World Methodist Conference Opens; 10,000 Focus on Reconciliation

SEOUL, South Korea - Some 10,000 Methodists and Wesleyan family members opened the 19th World Methodist Conference for reconciliation and peace Thursday at Kum Nan Church in South Korea.

|PIC1|At a time when tensions are increasing between North Korea and the rest of the world, reconciliation took on an urgent and more significant meaning at this year’s quinquennial conference.

“God has given us the gift of reconciliation,” His Eminence Sunday Mbang, WMC chairperson, told the thousands packed inside the three-story sanctuary. “What have you done with this gift?”

Mbang challenged the representatives who came from 132 countries to take part in the ministry of reconciliation and extend its message to the world. “You will become messengers for reconciliation,” he said.

This is the first time Korea is hosting the World Methodist Conference, which is held every five years. At the invitation of the Korean Methodist Church, thousands attended to pray for peace and unification of the Korean peninsula under the theme “God In Christ Reconciling.” Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, said Kyung Ha Shin, presiding bishop of the Korean Methodist Church. But as evangelical pastor Rick Warren had pointed out a few days earlier to thousands of church leaders, Shin highlighted God’s blessings on Korea that has allowed it to become a “small yet strong nation.”

|PIC2|Korea is now one of the greatest movements in mission in the 20th century, as WMC director Dr. H. Eddie Fox had highlighted, and now as the world has entered the 21st century, it stands third behind the United States and England in supporting the WMC.

Still, for over 60 years, peace has been deprived in the Korean peninsula, as Shin stated. Adding to the persistent military threat between the North and South, the recent missile tests have elevated tensions in the peninsula while at the same time, “renewing [the] Christian commitment to act for peace,” Shin said.

“What we want to do is to pray for peace and to encourage and empower individuals and individual churches to work for peace,” commented Dr. John C. A. Barrett, who will be installed as the new chairman on the closing day of the conference.

“I believe that’s the first thing that Christians have to do – to pray. And of course we have to show reconciliation in our lives and we have to offer overtures of peace to one another. And through our witness and our example, maybe in ways we [can] only begin to understand, God will be able to break down barriers.”

Prayers will be said at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) Sunday morning for the peace of the peninsula.

|TOP|The Korean peninsula is one of the world’s most dangerous regions, said Dr. J.C. Park of the Korean Methodist Church. “Here I stand to represent 10 millions of Korean Christians and another 10 millions of people ... of separated families ... to witness to the good news to God in Christ reconciling the north, south, east and west.”

Mbang told the people of Korea, America, England, and the rest of the nations represented, “You must take the first step of reconciliation.”

The World Methodist Conference, representing 76 denominations, continues until July 24.





Lillian Kwon
Christian Today Correspondent