It’s been a long time since I had any really significant change in my life. Living and serving in one place for six years, I felt comfortable with my routine, knew what was expected of me and how to do it. I knew everyone in the church and hundreds of people in my community by name, and they knew me. Funny how we take knowing and being known for granted.
Yesterday was our first Sunday with our new corps (church), after arriving in Daejeon late on Thursday night. We were only given a 2-page brief about our roles and very little information about what actually happens on Sundays, but now I can report back (I know you’re all curious).
Daejeon Central corps is the largest Salvation Army church in Daejeon, a city of 1.5 million people. The congregation has 300 members, of which about 100 are children and young adults (up to 32 years old). Most of the young adults serve in the church by helping with children’s ministry, singing in the choir, or on the worship team. We have an officer team of five, including Captains Moon and Kim who are the corps officers (lead ministers) and a young man who is a candidate helper (applying to train to be an officer). There are seven corps sargeant-majors and I counted at least six retired officers. The Sunday timeline looks like this:
9am Officers arrive.
9.30-10.20am 1st Worship meeting (attended by about 40 people including us).
10.20-10.40am quick meeting with Pre-school teacher team to discuss that day’s plan.
10.40am Officers and corps sargeant majors meet quickly to discuss 11am services.
11am- 12.15pm 2nd Worship meeting (about 200 people including choir, band etc).
11am- 12pm The preschool, primary and youth services all run concurrent with the main meeting, but in other buildings. Charlie teaches youth, I teach pre-school.
12.15-1pm Lunch in the dining hall (so good).
1pm monthly meeting with my pre-school teacher team. Everyone either hangs out in the onsite cafe or one of the MANY rooms onsite.
1.30pm-2.30pm Adult small groups onsite (there are 12 small groups).
2pm-4pm Young Adults worship (Charlie preaches and they have their own little contemporary band). About 25 attended yesterday.
4-5pm Monthly Corps Council meeting.
I’ve actually attended a couple of Korean churches in the past so it was mostly familiar, but there were a couple of things I wasn’t expecting. Firstly, there is no holiness table or mercy seats in the sanctuary. There was also no official ‘instalment,’ just a quick welcome (we had one minute each to say hello from the platform during the 11am service before being shipped off to fulfil our duties).
A nice surprise for me is that I have six teachers who help me with the pre-school kids (yes, six!) and they have a great curriculum which includes everything we need. Charlie also has lots of teachers and leaders working alongside him. We are in awe of their hard work and commitment to the younger generations.
Most of all, what surprised me was the look of relief on people’s faces when they realised that I speak Korean pretty well and they can communicate with me. It was kind of funny, but several people did say that the congregation was anxious about me coming because of the language barrier. This was the biggest reminder that they don’t know who we are or have reason to trust us yet, and that we really are starting from scratch in every way.
Yours from Daejeon,
Star.
So lovely to read about your first Sunday. Can't believe how much your girl has grown up! Keeping you all in my prayers as you navigate the new.
Congratulations on your Korean language skills! It sounds like a punishing schedule. All those young people! What a blessing!! Will continue to pray for you as you adjust.