100 years and counting

A Cause for Celebration!

This past Sunday was a very special day…one of the more memorable experiences I’ve had in the past two years. In 1907, the founders of OMS international came to Korea from Japan and began what is now known as the Korean Evangelical Holiness Church (KEHC). As part of my special role in traveling and doing photography for OMS, I was privileged to be a part of their 100^th anniversary celebration which took place in the Seoul Olympic Stadium that was constructed for the 1988 summer Olympics.

The story of the KEHC’s history is compelling and hope inspiring. During it’s relatively short 100 years of history it has seen hard times and good times alike. When the empire of Japan invaded Korea in the early 1900’s, many Korean believers were imprisoned, martyred and scattered. Later, when Korea fell into civil war, the church in the North was separated from the South. To this day, it is not known what happened to those KEHC church members in North Korea. Yet with all the hardship that the Korean church has endured, it stands strong today. With almost 2600 churches and a membership of over 700,000 people, the KEHC is one of the greatest success stories that OMS has. As a nation, South Korea is second only to the United States in the total number of missionaries it sends around the world. The KEHC plays a part in this strong missionary sending tradition. Today, OMS partners with KEHC missionaries in several countries around the world. As for the celebration that I got to attend, I don’t really know where to begin. As a group of foreign guests we were escorted into the stadium to sit on the ground level directly in front of the stage. As we entered the stadium, the stands were already mostly full. An estimated 90,000+ people were there to join the party. Throughout the course of the night there were bands, dramatic performances, preaching, congratulatory speeches, and even a fireworks show. It was a lot of fun and I feel so blessed to have been allowed to be a part of it.

ECC’s worldwide Gathering

Due to the 100^th celebration in Korea, ECC decided to hold a worldwide gathering of it’s coordinators in Seoul for the week following the celebration. Due to political situations and problems with visa’s, not every coordinator was able to attend, but even so there are over 60 of us gathered in Korea for the remainder of this week. It has been so much fun to witness a combination of cultures as men and women from 6 continents meet to discuss church planting multiplication and methods of evangelism. As these leaders come together, they are encouraged by the stories from their fellow workers around the world and I think we are all gaining a better appreciation for how much we all have in common. Here is a partial sampling of the countries that are represented in our meetings (South Africa, Cameroon, New Zealand, Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Ukraine, Estonia, Brazil, India, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and many more!)

For more pictures from the stadium celebration or our ECC conference, please check out my photo gallery.