Disciple-making Ministries International

Overview

Disciple-making Ministries International is an institution affiliated with SaRang Community Church. It was established to introduce and spread discipleship training among local churches. The institution is grounded in the idea of awakening the laity and raising them up as co-laborers in ministry. Its English name, Disciple-making Ministries International, is abbreviated as DMI. Its flagship ministry is the CAL Seminar for pastors.

Founding and History

Oak Han-hum, the founding senior pastor of SaRang Community Church, wrote Called to Awaken the Laity. Pastors who read the book asked him to hold a discipleship training seminar, and in response a "Seminar Office" was established in March 1986. This Seminar Office developed into today's Disciple-making Ministries International. The first CAL Seminar was held at SaRang Community Church that same month. In 1999, pastors who had completed the seminar formed the Discipleship Training Pastors' Network (CAL-NET), through which the seminar is reported to have spread to churches in Korea and abroad.

Construction of a dedicated ministry center for the institution began in March 2003, and the center opened in February 2004. Oak Han-hum was serving as director at the time. The center included the following facilities:

• The Eunbo Library, a collection of resources on discipleship-based ministry (Eunbo was Oak Han-hum's pen name)
• Book Café SaRang Plus, a combined bookstore and café
• Yeonseong Chapel, used for training sessions and small seminars

Oh Jung-hyun, the current senior pastor of SaRang Community Church, now serves as director.

Major Activities

• CAL Seminar: Its full name is the "Called to Awaken the Laity Discipleship Leadership Seminar." CAL is an acronym for the English title Called to Awaken the Laity. In addition to lectures, the seminar includes observation and practical training. Participants observe firsthand SaRang Community Church's small group gatherings, such as discipleship classes, small group leader classes, and Darakbang ("upper room") meetings.
• Online Seminars: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the institution also held remote seminars via videoconferencing (Zoom).
• Overseas Seminars: Seminars have also been held in the United States, Japan, Brazil, Taiwan, and elsewhere, and foreign pastors have attended the seminars held in Korea. The 122nd session, held in April 2024 at SaRang Community Church's Anseong retreat center, was reported to have drawn some 400 participants from 11 countries, including pastors from Ukraine.
• Changes in Curriculum: More recently, the seminar has incorporated material from Onjeonron (On Wholeness), a book by director Oh Jung-hyun.

Membership and Organization

Disciple-making Ministries International is not an interdenominational association with member denominations; it is an institution operated by SaRang Community Church. It has no formal membership system; instead, the network of pastors who have completed the CAL Seminar (CAL-NET) effectively fills that role. According to Christian media reports, a total of 27,602 pastors had completed the seminar through its 123rd session—22,560 in Korea and 5,042 abroad.

Assessment

Christian media have described the CAL Seminar as one of the leading discipleship training seminars in the Korean church. Oak Han-hum is regarded as the pastor who first introduced discipleship training to the Korean church, and Disciple-making Ministries International became a channel for passing on his model of ministry to other churches. However, no formal criticism or assessment of the institution itself could be verified in the course of preparing this article.