- Seoul Grace Church
The Seoul Grace Church ( [http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/서울은혜교회 서울은혜교회] ) was established by Pastor
David Kwangshin Kim ( [http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/김광신 김광신] ) who is the president ofGrace Ministries International (GMI).David Kwangshin Kim
David Kwangshin Kim was born in
South Korea as a fourth generation Christian. He graduated fromSeoul National University , the most prestigious school in South Korea, and became a businessman in theUnited States . He went to church every Sunday but he claimed at the age of 42 to have metJesus Christ . Kim abandoned his business and enteredTalbot School of Theology . He led Bible studies as an elder and theology student.Grace Korean Church in 1982
Grace Korean Church was founded by Pastor David Kwangshin Kim in May
1982 with three families. Three years later, the church congregation grew to be about 1,000 members with an annual budget of $1,500,000. The growth of this church and its expansion of missions made an epoch inKorean American church history and was enough to draw attention from the entirety of AmericanChristendom .Appropriating 50% of the church budget for missions, Pastor David Kim declared Grace Korean Church as a
World Mission Society Church of God . By its fifth year anniversary in 1987, the church budget exceeded two million dollars. Consequently, more than a million dollars was given to world missions. Through such enormous expenditures on world missions, Grace Korean Church considered itself a church existing for missions. This has been a rarity in any immigrant church throughout all of history.The first missionary sent from Grace Korean Church was Missionary Hwang to Guam in July 1982. Since then, Grace Korean Church has dispatched many missionaries around the world, mainly to Africa, South America, China, and to past Soviet Union territories. As of 2004, Grace Korean Church has sent out 141 missionaries who successfully carry out the Great Commission of Jesus in 36 countries.
In the United States, Grace Church is considered to be doing the most mission work for an individual local church. More precisely, the size of its mission endeavors is more than double that of the second and third top American church missions put together.
eoul Grace Church in 2004
In
2004 Pastor Kiyoung Han was commissioned as missionary toSeoul ,South Korea . Two months later Pastor David Kwangshin Kim came to Seoul Grace Church and the First Sunday service was held onNovember 28 , 2004 atGangdong-gu . OnMay 15 ,2005 , Seoul Grace Church's Opening Service was held. As of2006 , Seoul Grace Church, together with Grace Korean Church in the United States and GMI, sent out more than 250 missionaries to more than 50 countries in the world. Through Grace Ministries International, churches have been planted all over the world--2,000 in Russia, 600 in Africa, 3,000 in China, 1,000 in Vietnam and many more in South America.The church inaugurated the GMI Missionary Training Center in April 2007 that will train 100 missionary volunteers who have graduated from theology school. The Center has a program that offers a 4 month long oversea training as well as domestic training in real missions. Seoul Grace Church's policy does not require any membership of the church to the students who will have thus benefited financially. That is, all students are encouraged to work as members of other churches and other organizations.
External links
* [http://www.seoulgraceem.com/ Seoul Grace Church]
* [http://www.seoulgrace.co.kr/ Seoul Grace Church (in Korean language)]
* [http://www.gracemi.com/en/ Grace Korean Church in the USA]
* [http://www.gmimission.org/ GMI]
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