The Korean Methodist Church () is a large

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

denomination in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and the rest of the world, with approximately 1.5 million members. Methodist missionaries came from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the late 19th century. It became independent in 1930, and celebrated its centennial in 1984. The denomination has ties with its mother church, the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

. Rev. Kim Jung-seok (Kwanglim Church) has been elected as the 30th presiding bishop of the Korean Methodist Church.

Church's political views and actions

In 2023, the church suspended and later excommunicated one of their pastors, Lee Dong-hwan, for his support of LGBT rights. The South Korean courts granted an injunction to suspend the excommunication the following year. The denomination later announced that it would not accept pastors who support or endorse

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

Church's political views and actions

See also

References

Further reading