Sometimes, my curiosity pays off great dividends that excite me and encourage me. This was definitely the case when I happened to walk by a large church in Uijeongbu, South Korea.
I walked along the sidewalk to cross the river on a walking bridge one Saturday afternoon. As I passed a large church, I heard the choir inside preparing for the next day of services. I also noticed people coming and going out of the building, so I thought I would stop by and try to get a look inside.
I entered on the first floor where there was a small shop and a restaurant. It was interesting to see, and safe enough for me to feel comfortable with exploring further. I went downstairs where I found the main auditorium. I was very impressed by the size. I had not seen a church auditorium this size since I left my church in Lenexa, KS. One difference in this auditorium from those in the US is that all of the seats are folding chairs. Hundreds of them, but folding none-the-less. I later learned, through see some of the photos throughout the building, that the leadership has the option of moving the chairs in the event that the hold a prayer event where the people kneel for the prayers. I was encouraged by the feel of the auditorium as it had flags of the world all the way around to teach the congregation a missions mindset.
Like many buildings in Korea, the church was multi-storied. I was interested to see how well they used this small patch of land to stack so much in six stories of the building. I found it to be a great model for urban churches as they may be the future of church growth in America.
On the top floor, I noticed the prayer chapel. The lights were turned off when a staff person let me take a peek, but I was able to see that this smaller auditorium was about the size of many small churches in the US. The open floor play had another group of folding chairs centered around a podium for the leader of the groups that meet there. Again, I was encourage that the church devoted a large portion of the precious space to devote to an area for prayer.
My favorite photo from the whole trip was taken outside of a children’s classroom. They were having a children’s program inside and the adults were in the center leading these children in games, songs, and stories. It was special to see all of the shoes lined up as the children removed them before entering the classroom.
I enjoyed my self-guided tour of the Kwang Myung Church. I hope that one Sunday, I will have the chance to visit a service, but if not I was blessed by seeing the church building. I never did find the choir, but I heard them once again, still practicing as I crossed the river bridge.