Incheon & BHMC Sports Day
This past week has been very exciting! On Thursday, I rode the subway for the first time since arriving in Korea. My colleague and I traveled to Incheon, a major port city, to visit Incheon Naeri Methodist Church. Naeri was the first Methodist Church in Korea, established in July 1885 by Henry Appenzeller. What impressed me most about Naeri wasn’t that the church knows the history of its founding - although it does! - but that the church knows the history of its Korean emigrants. Fifty individuals from Naeri Church left Korea by ship for Hawaii in 1902 to work on the sugar plantations. When they arrived, they established Christ Methodist Church. This Church still stands in Honolulu and is a Korean congregation of the United Methodist Church.
Naeri is currently undergoing a renovation, so we weren’t able to visit the sanctuary. The building itself is beautiful though. We had lunch and visited with the senior pastor, Kim Heung-gyu, to learn about Naeri’s history.
After lunch we toured Incheon with the associate pastor. We visited several points of interest, including Dapdong Cathedral, the Sinpo International Market, Jayu Park, Younghwa Elementary School and International Tourism High School, the Incheon Christian Centennial Monument, the Museum of Korean Emigration History (my favorite stop of the day), and Incheon Chinatown. Like most port cities, Incheon is a hub for travel and cultural exchange. It’s the third largest city in Korea, with a population just over 3 million.
This week, Kkotjae Church also held its annual Sports Day. Because the church is so large, members are divided into four parishes. Each parish has someone overseeing the spiritual care of its members. On Sports Day, parishes engage in a friendly sports competition at a local park or elementary school. When I say “sports” I don’t mean games like volleyball or soccer. Games included tug of war and a relay race. The older adults participated, too! They gathered for a game to see which one of them could kick their shoe off and send it flying the furtherest. I played one game where my team held a long, large foam log and ran across the field, around a cone, and back. The Koreans I played with ran so fast! In the end, my parish came in second place, but it didn’t matter. It was such a good afternoon that it felt like everyone was a winner. The best part was the snacks! We had fish cakes and Korean popcorn. Delicious!
I’ll be preaching this week at Friday night worship. My sermon is on God’s closeness and Bishop Kim will translate it for the congregation so that I don’t have to simplify or slow down my speech.
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