Celebrating Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month #11

"A Statement of Faith of the Korean Methodist Church" (United Methodist Hymnal, no. 884).

This affirmation of faith was written and adopted by the Korean Methodist Church upon its organization in 1930; English translations appeared in the 1935 and 1966 Methodist Hymnals. The present version (1989) reflects changes in translation of the original Korean by Dal Joon Wan and Sang E. Chun to more accurately reflect the original Korean in English. Changes include:

• "maker and ruler of all things, Father of all men" became "creator and sustainer of all things, Father of all nations"
• "We believe in the Church as the fellowship for worship and for service of all who are united to the living Lord" became "We believe in the church, those who are united in the living Lord for the purpose of worship and service"
• "We believe in the kingdom of God as the divine rule in human society, and in the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God" became "We believe in the reign of God as the divine will realized in human society, and in the family of God, where we are all brothers and sisters."

Dal Joon Wan is an ordained United Methodist elder in the East Ohio Annual Conference and director of Korean and Spanish publishing at the United Methodist Publishing House. He was a driving force behind the Korean-English United Methodist Hymnal (2000) and a member of that hymnal committee.

The Rev. Dr. Sang E. Chun is the former director of Korean, Asian-American and Pacific Islander Ministries of the United Methodist Discipleship Ministries and is now retired, living in Nashville. He is president/CEO of the Tennessee Korean American Social Service Center and is a 1957 graduate of Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.

Source: Hoyt L. Hickman, ed., The Worship Resources of The United Methodist Hymnal, Abingdon Press, 1989