Korea, Feb. 27, 1963, pp. 2-3, found in the title of entitled “MVS Reports 1953-1963, Box 1, File 41, in the “MCC Korean Files, AMC.”

57. The Annual Report of the MCC, 1959, Relief Section, p.A-8.

58. The Annual Report of the MCC, 1961, Relief Section. P.A-19.

59. Reports and Statistics for 1963, p.A-19.

60. Reports and Statistics for 1964, p.A-24; See “Couple in Middle Sixties Complete Korea Service Term,” in The Canadian Mennonite, April 12, 1966. Mrs. Gladys Rutt was suffered in a near fatal illness at the beginning of 1964. However, the Lord answered and restored her to health. She taught English at MVS.

61. The Annual Report of the MCC, 1965, p.A-22; The Annual Report of the MCC, 1966, p.A-15.

62. The Annual Report of the MCC, 1967, p.A-18.

63. The Annual Report of the MCC, 1969, p.A-11.

64. Some MVS students would participate in a national English speech contest. Two students won second and third prizes on Jun 13, 1959.

65. Chung-Suk Chung, a student of MVS, demonstrated his vocational school life as follows: “A conversation of my life had come in Mennonite Vocational School. I had an examination to enter Mennonite Vocational Middle School and I passed. It was an agreeable place to me at my first sight. It seemed so peaceful enclosed with small mountains and short pine trees on them and houses and buildings with tiled roofs. In this wonderful place my closed eyes upon the world of Christianity began to open and I found my Shepherd, nay, I was found by Him and given the vision that I could see the path to heaven.” See Chung-Suk Chung, “Story of a Korean Boy,” The Mennonite, September 25, 1962, pp.621-623.

66. The Recommendation on MVS and Orphans by Kang, Man Choon, found in the file of entitled “MVS Reports 1950-1970,” Box 1, File 41, in the “MCC Korean Files, AMC.”

MVS 75th anniversary webinar