Key points:
- United Methodist and Korean Methodist leaders signed a covenant strengthening mission cooperation in Korea, Asia and worldwide.
- The agreement commits their mission agencies to annual consultations, leadership exchanges and sustained communication.
- Candid discussions about denominational divisions underscored the importance of mutual trust and the churches’ continuing relationship.
The United Methodist Church and the Korean Methodist Church signed a mission cooperation covenant Oct. 14, committing their mission agencies to annual consultations, expanded leadership exchanges and sustained cooperation in Korea, Asia and worldwide.
The seven-article agreement establishes a framework for carrying 141 years of shared missionary heritage into a continuing partnership grounded in mutual respect, trust and Christian love.
“We’re affirming and strengthening the relationship between KMC and UMC,” said United Methodist Bishop Tracy S. Malone, who leads the Indiana Conference and is former president of the Council of Bishops. “That is our work.”
The covenant concluded the Oct. 13-14 mission consultation in Sokcho, held under the theme “Mission Partnership in Asia: Cases and the Way Forward.”
Bishops, mission executives and ministry leaders reviewed cooperation, addressed differences and explored how their partnership could endure beyond leadership transitions.
The agreement’s institutional partners are the Korean Methodist Church’s Board of Missions and The United Methodist Church’s Board of Global Ministries.
Signing for the Korean Methodist Church were Bishop Chungsuk Kim, president bishop, and the Rev. Byung-bae Hwang, top executive of its mission board. United Methodist signatories were Roland Fernandes, Global Ministries’ top executive, and Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, co-ecumenical officer of the Council of Bishops.
The covenant recalls the contributions of missionaries Henry G. Appenzeller, William B. Scranton and Mary F. Scranton, whose work helped establish Korean Methodism beginning in 1885.
It recognizes an era in which mission proceeds “from everywhere to everywhere” and affirms cooperation as equal partners. Its theological foundation integrates Gospel proclamation with social holiness.
The agencies agreed to convene a working-level consultation annually, share information about ministries and challenges, and cooperate where mutual support is needed.
They also pledged to establish an institutional framework without delay for active, regular and meaningful communication.
“Partnership depends on time, space and regularity for relationships to grow,” Fernandes said.
He urged structures that would preserve progress through leadership changes rather than repeatedly returning to earlier discussions.
The covenant calls for expanded clergy and mission-leader exchanges through appropriate denominational bodies. It also provides for recognizing transferring clergy’s ministerial experience and service, subject to each church’s regulations and procedures.
Fernandes clarified that mission agencies do not themselves control clergy transfers and would work with the bodies responsible.
Another provision addresses funds administered by United Methodist-related holding bodies in Korea. It recognizes those resources as mission assets rooted in offerings and contributions from United Methodists in the United States for mission in Korea.
The agencies will continue discussing shared mission and how to sustain it. The covenant does not specify property transfers or funding amounts.
Addressing concerns that historically connected institutions might grow apart, Fernandes said his hope is the opposite. “I hope that our ministries, our structures, our relationships will intentionally become more connected, so that future generations will inherit a partnership that is stronger than before.”
The agreement also commits the agencies to preserve and commemorate missionary contributions through joint initiatives. Effective upon signing, it will be periodically reaffirmed and may be revised through mutual written agreement.
Before the covenant signing on Oct. 14, Malone preached on Joshua 4 in a sermon titled, “What We Carry Forward.” Drawing on the stones the Israelites carried from the Jordan River, she urged the two churches to carry their shared missionary heritage into future ministry.
“The stones were not meant to become monuments to the past,” she said. “They were meant to become testimony for the future.”
Malone challenged participants to look beyond their institutions and consider the broader purpose of their partnership.
“The deeper question is, ‘What do we carry forward for the sake of the world?’”
Hwang said the consultation had changed his thinking.
“I changed my mind because I learned a lot through this consultation,” he told participants, explaining why he rewrote his final presentation.
He proposed authentic communication between agency leaders, sustained cooperation and joint projects involving migrants and the Scranton Memorial Church and Mission Center in Seoul.
“Korea, too, is a nation of Asia,” Hwang said, identifying migrant workers, international students and undocumented residents, including children, as neighbors the churches could serve together.
Fernandes welcomed further dialogue while explaining that Global Ministries’ Seoul office operates within the agency. Cooperation would involve its leadership and relevant staff.
“If our history has brought us this far, our mission partnership will carry us further still,” Hwang said.
The renewed commitment followed candid discussion of the Korean Methodist Church’s relationships with both The United Methodist Church and the Global Methodist Church, a theologically conservative breakaway denomination that launched in 2022.
Korean Methodist speakers said cooperation with the Global Methodist Church did not diminish their longstanding United Methodist partnership.
United Methodist leaders welcomed that assurance while describing continuing pain associated with disaffiliations.
Fernandes, speaking in his capacity as an agency executive, cited hostility, misstatements and legal disputes. “Healing cannot happen if the wounds are being deepened,” he said.
Wenner reminded participants that The United Methodist Church extends beyond the United States.
“We as United Methodists serve in many parts of this world,” said Wenner, whose home church is in Germany.
She said the Global Methodist Church was not a World Methodist Council member at the time of the consultation. Admission involves an application and consultation with other Methodist churches, including the church from which a denomination separated, she explained.
Mutual recognition as valid expressions of Christ’s body is essential, she said.
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Wenner also urged a more inclusive worldwide Methodist connection, peacebuilding on the Korean Peninsula, and cooperation on creation care and climate justice.
“Unity and mission belong together,” she said, recalling Jesus’ prayer, “so that the world may believe.”
Wenner affirmed the desire for reconciliation while describing what she viewed as continuing harm, particularly in Africa and other United Methodist ministry areas.
“We hope, we pray, and we work towards a future where we can come together,” she said. “This requires that the Global Methodist Church affirms that The United Methodist Church is a vital expression in the body of Christ.”
Malone cautioned that describing the Korean Methodist Church as bringing all three denominations together in mission could harm The United Methodist Church and its witness.
Kim assured participants that their churches’ relationship would continue.
“Let us move forward together, building on the deep trust we share,” he said in his closing remarks.
Participants reviewed the Young Adult Pilgrimage of Peace, ASCEND leadership development and Global Mission Fellows as examples of cooperation.
Afterward, participants visited the Scranton Memorial Church and Mission Center construction site, scheduled for completion Nov. 30. Malone prayed that it would become “a living testimony” to God’s faithfulness.
In his closing reflection, Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, Ohio Episcopal area and president of the Korean Ministry Plan of The United Methodist Church, emphasized that the covenant would require continuing faithfulness.
“A covenant is never fulfilled simply by reaching an agreement,” he said. “It grows deeper as we honor our promises, discern faithfully amid changing circumstances, correct our course when necessary, and renew our commitment to one another.”
He urged the churches toward a hopeful future.
“We remember the past, but we refuse to be imprisoned by it,” Jung said. “We acknowledge our wounds, but we will not allow them to define our future. Rooted deeply in love, we move forward together as communities of mission, abounding in hope.”
Kim is director of Korean and Asian news at United Methodist Communications. Contact him at 615-742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
