The KCP did investigate the incident but resolved that Chung had been "restored to God, as well as the woman, and that that discipline instituted by CFC pastors was found to be sufficient." Dr. Michael Brown Examines, Pastors Should Talk About Divisive Politics From The Pulpit, And Here's Why, Phonies, Superficial Christianity Being Exposed Amid Pandemic, Pastor John MacArthur Says. They may get along with that for a long time but somewhere along the way, the rot will show, and it will end up destroying them.. For investigators at GRACE, CFCs decision to terminate the assessment is a highly unusual move. He also spoke at youth and college-aged events, counseled university students, and preached in several countries. The SJC decision stated there can be no reasonable hope of just proceedings with no cooperating victim, although Chung himself had admitted to sexual misconduct. For a monthly gift of $11or more wed also be able to send you a free copy of the brand new Premier Bible, a wonderful Anglicised version of the NLT packed with exclusive bonus content, reading plan and resources to help you get the most out of scripture. Would you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help our journalists continue to report the truth and restore the church? Under the previous structure, CFC was an independent church, with just Chung and the associate pastors, as individuals, belonging to the Korean Central Presbytery (KCP), one of the regional bodies within the PCA. Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie has said he closed down his Good News International Church four years ago .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-current, He added: Theyre banging on the door, looking for justice, and I dont think leaders of the church should look down upon that because that is exactly what they should be doing if they havent found it where they should find it.. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-handle-content { Because of the trust that had been damaged and the pain that had been caused, he said, the church board voted unanimously May 27 to separate from Chung. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. URBANA A former assistant pastor at a Champaign church has been criminally charged with sexually assaulting a teen who was a member of the congregation. Becky Stephens will become senior pastor at Bucyrus United Methodist Church in July. Even the friend in whom the victim confided feared she would be cursed by God if she spoke against Chung. Growing Check The motion to rescind the KCP decision needed a two-thirds vote in favor. Thank you. Joshua Generation, commonly called J-Gen, a ministry for high schoolers that Chung founded, also severed ties with Chung. Sorry, the underlying pathology of people who act out this way takes more than a few of your cronies to meet at some hotel resort and call that Restoration. Furthermore, what is actually done to assist the victims and their families through this process? (The version of the report released to TRR referenced and summarized the texts instead in the interest of the victims privacy.) .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-embed, CFC has begun posting Leadership Updates on its website. A church in Urbana-Champaign reverses on promises to address abuse allegations. Christie Clinic Race Weekend: Race results and next years preparations. They gave a couple of examples [of bias], which were tenuous at best, Singer said. Others claimed that Chung assaulted them several times, including while on a two-hour car ride. As of July 2021, CFC is lead by Reverend KJ Kim and is in the process of becoming part of the Presbyterian Church in America. Many times, I thought I lost my own understanding in God. Covenant Fellowship Church in central Illinois has terminated an independent investigation of "spiritual and emotional abuse" led by GRACE. The KCP which consists of several pastors who were close with Chung had determined that he had been restored to God, as well as the woman. The regional presbytery also determined no additional disciplinary steps were needed for Chung other than what the church had already instituted. They were also concerned that other victims may exist, she said. All rights reserved.Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Post author By ; cases where eyewitnesses were right Post date March 7, 2023; We are accountable to our congregation and the denomination that has charge over its leaders and we believe that this is best for our church and its future. It was just like, Why, why did we do this all in vain? Park said. For Janet Park and other members of the group that filed the initial allegations against Chung and the CFC pastors, the GRACE termination felt like a particularly painful blow. The commission declared the KCP should have disciplined the pastor according to the PCAs Book of Church Order not follow the restorative steps the associate pastors had instituted, according to Brian Park. WILL and the Illinois Newsroom are committed to bringing you in-depth, relevant coverage that keeps you informed and engages you with our community and state. Toward that end, the site requires that people use their full name when commenting. They dont know how to assess it, and so I would think the first response would be one of humility., But instead, she said, churches think they are right, and somebody in that position isnt going to listen to any instructions, no matter how wise or good it is.. } Rev. Another woman reported to Chung that she had been raped repeatedly. The political influence of the Senior Pastor in most independent churches is always a problem but in a denomination the hope is that people with oversight can minimize the political influence I guess not. Sources, including Singer, told WBEZ that CFC was concerned the information-gathering process was biased and that it dug too much into Chungs case, which the church deemed outside the scope of the assessment. At least 90 have been discovered so far. However, nine elders objected to the decision and asked for Chung's suspension. But Chung got upset that the victim had told someone and told her to keep the incident quiet between the two of them, the friend said in the report. CFC came under fire last summer for its alleged mishandling of sexual misconduct by church founder and former head pastor Min Joshua Chung. She is convinced she would have been raped if he could. He cited an example in the Bible, in the book of Luke, where Jesus tells the story of a woman and an unjust judge. Sungwoo Nam, KCP clerk, said in a statement. } He is the founder of truthmattersministries.com. ymca executive director salary; times reporter garage sales; parexel trials london; eteri tutberidze husband; rocky mountain air show 2022; usfl rules differences; Menu. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-total { height: 90px; } Join with thousands of others to keep this important public media-based resource available to all. Sorry, your web browser is not capable of supporting the features required by this website. Follow her on Twitter @estheryjkang. Now, more than a year after WBEZ broke the story, former members and others familiar with the church say CFC is quietly reversing course. Our hope is to provide care and oversight in whatever way is appropriate. He declined to be interviewed in order to respect the privacy of those involved and due to the ongoing nature of allegations.. A 124-page extended version of the report, containing copies of texts describing one victims assault and subsequent intimidation, was submitted to an investigative team of the Korean Central Presbytery (KCP) in November 2020, following up on a five-page allegation letter the whistleblowers sent in August. Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Websigns of too much calcium in tomato plants. It also alleges that Chung urged a woman not to go to police when she sought his counsel after being sexually assaulted by another church member. Min Joshua Chung founded Covenant Fellowship Church in 1990 as an outreach effort to local college students. Under the previous structure, CFC was an independent church, with just Chung and the associate pastors, as individuals, belonging to the Korean Central Presbytery (KCP), one of the regional bodies within the PCA. URBANA For Janet Park, the events of last year feel like a waste of time and energy. Pastor KJ shows no signs of remorse, shows no sign of pastoral care, only concerned with keeping us quiet.. font-size: 10px The report accuses Chung of orchestrating a cover-up of sexual abuse allegations against another Korean-American pastor of a church with close ties to CFC. left: 0; As a whistleblower, its traumatic as well, because there are so many places of pain and injustice along the way, Park said. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of Escaping the Maze of Spiritual Abuse by Dr. Lisa Oakley and Justin Humphreys. Especially in the Korean community, to call out a pastor, youre going against God-given authority.. In May, CFC severed ties with Chung and hired Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (G.R.A.C.E.) In a world of fake news theres never been a greater need for quality Christian journalism. We are accountable to our congregation and the denomination that has charge over its leaders and we believe that this is best for our church and its future. The World Economic Forum ranks the country 115th out of 145 countries in gender equality. Theyre a very inclusive, very inviting community. Diane Langberg, a prominent psychologist and leading voice on abuse within church communities, said CFCs termination of the GRACE assessment is yet another move to silence the individuals the church has hurt. In our previous meetings, they had acknowledged that [Chungs case was] within the scope, so Im not certain why that changed.. He added that the Book of Church Order wasnt designed to protect victims of abuse, and that the PCA should consider amendments to the book to help make the judicial process less cumbersome for lay members. We know this may cause pain for many people, and we deeply regret that CFC has chosen this path. .mytheme-mejs-container .mejs-time-total, According to sources, in the past few months, CFC has terminated the assessment with GRACE and wiped any trace of the leadership updates from last year (as seen on a web page accessed by WBEZ on Sept. 21). Charles Zimmerman has been a speaker at One In Love, which Chung founded, and theyve both been main speakers at Global Kingdom Young Adult Missions Festival, where Chung was a board member. Some members of the allegation group also said they lacked confidence the KCP would handle any future cases differently, given the ties many of the pastors had to Chung. Its a moment of reckoning for the Korean American church, former CFC member June Pinyo said. Illustration by Andjela Padejski, Photo by Manuel Martinez / WBEZ News, Fertile Soil For Abuse: A Reckoning At Covenant Fellowship Church, CPS knew for years about sexual misconduct claims against staff at a city high school, but promoted principal anyway, records show, Inside the sexual misconduct scandal involving workers at Evanstons beaches, How Covenant Fellowship Church Is Dealing With Old Sexual Abuse Allegations, Edgewater man started creating crossword puzzles to ward off pandemic boredom, gets published by The New York Times, How Chance the Rappers Acid Rap changed an industry and Chicago, Illinois assault weapons ban enforcement blocked by federal judge in southern Illinois, West Side travel agent takes Chicago youth on field trips at home and abroad. In one particular case, according to sources, Chung took steps to cover up sexual abuse committed by a fellow pastor, Samuel Lee, who was leading Faith Alliance /* Reduce height of the progress and audio bars */ Chung himself serves on several ministry boards, and even acted as a professor at URbana Theological Seminary for sevearl years. Many people conceive of tweets as analogous to TV or newspaper or radio that there are people who tweet, there are people who read the tweets, as Munger puts it. Get new articles and breaking news delivered to your inbox. CFC came under fire last summer for its alleged mishandling of sexual misconduct by church founder and former head pastor Min Joshua Chung. As WBEZ previously reported, those restorative steps had included meeting with the CFC pastoral staff regularly for mutual encouragement and care and preventing Chung from preaching at CFC for a limited time. We see this is the third article this month youve found worth reading. 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