All videos and transcripts are available on our website. Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Growing up in San Francisco, Yep felt alienated. I personally do it for the survivors. What Happened To Marco From Next In Fashion? For us, Pastor Min is more than just a gifted pastor and teacher. On July 13, the KCP met to discuss a complaint about the ruling filed by a group of pastors who wanted the group to remove Chung from the ministry. At the same time as former and current members of CFC were being interviewed by GRACE, the case against the figure at the center of the controversy Min Chung made its way through the PCAs judicial system. The mainline Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) announced this week it will change the way it reports statistical information about the denominations membership to, The pastor of a Baptist church in Virginia is in jail on child sex abuse-related charges, the Washington County (Va.) Sheriffs Office, Steve Morgan, founder and president of a group of 26 evangelical-charismatic churches known as the Network, has been hiding a disqualifying sexual. top: 0; As WBEZ previously reported, those restorative steps had included meeting with the CFC pastoral staff regularly for mutual encouragement and care and preventing Chung from preaching at CFC for a limited time. Chung joined the church in 2005 as the minister of missions, taking over a storied tradition of deploying missionaries around the world, said Walter Kim, an I have to believe that having an an honor/shame cultural background, rather than a right/wrong (or guilt) background, would bring quite a few challenges to conducting an independent leadership investigation. "MC (Min Chung) is anointed by God, God only exists at CFC and there is no other place like CFC. The political influence of the Senior Pastor in most independent churches is always a problem but in a denomination the hope is that people with oversight can minimize the political influence I guess not. Members didnt feel safe talking to leaders and sometimes felt ostracized, the report said. CFC came under fire last summer for its alleged mishandling of sexual misconduct by church founder and former head pastor Min Joshua Chung. In addition, CFC vowed to be clear and transparent with members by providing regular updates on the probe on its website. Sin has real and lasting consequences and should be dealt with appropriately with discipline and repentance, not in spite of the gospel, but precisely because of it. It Despite the procedural errors, the SJC also declared the case would effectively be terminated and not sent back to the KCP to be retried. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-current, To Thyatira: Hold Fast What You Have Until I Come | Revelation 2:18-29 (Pastor Min Chung) joe 2019.02.19 43. The decision came before an investigation by WBEZ of Pastor Min Joshua Chung of the Covenant Fellowship Church on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. But Chung is subject to the PCAs Book of Church Order because of his PCA ordination, KJ Kim told TRR. Last weekend a sermon by Evangelical pastor Francis Chan went viral, as in the sermon Chan shared about Communion and his discovery of the scriptural and historical basis for transubstantiation - that the bread and the wine become the literal Body and Blood of Christ. Follow her on Twitter @WBEZeducation and @soosieon. .grecaptcha-badge { font-size: 13px In September 2019, a member of the new leadership team, Pastor KJ Kim, said Chung had admitted to touching a female over the clothing for a brief moment about 20 years ago but had immediately stopped when she asked him to, per a recording obtained by WBEZ. 2nd Peter 1 : 2 ~ 3, by pastor Minho Chung But Chung got upset that the victim had told someone and told her to keep the incident quiet between the two of them, the friend said in the report. CFC had been regularly updating the church on GRACEs investigation. 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The victim was suicidal and traumatized by her initial and continuous interaction with Pastor Min, the friend stated in testimony included in the report. Even the pastors, I would say, do a good job at that. /* Player background */ How Tragic. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-total, The motion requires two-thirds vote. UIUC officials told WBEZ that CFC has chosen not to renew its status as a registered student organization for the coming year, meaning it cannot recruit new students at a back-to-school event or reserve space on the campus for meetings. A sexual assault victim who wished to remain anonymous, but whose identity TRR confirmed, said that CFCs culture discouraged reporting sexual assault to police. Websigns of too much calcium in tomato plants. They dont know how to assess it, and so I would think the first response would be one of humility., But instead, she said, churches think they are right, and somebody in that position isnt going to listen to any instructions, no matter how wise or good it is.. During that time, he pastored the church, served on several ministry boards, and taught at the seminary. bottom: 0; To donate, click here. Women in many Korean churches are told to be submissive, former CFC members said. Rhee told WBEZ she reported the incident to Pastor Chung. Pete Singer, GRACEs executive director, called the cancellation very rare, adding he is aware of just one other organization that has done the same. to conduct a third-party investigation. CFC came under fire last summer for its alleged mishandling of sexual misconduct by church founder and former head pastor Min Joshua Chung. We judge that his relationship with God is restored as we consider the grace of God. Other whistleblowers said in the report that that isnt true. } Yet this generations aggrieved version of sexism has taken on a different character from their fathers more traditional version of sexism featuring machoism and strict gender roles., https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/opinion/south-koreas-misogyny.html, https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/23/young-south-korean-men-hate-liberals-feminists/. On July 9, 1988, Whelchel tied the knot with Steven Cauble, her first husband and associate pastor at The Church on the Way. On December 4, 2022, CFC became a particular church within the Presbytery of Especially in the Korean community, to call out a pastor, youre going against God-given authority.. He has either founded or served in leadership for several youth and college ministries throughout the country, and was a board member for international missions organization SIM from 2006 to 2019. } They also ruled that the period when Chung wasnt preaching at CFC was enough discipline for his sin. Commissioners for the Presbyterian Church in America approved a motion to leave the National Association of Evangelicals on Wednesday at the PCAs, The Presbyterian Church in Americas (PCA) highest ecclesiastical court is taking over a case allegedly mishandled by an Indiana presbytery, a letter, The Rev. The report doesnt offer explicit details of the incident, but states that the touching was in a way that could be constituted as sexual assault under Illinois law. I actually had gotten to the point where I was naively thinking that [the GRACE assessment] was the one thing that was finally going to [lead] CFC to take a true, humble look at themselves.. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse by Dr. Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys. She said, Its very important for churches to understand theyre killing themselves, and they dont look anything like the God they say they serve. This story has been updated to clarify CFCs relationship with regional and national presbytery associations. Theres a picnic. WBEZ uncovered multiple other allegations against CFC, including pastors at the church making sexual comments to teen girls, church officials brushing off women who were sexually assaulted who went to them for help, and an overall culture that diminished women. The Roys Report seeks to foster thoughtful and respectful dialogue. The report, published in June, is intended to provide resources to handle abuse cases and to offer best practices and guidelines for elders, churches, presbyteries and other entities. Minister accused of sexual misconduct remains ordained, Meet Todd Gloria the first AAPI Mayor for San Diego, Arrest made in vandalism of Philadelphia mosque, Marvel unveils plans for AAPI Heritage Month stories, Woman accused of lying about her ethnicity resigns from diversity position, Govt. Ive been very hesitant for some while about getting really committed and really involved and back to serving with a church, but I feel like my appetite is coming back, he said. Eventually, that group reconsidered and completed the assessment. margin-top: 9px; An arm of the Presbyterian Church in America is allowing Min Joshua Chungarguably the nations most prominent Korean-American pastorto return to ministry despite allegations of sexual misconduct and cover-up. .grecaptcha-badge { visibility: hidden; } I really did not see this coming, she said. We are personally reflecting on where we may fall short and how we can be proactive in preventing abuse and cover-up, instead of just reacting to it. CFC also hired The Center Consulting Group to conduct surveys and evaluate the health of the church. Pastor Kim did not respond to a TRR inquiry about the audit. A Presbyterian oversight group refused to defrock a Korean American minister following allegations of sexual misconduct, reports Ministry Watch. However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts. The SOLA Network, for the gospel-centric reason outlined in the introduction, feels it is necessary to articulate that: We grieve the fact that ministers of the gospel, those who are to represent Christ himself, have sinned against their own sheep, denied the biblical call to repentance, and failed to seek justice. [Churches and presbyteries] are not trained to look into [abuse], Langberg said. Many have called into question the biblical sufficiency of these measures, and the SOLA Network also expresses strong concern regarding the decision of the KCP. Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado. Under the previous structure, CFC was an independent church, with just Chung and the associate pastors, as individuals, belonging to the Korean Central Presbytery (KCP), one of the regional bodies within the PCA. They may get along with that for a long time but somewhere along the way, the rot will show, and it will end up destroying them.. Join with thousands of others to keep this important public media-based resource available to all. } Many people were waiting to see what came out of this and then what their response would be to that, Pinyo said. Pastor KJ Kim acknowledged that Chung has been accused of a pattern of abusing his authority. Over the years, Chung rebuked whistleblowers who tried to confront him for causing dissension in the church. They either left or were forced to leave by the leadership they loved, the report states. Also, any comments with profanity, name-calling, and/or a nasty tone will be deleted. position: absolute; As outlined in WBEZs initial report, in April 2021, the KCP a regional presbytery of the PCA to which Kim, Chung and other former CFC pastors belong had found Chung guilty of his admitted sexual harassment for inappropriately touching a female congregant in 2001 (instead of a more serious form of misconduct). The motion to rescind the KCP decision needed a two-thirds vote in favor. She bangs on his door all hours of the night until he finally comes and gives her justice, LeCroy explained. 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It was another missed opportunity, Amy Han said. Great! My experience is that more gets done for the perpetrator versus the victim. Sources, including Singer, told WBEZ that CFC was concerned the information-gathering process was biased and that it dug too much into Chungs case, which the church deemed outside the scope of the assessment. In May 2021, CFC cut ties with Chung. Mayor Lori Lightfoot was handed a stunning defeat, the first time in 40 years a sitting mayor was not reelected. background: #db4e88; CFC added that while the CFC Oversight Board would see the survey ahead of time and GRACE would accept input, GRACE would make final decisions on which survey questions to include. Covenant Fellowship Church in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, whose previous pastor Min Joshua Chung (left) resigned last year following abuse allegations, has .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-controls, fostered a misogynistic environment that included sexual mistreatment and TRR reached out to Min Chung for comment, but he did not respond. WebWorked at Associate Pastor of New People Baptist Church (Sae Kook Min Baptist Church (1978-1987) and PoDowon Baptist Church (2006-2010) Lives in Gimpo Pastor Cyrus Chung Chung Chung founded the church in 1990 on the University of Illinois-Champaign Urbana (UICU) campus and welcomed students to join. Some members of the allegation group also said they lacked confidence the KCP would handle any future cases differently, given the ties many of the pastors had to Chung. I went to my head pastor and I was emotionally distressed, she said. 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