(코리아타운 뉴스) YoungNak Church to Split?

Ongoing lawsuit may prompt a faction
within the church to branch out

The division within the YoungNak Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles is likely to lead to a group of people branching out from the organization to start its own entity.

Led by pastor Kyoung-jin Kim, a group of churchgoers at YoungNak has already began preparations to start their own church in the near future. Around 300 people have shown interest in joining this new project under Kim, according to the group’s announcement on Tuesday.

The name of this group in Korean is Hwaebok Undong, which literally translates to “Recovery Movement” in English.

“Our members have long considered branching out as we’ve had our prayer meetings every Tuesday,” said one member of the Recovery Movement. “We’ve concluded that the current conditions at YoungNak is no longer feasible for our religious practices, so the search for a new location is currently underway and we expect the project to be completed by the end of the year.”

The Recovery Movement also insisted that it will forego with the lawsuit that has been filed against the church officials.

“The purpose behind branching out is so that future clash within the church could be avoided,” said another member of the Recovery Movement. “We stand against the current head pastor’s unjust decisions in operating the church and we will continue on with the lawsuit to ensure that this church can be a healthy organization again.”

In the lawsuit, the Recovery Movement made the following demands to the church; (1) open an election to decide its exit from the church’s governing body, (2) make the list of the church’s registered members accessible to the public, (3) make the church’s financial information regarding its real estate on the Humboldt Street accessible to the public.

“We really didn’t want this issue to be taken to the court,” said an official of the church. “We wanted to come up with a solution within our organization, but it’s inevitable now that the lawsuit has been filed. There’s no way around it anymore.”

The controversy at YoungNak, which is considered as one of the biggest Korean-American churches, has raised concerns among the community’s religious leaders.

“I have no idea how YoungNak had to come to this,” said one elderly pastor based in Southern California. “This church has long been known as a healthy organization, and more importantly, hugely influential. I just pray that this church can once again help unite people again.”


By Yeol Jang