He added that the Book of Church Order wasnt designed to protect victims of abuse, and that the PCA should consider amendments to the book to help make the judicial process less cumbersome for lay members. As James 3 warns us, teachers will be judged more strictly. She is convinced she would have been raped if he could. SEOUL, South Korea A prominent church pastor whose behavior came under scrutiny when the #MeToo movement took hold in South Korea was Pastor Chung holds a Korean-American identity. Yet whistleblowers, who knew about the alleged assault, pressured Chung for a decade to confess to the church. "Regarding recovery, the pastor reconciled with his victim, and regarding his relationship with God, he recognized his sin before God and relies on the blood of Christ. font-size: 11px; But that system broke down: Oversight entities had limited power and the denominations governing rules proved to be inadequate for addressing the issue of abuse in the church. WebWorked at Associate Pastor of New People Baptist Church (Sae Kook Min Baptist Church (1978-1987) and PoDowon Baptist Church (2006-2010) Lives in Gimpo Pastor Cyrus Chung Chung In the wake of last years scandal, CFC also chose not to renew its status as a registered student organization, or RSO, at U of I last academic year. In 2020, the SOLA Council was notified about a past incident involving council member Min Chung, in which he acted inappropriately with a female young adult whom he was pastoring. He said, Your parents are well-respected members of their church, your fathers an elder [at their church], Rhee recalled. Wade Morris, Popular Baptist Youth Speaker, Dies After COVID-19 Hospitalization. Those who looked deeper discovered sexual misconduct and abuse of power by Chung, former long-term church members, pastors, and leaders state in a 67-page report released to The Roys Report (TRR). Nothing was put in place, to my knowledge, to keep me safe from him. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse by Dr. Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys. In one instance, Chung assaulted a woman in the back seat of a car in 2001, the report alleges. As WBEZ previously reported, those restorative steps had included meeting with the CFC pastoral staff regularly for mutual encouragement and care and preventing Chung from preaching at CFC for a limited time. Charles Zimmerman has been a speaker at One In Love, which Chung founded, and theyve both been main speakers at Global Kingdom Young Adult Missions Festival, where Chung was a board member. Joshua Generation, commonly called J-Gen, a ministry for high schoolers that Chung founded, also severed ties with Chung. Frank Barker, whose 4,000-member Briarwood Presbyterian Church grew from a Birmingham, Alabama, storefront before he helped found the conservative Presbyterian. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-horizontal-volume-total { Were an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. In our previous meetings, they had acknowledged that [Chungs case was] within the scope, so Im not certain why that changed.. WebLearning to Groan in the Holy Spirit | Romans 8:13-16, 26-27 (Pastor Min Chung) His influence extends beyond the church walls. The church consists of predominantly a Korean American congregation. Pinyo told TRR that shes advising her current church leadership on how to be a safe and healthy church that doesnt turn a blind eye to problems. Pastor Min is the founding and lead pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church, a large church in Champaign. We lost our church family and community, she said. Anne Rhee (not her real name) recalled when she began to kiss a male friend from church. Creating space for women to be actively involved and included has been so important and it gives me hope for the institution of the church in general, she said. It is because we believe in the power and sanctity of the gospel that we are publishing this statement. Im tired, said Tim Ma, who previously served on the CFC worship team. However, there have also been a number of accusations of abuse of power and harsh treatment towards others that continued to surface regarding this same pastor, Kim continued. One of those associate pastors was KJ Kim, the new head pastor of CFC. But its especially disappointing because now theyve shown that they do have the tools and resources to make better decisions.. The friend urged the victim to tell Chung she hadnt consented to his touch. An Asian American pastor in Illinois was reinstated to ministry in spite of doubts on his character due to sexual abuse accusations. WBEZ uncovered multiple other allegations against CFC, including pastors at the church making sexual comments to teen girls, church officials brushing off women who were sexually assaulted who went to them for help, and an overall culture that diminished women. } The woman, a former CFC member, said she was sexually assaulted by a leader in the churchnot Chungand reported the incident to a pastor. We at the SOLA Network respect and believe in the due processes of member denominations; we encourage the work that our PCA brothers are pursuing to bring the appropriate denominational actions for proper discipline. In April 2021, Chungs denomination, the Korean Central Presbytery, an arm of the Presbyterian Church in America, ruled that Chung was guilty of sexual harassment, but allowed Chung to return to ministry. Would you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help our journalists continue to report the truth and restore the church? Hi. It was very much like, Why do you think you got into this relationship? However, a document submitted by a group of former CFC members calling themselves the allegation group, asked the Korean Central Presbytery (KCP), a denominational oversight group, to investigate the incident, called it unwanted, non-consensual touch in her private area., Chung reportedly personally counseled the woman after the incident, and said they reached reconciliation.. In a situation like this, we believe real accountability, discipline, and repentance are required. /* Progress and audio bar background */ CFC would not be given much specific information prior to the release of the final executive summary, CFC reported in September. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-handle-content { However, CFC has made some changes. Whistleblowers say theyre disappointed, but not surprised, with the ruling. Opinion: What is Revivaland is it Happening at Asbury? And calls for reform are spreading through the Korean-American community, even as whistleblowers fear retaliation. The lawsuit alleges that the property at 19150 Woodward Ave. is dilapidated and a public nuisance, and orders Pastor Marvin After that, he was Pastor Kim also promised that church leadership would add more layers of accountability and would humbly listen, learn, and grow so we can be a healthier church moving forward.. Victims of abuse who express their grievances on social media, who protest, who take their stories to the media theyre like that woman in that parable, LeCroy said. . However, the KCP determined at an April meeting that looked only at the single incident that Chung had been restored to God, as well as the woman, and that that discipline instituted by CFC pastors was found to be sufficient.. The CCG called the allegations against Min Chung an inappropriate moral failure between Min Chung and a woman. The Austin-area congregation declared itself open to LGBTQ persons on staff and that the church building would be available to host same-sex wedding ceremonies. 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But Chung got upset that the victim had told someone and told her to keep the incident quiet between the two of them, the friend said in the report. Influencing the emerging generation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Experts say the scandal and subsequent backsliding at CFC illustrates how many churches and their governing bodies are ill-equipped to address allegations of abuse. The victim was terrified and did whatever she was told, the report states. Not every religious leader is trained in handling the needs of sexual assault victims They should assist with reporting to the appropriate authorities and seek referrals to the victim services and professional counseling services!!! For us, Pastor Min is more than just a gifted pastor and teacher. WebView the profiles of professionals named "Min Chung" on LinkedIn. content: ''; On December 4, 2022, CFC became a particular church within the Presbytery of .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-buffering, Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse by Dr. Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys. font-size: 10px .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-controls .mejs-horizontal-volume-slider .mejs-horizontal-volume-total, He experienced his childhood in America and went to James B. Conant High School. Korean Christians have had such a tremendous and positive impact over the last few decades on local communities and believers, its difficult to overstate. But Chung is subject to the PCAs Book of Church Order because of his PCA ordination, KJ Kim told TRR. (The version of the report released to TRR referenced and summarized the texts instead in the interest of the victims privacy.) Chung also was accused of covering up sexual abuse committed by a fellow local pastor. He was in his own words his neighborhood's "all-purpose Asian" and did not feel he had a culture of his own. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-loaded, In this case, Id say this is the logical result of Korean Cultures Confucian-infused hierarchy: father-son, king-subject, husband-wife, elder-younger, friend-friend (where one is above the other in rank). Its disappointing, but kind of in line with what weve seen from them over the past several yearsprioritizing the institution over the victims, said former church member June Pinyo. Sources at GRACE told WBEZ that the group had conducted interviews with more than 40 former and present CFC members, many of whom spent hours talking about their experiences. CFC separated from Chung on May 27 and has contracted a third-party investigation into his conduct. Ultimately my hope is to discover who God truly is, beyond the God that CFC represented.. In your pain and in your healing, may you be comforted and strengthened by the presence of Christ, your advocate, your protector, and your savior. CFC came under fire last summer for its alleged mishandling of sexual misconduct by church founder and former head pastor Min Joshua Chung. CFC, located in Champaign-Urbana, hired GRACE to evaluate the churchs practices, policies and culture for risks relating to emotional and spiritual abuse, after many in the Asian American community called for reform. We know this may cause pain for many people, and we deeply regret that CFC has chosen this path.. Sorry, the underlying pathology of people who act out this way takes more than a few of your cronies to meet at some hotel resort and call that Restoration. Furthermore, what is actually done to assist the victims and their families through this process? On July 13, the KCP met to discuss a complaint about the ruling filed by a group of pastors who wanted the group to remove Chung from the ministry. We continue to seek the Lord for His leading in this season of ministry.. After troubling times during the Depression, he was able to open a grocery store in an African-American neighborhood. Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado. Chung continued to speak elsewhere during this time. He also said that, for sexual harassment of a member of the congregation, the KCP should have dealt Chung a suspension of a period of years, and perhaps even defrocked him. The commission ruled the KCP had made procedural errors during its initial look at the allegations against Chung, according to Brian Park, one of the pastors in that presbytery who filed the complaint to the SJC. Theres such a pressure put on women to be pure going into marriage, but then we create this environment in the church where its kind of ripe for abuse, and for women to stay silent when there is some kind of assault, Pinyo said. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-horizontal-volume-total, Eventually, that group reconsidered and completed the assessment. Korean Church Stops Independent Investigation into Sexual During the subsequent year, the SOLA Council learned that: Furthermore, in recent weeks, it has become public knowledge that Min Chung was found guilty by the Korean Central Presbytery (KCP). I have really chosen to not respond to many of these issues but when I was a young man right before I went to college to study for the ministry one of the men who was a brother to a popular board member of the church attempted to molest me at my parents home while I was recovering from a severe pneumonia. CFCs main ministry is to the students at the University of Illinois and the church recruits heavily during new student week, said Tim Ma, former CFC member and 2014 Illinois graduate. background-color: rgba(219, 78, 136, 0.075); Also, any comments with profanity, name-calling, and/or a nasty tone will be deleted. Last summer, amid the outcry that resulted from the revelations by an Instagram account called @letters_from_rahab, CFC said it would cut financial ties to the pastor and hire a third-party group to do a full investigation. It contracted with an organization called Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) to assess the church and its response to allegations of abuse. Join our weekly TGIF newsletter and receive recent articles and fresh resources from the web. In September 2019, a member of the new leadership team, Pastor KJ Kim, said Chung had admitted to touching a female over the clothing for a brief moment about 20 years ago but had immediately stopped when she asked him to, per a recording obtained by WBEZ. LeCroy said victims of abuse, who cannot get redress via the means provided by the church or denomination, can take to various means to seek justice. And he bullied . But lay leaders and congregants began leaving the church in recent years, which was also a registered student organization at UICU. He cited an example in the Bible, in the book of Luke, where Jesus tells the story of a woman and an unjust judge. I went to my head pastor and I was emotionally distressed, she said. Ive been very hesitant for some while about getting really committed and really involved and back to serving with a church, but I feel like my appetite is coming back, he said. In October, the church board released a nine-page report from the CCG. Pastor Kim confirmed the churchs decision with TRR but did not give a reason. Now, more than a year after WBEZ broke the story, former members and others familiar with the church say CFC is quietly reversing course. Its a moment of reckoning for the Korean American church, former CFC member June Pinyo said. Whistleblowers are making their accusations public after several years of attempts to confront the influential pastor within a reportedly tight-knit, shame-based community. To Thyatira: Hold Fast What You Have Until I Come | Revelation 2:18-29 (Pastor Min Chung) joe 2019.02.19 43. Chungs church reckoned him to have an especially high place of anointing, making him untouchable when he does wrong, said Dan Lee, another whistleblower in the report. Conversations about sex, including consent, are taboo. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-float, Dozens of Illinois, CHAMPAIGN Plans have resumed for a carbon dioxide pipeline in Illinois after a brief delay. 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