This volume interweaves contributions from a group of scholars brought together for the 2022 Korean Studies Center Symposium at Fuller Theological Seminary. The collection provides a forum for scholars of Korean American Protestant churches to address key challenges concerning the sociocultural and theological formation of identity and mission as these churches continue to navigate their place in society in relation to others, including Korean churches in South Korea, mainline churches in the US, other ethnic churches, and multiethnic churches. The chapters address the following issues: who the Korean American churches are; God's vision for the Korean American churches; how to interpret Korean Americans' journey in immigrant church history; how heritage sustained them and will keep them; what the immigrant church should know in this post-pandemic time; and the hopes of the next generation.

In this book, scholars of Korean American Protestant churches address key challenges concerning sociocultural and theological formation of identity and mission. The discussions are arranged in three areas: identity formation, missional and spiritual formation, and inter-cultural formation.

Second-generation Korean Americans, demonstrating an unparalleled entrepreneurial fervor, are establishing new churches with a goal of shaping the future of American Christianity. A Faith of Our Own investigates the development and growth of these houses of worship, a recent and rapidly increasing phenomenon in major cities throughout the United States. Immigration historians have depicted the second-generation as a transitional generation--on the steady march toward the inevitable decline of ethnic identity and allegiance. Sharon Kim suggests an alternative path. By harnessing religion and innovatively creating hybrid religious institutions, second-generation Korean Americans are assertively defining and shaping their own ethnic and religious futures. Rather than assimilating into mainstream American evangelical churches or inheriting the churches of their immigrant parents, second-generation pastors are creating their own hybrid third space--new autonomous churches that are shaped by multiple frames of reference. Including data gathered over ten years at twenty-two churches, A Faith of Our Own is the most comprehensive study of this topic that addresses generational, identity, political, racial, and empowerment issues.

This book studies Korean American girls between thirteen and nineteen and their formation with regard to self, gender, and God in the context of Korean American protestant congregational life. It develops a hybrid methodology of de-colonial aims and indigenous research methods, aiming to facilitate transformative life in faith communities.

In A Letter to the Korean American Church, experienced Korean American youth pastor Terence Kim addresses challenges of culture versus Christianity by providing an overview of the origins of Korean culture and offering biblical responses to many of the major issues that many second and third-generation Koreans struggle with as a result of it today.

The voices of second-generation Korean Americans echo throughout the pages of this book, which is a sensitive exploration of their struggles with minority, marginality, cultural ambiguity, and negative perceptions. Born in the United States, they are still viewed as foreigners because of their Korean appearance. Raised in American society, they are still tied to the cultural expectations of their Korean immigrant parents. While straddling two cultures, these individuals search for understanding and attempt to rewrite their identity in a new way. Through autobiographical reconstruction and identity transformation, they form a unique identity of their own—a Korean American identity. This book follows a group of second-generation Korean American Christians in the English-speaking ministry of a large suburban Korean church. It examines their conflicts with the conservative Korean-speaking ministry ruling the church and their quest to achieve independence and ultimately become a multicultural church.

An introductory analysis of Korean American religious practices and community

This volume considers what it is to be a women in the context of the Korean-American church. Drawing on participant observation, interviews, and a review of historical documents, Jun Ha Kim focuses on four major issues: the role of religious institutions within ethnic communities, the role of Christian churches as patriarchal institutions, issues of status inconsistency and role conflict in marginalized communities, and the relative importance of gender and race-ethnicity in shaping the identities of women of color.

Religion and Spirituality in Korean America examines the ambivalent identities of predominantly Protestant Korean Americans in Judeo-Christian American culture. Focusing largely on the migration of Koreans to the United States since 1965, this interdisciplinary collection investigates campus faith groups and adoptees. The authors probe factors such as race, the concept of diaspora, and the ways the improvised creation of sacred spaces shape Korean American religious identity and experience. In calling attention to important trends in Korean American spirituality, the essays highlight a high rate of religious involvement in urban places and participation in a transnational religious community. Contributors: Ruth H. Chung, Jae Ran Kim, Jung Ha Kim, Rebecca Kim, Sharon Kim, Okyun Kwon, Sang Hyun Lee, Anselm Kyongsuk Min, Sharon A. Suh, Sung Hyun Um, and David K. Yoo

In this book Sunggu Yang proposes five socio-ecclesial codes as unique faith fundamentals of Korean American Christianity. Drawing from rigorous research and years of ecclesial experience, Yang names the codes as follows: the Wilderness Pilgrimage code, the Diasporic Mission Code, the Confucian Egalitarian code, the Buddhist Shamanistic code, and the Pentecostal Liberation code. These five codes, he asserts, help Korean Americans sustain their lives, culture, faith, and evangelical mission as aliens or “pilgrims” in the American “wilderness.” Yang outlines how his five proposed codes serve as liberative and prophetic mechanisms of faith through which Korean Americans can contribute to racial harmony and cultural diversity in North America. In this sense, Korean American Christianity—its theology and spirituality—works not only on behalf of Korean Americans, but also for the sake of all Americans. Yang shows how the Korean American pulpit is the locus where these five codes appear most vividly.