About the Mission
Why Korea?
Korea has a rich history of Christianity, with a Protestant revival hitting in the early 1900s. Since then, the Korean church has been a huge sender of missionaries from around the world. Currently, 31% of Koreans still profess to be Christian.
Why go then to a reached nation? While the older generation is still tied to their Christian roots, the younger generation has turned away, with reports of only 2-3% reporting being Christian. Additionally, there is a loneliness crisis in Korea.
We feel a specific call and grace to engage the younger generations. As Asian Americans and ones who have navigated both older and younger generations, we feel uniquely positioned to serve the Korean church in this way. Our longing is to see young Koreans embrace Jesus again, like their previous generations have.
Here’s an article from Lausanne about the Korean Church.
Antioch Seoul and Our Mission
While we are sent out by Epicentre Church, we are part of a larger movement called the Antioch Movement. We will be joining an existing team located in the Mapo-gu district of Seoul, Korea – an area in close proximity to many universities and home of Hongdae, a neighborhood well known for its arts culture and attraction for both young people and internationals.
Our team will be primarily focused on planting Antioch Seoul. Rather than trying to build a large Sunday service focused church, we intend to focus on lifegroups/house churches targeted for different demographics that might be found. In these spaces, we can emphasize life-on-life discipleship, biblical hospitality, healthy modeling of marriage and family, and spiritual mothering and fathering. We hope to be able to engage young Koreans as well as others in the community, including the Taiwanese and greater foreign population.
Additionally, our team will emphasize establishing a house of prayer as well as a training school in order to be a hub not only for Korea, but for the greater East Asia region. These are all things that our family feels passionate about, and are excited to be a part of.
Our initial term will be 3 years, but our intent is to look towards a longer stay in Korea. For the first term, Ann and the kids will be focusing on language acquisition, and we will explore how Yong’s language will enable him to jump in more quickly into the work of ministry.