Our Work in Korea
After training at Bethany Seminary in Mankato, MN and serving Asian Mission Church in Irvine, CA, Pastor Young Ha Kim
began work in Seoul, South Korea in 2005. He now serves East Seoul Canaan Church, a congregation of about 300 souls.
Adult instruction classes are offered several times per week, using Luther’s Small Catechism (translated into Korean) and the WELS program “Communicating Christ”. The ELS booklet “We Believe, Teach and Confess” has also been translated into Korean and is used in instruction.
Four floors of a building in Seoul are leased and remodeled to serve the congregation, with a sanctuary, office space, kitchen with fellowship hall and classrooms.
A central part of the congregation’s ministry is facilitating the enrollment of Korean students in US high schools. Dennis and Dolores Morrison were called to teach in the school in 2006 and continue to prepare Korean students for enrollment in WELS/ELS high schools.
Future plans include the return to Korea of men
educated at Bethany Seminary to take up pastoral duties in Korea, including the training of other Koreans for ministry. The congregation is primarily self-supporting, with ELS resources committed to the primary focus: expansion, perhaps one day to China or even North Korea.
