A small delegation of leaders from the Ohio Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church will accompany Bishop Hee-Soo Jung to Korea at the end of April. The team representing the East and West Ohio Conferences will be guests of Bishop Seong-Bok Kim at this year’s session of the Seoul Annual Conference on April 24.
Bishop Kim is resident bishop of the Seoul Conference, one of 12 annual conferences in The Korean Methodist Church. In a message to the clergy and laity of the Seoul Conference, the bishop said, “This year marks the 140th-anniversary of the arrival of Mary Scranton and her son William Scranton as missionaries in Korea. To commemorate their arrival, we will carry out a mutual exchange program and a project honoring Scranton in collaboration with the Ohio Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church, which originally sent Scranton as a missionary.”
“Celebrating, witnessing, and peace building will be focuses of our trip,” said Bishop Jung, who will address the Seoul Annual Conference and show a video highlighting local church, district, and Conference ministries of the Ohio Episcopal Area.
In addition to participating in Annual Conference, delegation members will sign a mission agreement with Korean churches, preach at churches started by the Scranton’s, visit Bishop Jung’s home church and community, attend chapel at Ewha – the largest women’s university in Asia, go to Panmunjom, and foster relationships with Korean Methodists.
“Ohio missions is such an amazing influence on worldwide Christianity, and I am the fruit of Ohio mission,” said Bishop Jung. “When I was 16 years old, I first met Jesus through Rev. Sung Chan Kim, a local preacher who was building a church next to my family’s home. He changed my heart in a strange and warm way and my course has been set since then. I had to take a strong stand as an early Christian to challenge my family’s long, long Buddhist-Confucian tradition. But Methodism was strong in me and that Methodism came to Korea from Ohio.”
East Ohio & West Ohio Annual Conferences to Support The Korean Methodist Church
Bishop Jung has invited Bishop Kim to bring a delegation from The Korean Methodist Church to the 56th session of Annual Conference in East Ohio on June 12. Bishop Kim will be the preacher for the Opening Worship Service that day in McGaw Chapel on the College of Wooster campus. That evening Bishop Jung will host a Missions Dinner in Kittredge Hall that will celebrate the Methodist missions partnership of Ohio United Methodist churches and The Korean Methodist Church. Bishop Kim will be the keynote speaker.
Both the East Ohio and West Ohio Conferences will donate a portion of their Annual Conference offerings to support The Mary Scranton Memorial Mission Center, a proposed initiative of the Seoul Annual Conference. This new mission center will serve as a hub for outreach, training, and mission work while preserving the history of Korean Methodism and its connection to The United Methodist Church.
“I have been nourished by what Mary and William Scranton began. From 1979-1982, right before coming to the United States, I was the associate pastor of East Gate Church, which is Scranton-planted. What a wonderful gift to now serve as bishop of the Ohio Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church,” Bishop Jung said. “Let us commit again to missionary passion and leave the walls of our church buildings to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in the world.”
Celebrating Methodist Missions in Ohio Korea, and Beyond – August 4-6
Bishop Jung and the Conferences of the Ohio Episcopal Area will host “Celebrating Methodist Missions in Ohio, Korea, and Beyond: The 140-year Legacy of Mary & William Scranton” August 4-6 at Church of the Saviour UMC in Cleveland Heights. Throughout the three days, participants will fellowship and worship together, learn from one another, and build upon ministry relationships that are breaking down barriers and transforming lives.
Scheduled keynote speakers include Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, resident bishop of the Ohio Episcopal Area; Bishop Kim Jeong-seok, Korean Methodist Church presiding bishop; and Bishop Tracy S. Malone, president of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church.
Joining leadership of the East and West Ohio Conferences of The United Methodist Church in planning the celebration are The Korean Methodist Church, The Korean Ministry National Plan, The General Board of Global Ministries, The General Commission on Archives and History, and the East Ohio and West Ohio Commissions on Archives and History. Registration details will be released once they have been finalized.
East Ohio News 