By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter
The SaRang Community Church will proceed with its plans to build a massive church despite criticism that it is rekindling the ``mega church'' phenomenon here. The construction is estimated to cost 210 billion won.
The senior pastor of the church, Oh Jung-hyun, announced that the plans will stay intact, but that the church had decided to expand its social welfare services.
``The controversy made me realize the importance of communication between the church and society. The SaRang Community Church will put effort into restoring the spiritual motives in Korean churches,'' pastor Oh said during a press conference.
The pastor added that they would donate 1.1 billion won (around $1 million) to the Haiti victims as a start.
Last year, the SaRang Community Church, currently located in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul announced that they were building a new chapel nearby to solve space issues.
The church explained at the time that as the number of church members had increased, the space issue had become a serious problem.
With more than 40,000 members regularly attending services, the old church could only accommodate 2,000 at a time. On Sundays, those not able to get a seat in the chapel had to watch the service on television screens in different rooms. Along with the space issues, parking had become an annoyance to those paying regular visits. These problems were leading to churchgoers abandoning the church and looking elsewhere.
The 210 billion won for the project includes the purchase of the current estate in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul for approximately 174 billion won. The rest will be paid by church members through service offerings.
The figure caused a stir, as some argued that the church's quest to expand was forcing smaller churches to shut their doors, while others said the construction was inevitable.
``Due to the competition with mega churches, smaller churches in the suburbs have become victims,'' the Christian Alliance for Church Reform said during a press conference last year in December.
Meanwhile, the SaRang Community Church held an assembly and a vote among church members regarding the issue early this month. More than 94 percent approved of the plans.
``We are not pushing the construction just for us. We will build a strong missionary infrastructure and serve regional churches and, furthermore, local churches as well,'' Oh said.
According to the construction committee, building work will be carried out as planned.
``The controversy outside the church is from third parties. We are listening to all of their suggestions, and will proceed with our plans in the most righteous way possible,'' Han Jae-young, a committee member, told The Korea Times.
The construction will include two buildings _ one 12 stories, the other 8 _ plus an open square where church members can congregate.
It will be completed in 2012.
Korea is known for housing a number of ``mega churches.'' As of 2007, five of the 10 largest Protestant churches in the world were in South Korea, including the Yeouido Full Gospel Church, which was recognized as having the largest congregation in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records.
SaRang Community Church was founded in 1978 by pastor Oak Han-heum, now an emeritus pastor at the Presbyterian Church. In 2003, pastor Oak handed over the reins to pastor Oh, instead of his children as many other pastors do.