Christchurch Korean Presbyterian Church has purchased a large adjoining site to provide a base for its youth and community work.
The church is the biggest Korean community in Christchurch, with more than 700 members.
Christchurch Korean had been trying to buy the warehouse adjacent to its Packe St worship centre, which was owned by power company Orion, for several years. They now have renovated the building as a base for children’s and youth programmes, with two large halls and a number of rooms.
Assistant pastor James Park says the church has a lot of ideas about how the new building can be used, including creating a dining room, a recreation centre and a cafe.
The church was the first Korean church established in the South Island, holding its first service at St Giles Presbyterian Church on 20 October 1988. It soon moved into a building on Colombo Street, then to its current site in September 2003.
Staff include senior pastor the Rev Joshua Choi, James and one other associate pastor, and two office staff.
James, who is responsible for high school and intermediate age children, says the church community forms an important social hub for its members, especially in terms of educating the next generation. Lack of space was constraining this key work, he says.
“It means we can teach students about the Bible and cultural things.”
As well as Sunday school activities, young children can learn the Korean language.
The church also places a strong emphasis on adult Christian education, with a series of different courses that people complete as they mature in their faith and leadership potential. People who complete the training then help to disciple other new members.
The Sunday service is the most important focus of the church, James says, with members attending a shared lunch afterward each week. The church has 37 family cell groups, each made up of seven or eight families, which take turns to cook the lunches in
the church’s commercial kitchen.
There are also another 31 male/female cell groups.
Every year a big talent contest is held, with cell groups spending significant amounts of time practising and praying together. The church holds many similar events to which members are encouraged to invite people they know, including
competitions of worship songs, variety shows, Bible quiz competitions, a worship song festival, Christmas celebrations, Easter, and a Thanksgiving event.
Multiple services are held on Sundays, with the many Sunday school teachers attending the 9.30am service so that they can participate in worship before teaching their classes during the main 11.30 service.
The church also holds a “well attended” service every day at 6am, a service every Wednesday at 7.30pm, and services are held at other times every week for specific age groups.
Senior pastor Joshua Choi describes these services as having a focus on prayer, which he considers a special quality of the church, along with its focus on servant leadership.
James says there are many opportunities for members to take leadership or volunteer roles, and there is an expectation that people will get involved.
“Adult members don’t just attend the service but take part in activities.”
The young adults group, for people over 18 who are not married, attracts a lot of university students and has a service on Saturday nights. Many have come to Christchurch alone to study, and the church gives them a social network, James says.
They are expected to spend two to three hours a week studying the Bible, and take “huge roles” in the church, helping out with tasks like washing dishes after lunch on Sunday and volunteering at events.
“When I see the young adults group, they look like a family. They share their lives and take care of each other.”
James says Christchurch Korean expects to continue growing, though it’s difficult to estimate and plan for. When the church bought the Packe St site, people felt concerned about the financial risk. But the growth of the church meant the building was fully paid for within two years. “People said that would be impossible.”
The church’s auditorium can seat more than 620 people, and is regularly full on Sundays, with people sometimes watching via video link from a nearby room.
Joshua says that the church has been focused on building the internal and external infrastructure so that it can carry out its mission.
The church has a strong focus on mission, creating what it terms a “World Mission Training Centre”, which is based in the new building, to link Koreans from around the world. Christchurch Korean sends missionaries to Indonesia and supports
10 missionaries in Kenya and China.
Much of the congregation has immigrated from Korea, for work or for study. South Korean has a population of just under 50 million living in just under 100,000 square kilometres (New Zealand’s total land area is 270,000 square kilometres). James says many people living in Korea want to seek a better life overseas.
He says the church takes every possible opportunity to make itself known to Koreans thinking of coming to Christchurch, including making contact with denominations in Korea and inviting guest speakers who will spread the word back home.
In February, the church held a conference for leaders of Korean churches from around the world that was attended by 100 pastors.
Despite the church’s young demographics, a significant number of elderly people are also part of the congregation, James says. The Senior Community College helps older members to increase their understanding of New Zealand culture and identity.
The church also has a library of more than 2000 books, 99 percent in the Korean language. Korean language books cost twice as much in New Zealand as they do in Korea, putting them out of many immigrants’ reach. The church lends its library for free, with about 10 books added every month on recommendation from pastors and volunteers.
Korean immigrant numbers have dipped during the economic downturn, James says, but are likely to increase again. Many tertiary students have had to leave New Zealand on completing their studies, both because of the tight job market and because of new immigration regulations. At the moment, only about 10 percent are staying in New Zealand after completing their studies.
The first Korean immigrants worked very hard to settle into Christchurch and adapt to the New Zealand way of life, he says. Because this immigration started only 30 years ago, the second generation has recently emerged into adulthood. Things are different for this generation, who are “part of Kiwi society”.
James says they feel a strong imperative to give back to New Zealand. “We want to be good neighbours in Kiwi society.
The church has sent outreach teams to Dunedin, Alexandra and Milton, to showcase Korean culture, and often
uses dance and songs to overcome the language barrier.
James says the church is also reaching out beyond the Korean community in terms of its worship.
While services are held in the Korean language, there is an interpretation system, and pastors will occasionally use English words or phrases. There are also many church members able to provide simultaneous translations. “So many of our young people speak both languages very well”.
James says the church is working hard to embrace its neighbourhood, offering to hire its new facilities to nonprofit community groups for meetings or events.
In April, the St Alban’s community fair was held on the church site. Along with the many stalls provided by community groups, the church put Korean culture on show through art and food.
The church’s Aresco Community Centre offers teaching on musical instruments, crafts and sports to anyone in the community, with the aim of sharing
Korean culture.
These connections extend to the wider Presbyterian Church, with Christchurch Korean hosting a presbytery meeting in 2009, and also inviting the Rev Phil King of St Margaret’s Bishopdale to preach at a Sunday service in March.
Joshua says: “I hope in the future our church can embrace not only Koreans but also all different cultural backgrounds including Kiwis and be a blessed New Zealand church.”
By Amanda Wells