What would the Pentecostal pastor of the world’s largest church say to an ecumenical gathering? That’s what I wondered when Rev. Lee Young Hoon, lead pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, got up to preach at the morning worship of day two at the Jeju Forum. His message was clear: We have to die to ourselves and live in the power of the Spirit present in the resurrected Christ. This is the meaning of the cross: We die and share in new life.
Denominations proliferate in Korea, Rev. Lee said, because church leaders have failed to die to themselves. People are concerned about recognition and their reputation, taking the glory for themselves, instead of for God. And Rev. Lee identified income inequality in South Korea as one of its greatest problems. Again, it calls for dying to the idol of wealth, and putting God’s love, along with serving one another, at the center.
The expected ecumenical agenda of economic justice, peace, protection of God’s creation came before the Jeju Forum in clear and forceful ways. Agnes Abuom, from Kenya, who is Moderator of the WCC Central Committee, said we are slaves to the larger economic and political systems; that’s another way in which we have to die to ourselves, echoing words from the Rev. Lee’s sermon.
Other fresh words emerged. The roots for our action in the world need to be deeply rooted in our worship of God, said Shane Berg, who’s here from Princeton Seminary with its president, Craig Barnes. Others stressed that the injustices and threats confronting the world demanded a deeper quality in our discipleship. Jooseop Kuem, who heads the WCC’s work in Mission and Evangelism and has played a key role here, pleaded for a “missional spirituality” — understanding that we are drawn into a deeper relationship with God in order to be sent by the Spirit into the world.
Jim Wallis’ keynote from yesterday continued to echo, and served as a frequent reference point in dialogue. Our faith is personal, but never private. We’re called into public discipleship. That understanding was repeated by Rev. Hana Kim, a younger leader in the Korean church, who desires not a “life boat theology,” but a “faithful presence” in the public square.
In the afternoon we were given a break from heavy dialogue, and put on buses to tour Jeju Island. It’s a volcanic island, and its early inhabitants left ancient and mysterious stone formations, now in a national park. But informal, ongoing conversations on and off the buses seemed as much about learning from one another’s Christian pilgrimages as about the history of the island.
Our hosts treated us to a lovely dinner, but the conversation, at least at my table, was just as appealing. Across from me sat Corneliu Constantineanu, a Romanian who formerly was Rector at the Pentecostal Theological Institute in his country. He is a New Testament Scholar who had done his dissertation on “the social dimensions of Paul’s doctrine of reconciliation.” He was delighted to meet Dr. Hyunju Bae, sitting with us; she teaches New Testament at the Presbyterian Seminary in Busan, Korea and is a member of the WCC Executive Committee. Next to me was Bishop Geevarghese Mor Coorilos from the Syrian Orthodox Church, who’s a Facebook friend, and heads the WCC’s Commission on Mission and Evangelism.
Corneliu was sharing his New Testament hermeneutical work on the “powers and principalities” as he tries to understand the church’s role in its public witness in his country. The person whose writings had been influential for him was the late Walter Wink. An author of 16 books, Wink was known for his work on non-violence and progressive social ethics; years ago, his articles frequently appeared in Sojourners magazine.
I listened with delight. Here was a Romanian Pentecostal biblical scholar and church leader talking with a Korean woman teaching New Testament, and an Orthodox Bishop from India, about Walter Wink’s interpretation of “powers and principalities,” recalling articles in Sojourners years ago. This is why I love ecumenical gatherings. And why fresh initiatives like the Jeju Forum are so crucial for the witness of the global church. This priceless slice of conversation at this festive dinner reminded me again of what Paul meant when he wrote that the various parts of the Body can’t function without one another.
Wes Granberg-Michaelson is the author of From Times Square to Timbuktu: The Post-Christian West Meets the Non-Western Church . For 17 years he served as General Secretary of the Reformed Church in America, and has long been active in ecumenical initiatives such as the Global Christian Forum and Christian Churches Together. He’s been associated with the ministry of Sojourners for 40 years.
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