U.K. Anabaptist leader Stuart Murray engaged Anabaptists in South Korea during a country-wide speaking tour this spring.
Murray visited church groups in Chuncheon, Seoul, Daejeon and Busan in April and May, engaging new Anabaptists at every stop. Like many Canadian Mennonites, Korean Anabaptists are contemplating what new ministry opportunities exist for a church in a postmodern age and how to respond to them.
“Stuart’s lessons had a great impact,” said Kyong Jung Kim, director of the Korea Anabaptist Center (KAC), who served as Murray’s translator. “Everyone walked away with something of value.”
For Kim, lessons about how the church can approach a post-Christendom era were important. “Even though Korea was never influenced by Christendom,” he said, “it was Christendom-influenced Christianity that western missionaries brought to Korea about 200 years ago.” The theologies of both the Catholic and Protestant church in Korea were developed under the auspices of Christendom, which differs from the Anabaptist peace church tradition, he said.
“No wonder it has been so difficult for Korean churches to adapt a different understanding of theology and practices from an Anabaptist perspective, Kim said. “Starting from this view, we can think and act differently from what the mainline church teaches. Stuart Murray’s insights and teachings helped us to find different approaches to understand what it means to be a church and how to live out accordingly.”
Murray is the founder of the U.K. church-planting mission Urban Expression and chair of the Anabaptist Network in the U.K., as well as author of the popular 2010 Herald Press release, The Naked Anabaptist.
Mennonite Church Canada helped the KAC bring Murray to South Korea. About 30 people from across the country attended a short, learning-intensive retreat from April 29 to May 1, 2016, at Pilgrim House in Gapyeong. The group also explored Anabaptist history, approaches to church, missions and evangelism, and ideas about Christ.
With Mennonite Church Canada's help, Stuart Murray, chair of the Anabaptist Network in the U.K. and author of the Naked Anabaptist, facing camera right rear, engaged pastors and church leaders during a countrywide South Korean speaking tour from April 20 to May 3. Kyong Jung Kim, director of the Korea Anabaptist Center, seated next to Murray, served as Murray's translator. (Photo courtesy of Mennonite Church Canada)
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