Category Archives: Campus

Report from Korea

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Well, that escalated quickly. That was the tagline on the email Mark sent to my editor and me on a Thursday morning.

From left to right: Stephen, Peter, Yura, Tom and me. We're at Blessing coffee shop, started by one of the local churches. There are more than 14 million Christians in Korea, making up almost 30 percent of the population. Yet, I am told that the Church in Korea is in crisis because younger generations are missing in action. Maybe short films will be part of the solution.

From left to right: Stephen, Peter, Yura, Tom and me. We’re at Blessing coffee shop, started by one of the local churches. There are more than 14 million Christians in Korea, making up almost 30 percent of the population. Yet, I am told that the Church in Korea is in crisis because younger generations are missing in action. Maybe short films will be part of the solution.

After almost a week of making pre-dawn phone calls, talking about the timing, and collecting information, we determined I should go to Seoul, South Korea, with photographer Tom Mills. Less than 48 hours later, I was packed and on the plane.

During the trip, I watched new staff member Yura Park use short films on her campus to explain her faith to unbelievers and to encourage young Christians to grow. Tom and I were even able to witness one of the students pray and receive Christ.

I also spent time with the Korean staff leaders who told me they had been looking for a new way for our staff members to share their faith. Then they heard about short films. Currently, our staff members use the booklet, Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws?  But, after 50 years, everyone saw the need to repackage the message in a way that makes sense to this generation.

Enter the Jesus film short film strategy. Staff members download the Jesus Film app (as you can at the iTunes store or Google Play store at app.jesusfilmmedia.org) to their smart phones, download their favorite short films and then head to campus. Tom and I watched asYura showed films to students and then asked questions that led to genuine conversations.

If you want to watch some of these films, you can go to YouTube and search for “The Black Hole, Falling Plates,  and Sand Art P4U. The Sand Art film is a gorgeous piece of someone doing sand art while the speaker narrates the Four Spiritual Laws. Our Korean ministry produced that film, first in Korean, then in English.

So much to tell, and so few words to tell it with. I plan to post more her on our blog as I write the story and continue to reflect on the trip. I am so grateful to be writing again and to be serving in the role as missionary journalist.

Meet My New Korean Friends

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From left to right: Stephen, Peter, Yura, Tom and me. We're at Blessing coffee shop, started by one of the local churches. There are more than 14 million Christians in Korea, making up almost 30 percent of the population. Yet, I am told that the Church in Korea is in crisis because younger generations are missing in action. Looking forward to learning more this week.

From left to right: Stephen, Peter, Yura, Tom and me. We’re at Blessing coffee shop, started by one of the local churches. There are more than 14 million Christians in Korea, making up almost 30 percent of the population.

 

This morning, I am writing from my hotel room in Seoul, Korea about our staff members here using short films to start spiritual conversations. They are energized, our leaders are thrilled and I can’t wait to write  about it.

When we arrived yesterday, three of our Korean staff members arrived at the airport to pick us up. (I’m traveling with Worldwide Challenge photographer Tom Mills). Yura is joining Korea Campus Crusade for Christ as a new staff member after growing up as a missionary kid in the Philippines. She attended a university in Manila, found Philippine Campus Crusade for Christ, and now she’s a new staff member in Korea. Due to my own roots in the Philippines, I like her already. Grateful that her English is flawless.

Stephen, also a new staff member, leads teams of new staff who are successfully using the short films strategy. Last night after dinner, when I asked exactly how the short films strategy works, he whipped out his tablet, found a link to a film called The Black Hole and showed it to me. The premise was funny.

A sleep-deprived worker photocopies a paper that has a big black circle on it. The employee sets his plastic cup on top of the hole, and the cup disappears. He reaches into the hole and discovers he can retrieve his cup. The possibilities for greed are endless. It’s only two minutes long, well inside the length of my short attention span.

Afterward, Stephan asked me what I thought the film was about. Greed. But what about greed? It grows. How did greed escalate? No matter what you are looking for you can never get enough. And then, just as Stephen was getting ready to show me the related clip from the Jesus film, we arrived at our hotel. I agreed to wait for another day to see how the rest of it plays out. Isn’t that the way?

Peter, a pastor through and through and our driver, directs the school that the new staff members attend. Married with three children, he likes to make jokes. Perfect. I like to laugh. But more than that, he serves the body of Christ and equips our new staff members to do the work of the ministry.

Peter joined Korea Campus Crusade, and then he gave up the chance to go to seminary in the United States to attend seminary in Korea and become a pastor. After faithfully serving his congregation, Peter recognized that his true calling is to Korea Campus Crusade, so he rejoined staff. I have about six more questions I don’t have answers to yet.

When I asked him why the short films strategy in Korea, he stopped, thought carefully, leaned into the conversation and told me some wonderful reasons. Next blog post, I’ll explain those. I think his words speak to the heart of the story I’m writing. Biggest challenge? Deciding what the story is really about. So much to write; so few words.

For now, it’s time to wrap this up and meet Peter. He has found a cell phone that Tom and I can use while we’re here in Korea.

Very grateful for his help and for Yura and Stephen. I’m fortunate to call them friends.