From father to son: Controversial leadership transition puts mega church to the test

Myungsung Church is under fire for controversial leadership transition. / Korea Times file

By Kang Hyun-kyung

The members of the Presbyterian Church of Korea's (PCK) court met at the Korean Church Centennial Hall in Seoul, Tuesday, to discuss the father-son leadership transfer at Myungsung Church, one of the largest churches in Korea.

There, they were expected to reveal their decision on the mega church's controversial leadership transition from Rev. Kim Sam-hwan, its founder, to his first son Kim Ha-na. The meeting began at 11 a.m. and the PCK members continue to discuss the issue into the afternoon.

Rev. Kang Heung-koo, the lead arbiter of the PCK court, told reporters that he and the other members were trying hard to reach a decision. He declined to comment on any further details of their meeting.

Some speculate the PCK court may not make a decision on the controversial issue and delay any conclusion until September when the organization's General Assembly is scheduled to be held.

Outside the centennial hall, activists staged a protest calling for the mega church to reverse the decision to make the junior Kim its leader.

The father-son leadership succession has sparked a nationwide debate since August 2018 when the PCK court gave the junior Kim the green light to take the helm of the church, which was previously held by his father who retired as senior pastor in 2015.

Criticism erupted as many believe that a church is not a family business and religious leaders are supposed to prioritize serving the poorest of the poor and taking care of the community, without being distracted by power struggles.

Critics say the son replacing the father as head pastor in such a big church, which has 100,000 registered members, is not only unethical but also has other problems.

Rev. Kim Sam-hwan founded the church in 1980 in its current location Myungil-dong, Seoul with 20 layman worshippers. The small church expanded rapidly when a large apartment complex was built nearby. Like other large churches in Korea, Myungsung has seen a surge in worshippers since the 1980s when southern Seoul underwent a facelift after a development boom and became a “posh” district.

Kim retired after serving as senior pastor for nearly four decades.

In a media interview, he said he had no intention to let his son inherit the church he founded.

“He has been doing a good job in the church, so I think he will have no problems in serving as pastor in any other church,” he said when asked to confirm that he had previously requested the selection committee remove his son from the list of candidates to lead Myungsung.

Kim Ha-na served as a vice pastor there and later founded a branch church in 2014 in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province.

“There is a selection committee in the church and I understand people there are searching for the right person to serve the church as chief pastor,” the elder Kim said. “I think it's their job to find a senior pastor. It's inappropriate for a retired pastor like me to comment on the selection process. I won't leave any room for reinterpretation regarding who to select as the next pastor.”

The interview was published in January 2016, a month after his retirement.

The senior pastor's departure has left the church with a leadership vacuum. The selection committee had been searching for a replacement before choosing the son.

Myungsung Church has been divided into two groups, according to an observer.

“Many church members, particularly the older ones who have attended the church for decades, support the younger Kim as chief pastor. But their decision met a backlash from some members from within. The opponents are not excited about the idea of the son taking a position which was held previously by his father,” said Lee Jin-koo, director of the Seoul-based think tank, Korea Institute for Religion and Culture.

“Those who are against the father-son leadership succession raise ethical issues as well as procedural flaws because the PCK has a rule against such succession. Church members who are backing the younger Kim are aware of such regulations but they have been pushing for it because they liked the older Kim and his leadership style and presume his son will follow a similar path. They saw the fall of some big churches after unsuccessful leadership changes following the departure of a founding pastor who served there for a long time. So there are lots of factors that are playing out behind the scenes.”

Lee said Myungsung is not the only church locked in a leadership succession row, noting several other large churches are mired in similar circumstances. The succession issue is one of the key obstacles that has undermined the reputation of Korean churches, he said.

In 2013, the PCK introduced a measure to ban leadership changes from father to son or from husband to wife. It stipulates that “Spouses or children of a retiring pastor or the son- or daughter-in-law of the pastor are not permitted to succeed to the leadership.”

The PCK Assembly approved the measure banning family ties-based leadership succession at Myungsung Church, its iconic church.

Despite this, Rev. Kim Ha-na took the helm at Myungsung in 2017 following the approval of a majority of the congregation.

At that time, the PCK court endorsed the selection and said the father-son leadership succession was not a violation of the rule because the rule only banned a family member's succession to an outgoing pastor who was still in office.

But Pastor Kim retired two years previous to this.

The PCK court's decision backfired. Some dissenting church members teamed up with activists from outside the church and took the case back to the PCK court, requesting it review the case. All the court members had been replaced and new members agreed to review the case.