Protestant church leader Hong accused of greed

CCK Chairman Hong Jae-chul

By Baek Byung-hyeul

Pastor Hong Jae-chul, leader of Korea’s largest Christian lobby, is touching off controversy with his plans to form a new Protestant church group that will allow member pastors to pass on their jobs to their children. But the children would have to wait as these churches would not impose a retirement age on pastors, allowing them to serve as long as they want, Hong said.

Hong, currently the chairman of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK), representing more than 45,000 churches with a combined 12 million followers, recently took out advertisements on several vernacular newspapers calling for pastors and churches to join his new group.

Critics, including many within the Christian community, claim that Hong’s efforts will further tarnish the public image of Korea’s protestant church, which has been fighting accusations of corruption, greed and suppressing social minorities, including LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people.

"Churches in Korea have reached their limits of growth because they are full of modern Pharisaic leaders. We need a new Christian order that puts the highest priorities on the scripture and evangelism," Hong said.

Hong has previously faced charges of nepotism. He had led the Kyoungseo Church in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, but was criticized after he transferred his head pastor position to his son, Hong Seong-ik, in 2010.

Hong is also against the government plans to impose taxes on the clergy, saying pastors deserve their tax-free status since their lives is dedicated to the "selfless serving of others."

Perhaps, there’s an irony in that people who are supposedly committed to making society better have so much trouble accepting the basic individual burden essential for supporting it. Besides, it’s awkward for Protestants to play the selfless card when the Catholic Church has been voluntarily paying income tax since 1994.

Last February, Strategy and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok admitted to the discussions about taxing religious leaders, saying “where there’s an income, there’s always tax.”

“What Hong said in the ad is just recruiting churches and pastors into his new order. We will decide whether the churches in the new order will be included into CCK or not after going through screening process,” said an official from CCK.