Key points:
- United Methodist Bishop Lanette Plambeck’s participation in the Korean Methodist Church’s 37th General Conference reaffirmed a mission partnership renewed earlier in October.
- Plambeck emphasized mutual support, shared Wesleyan faith and the contributions of Korean clergy serving United Methodist congregations.
- Wesley Theological Seminary president Carla Works called worshippers to offer their whole lives to God and resist divisions that undermine mission.
United Methodist Bishop Lanette Plambeck brought a message of gratitude and shared mission to the Korean Methodist Church’s 37th General Conference, affirming that a relationship rooted in 141 years of history continues to shape ministry on both sides of the Pacific.
Her participation in the Oct. 29-30 gathering at Kwanglim Methodist Church in Seoul reaffirmed and strengthened the commitment renewed earlier in the month at a mission consultation between the two churches.
“You strengthen us, and we strengthen you,” Plambeck told delegates. “On behalf of the people of The United Methodist Church, thank you.”
Plambeck, who leads the Dakotas-Minnesota Episcopal Area and serves as secretary of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, represented the denomination and its bishops at the gathering.
The covenant provides a framework for cooperation as equal partners, carrying their shared missionary heritage into continuing ministry in Korea, Asia and beyond.
The conference opened with Korean Methodist President Bishop Chungsuk Kim preaching on Colossians 3:12-15. He urged Christians to put on Christ through compassion, humility, gentleness and patience, becoming instruments of peace.
The opening worship offering, collected to help people experiencing hardship, marginalization and vulnerability, was designated for survivors of the recent devastating floods in Nepal. Conference materials also encouraged reusable cups, public transportation and zero-waste practices, with reports available electronically.
In an interview before her address, Plambeck said Roland Fernandes, top executive of the United Methodist boards of Global Ministries and Higher Education and Ministry, and Bishop Tracy S. Malone, former president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, had called to ask her to attend the Korean church’s General Conference.
“It was just really important for me to be here as we work to strengthen our relationship, not for the sake of the relationship, but for the sake of Christ’s mission in the world and that Wesleyan expression,” she said.
For Plambeck, that partnership is personal. Korean Methodist clergy, including some serving on loan from the Korean church, minister in congregations across the Dakotas and Minnesota. She also came to support Bishop Kim and strengthen relationships among episcopal leaders.
“When we think about the world as our parish, it is important for us to meet our Wesleyan siblings,” she said.
Earlier that morning, she reflected on the visit in a Facebook post.
“To walk the streets they once walked and worship where their faith was first nurtured is a reminder of how richly God has blessed our area through their lives and ministry,” she wrote. “I see your homeland with new eyes, and with deep thanksgiving.”
She called the relationship a gift of connection and ecumenism, joining Christians across oceans, languages and cultures.
“The church is so much bigger than any one place, and it’s at its most beautiful when we discover one another as family,” she wrote.
Addressing the conference, Plambeck drew on “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” a hymn familiar to both Korean and United Methodist worshippers. Its grounding in Lamentations, she said, recalls the discovery of God’s new mercies amid loss and disorientation.
“For 141 years, unbroken and unceasing, our relationship has stood on Christ’s faithfulness,” she said.
She also emphasized that God’s work in Korea preceded the arrival of Methodist missionaries in 1885. Korean believers had already brought Scripture home in their language and gathered for worship.
When missionaries Henry Appenzeller and Mary Scranton arrived, she said, “they joined what God was already doing.”
The Methodist Episcopal Church’s later unions, culminating in the formation of The United Methodist Church in 1968, continued that connection.
“We grew by coming together, and the bond God established between us in 1885 has never been broken,” she said.
Plambeck praised the ways Korean Christians made Wesleyan faith their own through prayer, Scripture, mercy, justice, education and healthcare.
“Our shared Methodist heritage and theology offer God’s hope, God’s help and God’s healing for a hurting world,” she said.
As a sign of that partnership, Plambeck presented Kim with a wooden bishop’s staff shaped with the head and curved neck of a crane. She described the bird as a symbol of longevity, wisdom, faithfulness and peace.
The Korean church reciprocated with a cross-shaped stained-glass gift.
Responding to Plambeck’s visit and message, Kim thanked her for coming specifically to attend the conference and described the occasion as a sign of the Korean Methodist Church’s widening global horizons. He expressed gratitude for the opportunity for the churches to serve together in advancing God’s kingdom.
The following morning, Carla Works, who began serving July 1 as president of United Methodist-related Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, preached on “Living Sacrifice: Holiness and Transformation.”
Wesley has deep ties with Methodist communities in both countries through its education of Korean seminarians and pastors. Many have earned Master of Divinity degrees there and gone on to be ordained in The United Methodist Church, serving congregations across the United States. Numerous pastors serving in South Korea have also earned Doctor of Ministry degrees at Wesley. These educational ties form another enduring connection between the churches and gave Works’ participation particular significance.
Drawing on Romans 12:1-2 and 9-12, Works invited worshippers to imagine placing their whole lives together in a single offering basket.
“If we are throwing ourselves into the offering basket, there’s not much room there for divisions,” she said.
Works described the challenges facing early Roman Christians as Jewish and Gentile believers navigated differences over Scripture, worship and holiness. Their disagreements, she said, threatened to distract them from loving God and neighbor and participating in mission.
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She compared an understanding of holiness based only on restrictions to a fence that can restrain a dog without changing its desire to chase a deer.
“The law can tell us to love God and to love our neighbor, but it cannot transform us into a people who love God and love neighbor,” she said. “Only the Holy Spirit can transform us.
“Holiness is not what we create. It is what God produces.”
Her sermon was interpreted by the Rev. Kyunglim Lee, a vice president of the seminary.
On Oct. 30, just before the conference concluded, Korean Methodist leaders held a mission covenant signing ceremony with representatives of the Global Methodist Church, including Bishop Jeff Greenway and former United Methodist Bishop Young Jin Cho.
Introducing the ceremony, the Rev. Byung-bae Hwang, general secretary of the Korean Methodist Church’s mission board, said the churches were signing again the mission agreement they had signed Sept. 3 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Korean Methodist officials told UM News the ceremony was not on the original conference schedule and was added following a last-minute request from Global Methodist representatives.
After the signing, Kim said the Korean church had established mission covenant relationships with both The United Methodist Church and the Global Methodist Church. He asked for prayer that the partnerships would continue in service to God’s kingdom.
For Plambeck, the urgency of partnership extends beyond institutional ties.
She said the Wesleyan witness of personal piety and social holiness is especially needed at this moment in human history.
In her conference greeting, she expressed confidence that shared faith would sustain the churches’ next steps: “Therefore, we go forward together with strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”
Kim is director of Korean and Asian news at United Methodist Communications. Contact him at 615-742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
