Ok Han-heum

Life

Ok Han-heum was born in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, the eldest son of a family that had been Christian for four generations, beginning with his great-grandfather. He applied to the Korea Naval Academy but was rejected after a physical examination found that he had high blood pressure. After repeatedly failing university entrance examinations, he reportedly went through a period of aimlessness before accepting pastoral ministry as his calling. He graduated from Sungkyunkwan University and from the graduate school of theology at the General Assembly Theological Seminary (now Chongshin University). He then served as an evangelist at Eunpyeong Church and later ministered at Seongdo Church. He was ordained a minister in 1972.

He earned a Master of Theology degree from Calvin Theological Seminary in the United States, and he received a Doctor of Ministry degree from Westminster Theological Seminary with a dissertation on the training of lay leaders. He said that while studying abroad he read the Catholic theologian Hans Küng's The Church and was deeply influenced by the idea that all lay believers are disciples of Jesus sent into the world.

In July 1978 he planted Gangnam Eunpyeong Church, which was renamed SaRang Community Church in 1981. In 2003 he stepped down as senior pastor and became pastor emeritus; his successor was Oh Jung-hyun. He died of lung cancer on September 2, 2010, and was buried at SaRang Community Church's Anseong Retreat Center.

Ministry and Achievements

• Discipleship-centered ministry: He made discipleship training, which formed the laity in small groups, the center of his ministry. In 1984 he drew on this experience to write Called to Awaken the Laity. The book has remained a steady seller for many years and has been translated into English, Chinese, Japanese, and other languages.
• Disciple-Making Ministries International and the CAL Seminar: When pastors who had read the book requested seminars, he established a seminar office (now Disciple-Making Ministries International) in March 1986. That same month, SaRang Community Church hosted the first "Called to Awaken the Laity" Discipleship Training Leaders' Seminar (the CAL Seminar).
• Church unity and renewal: He led the Pastors' Association for Church Renewal. In 1998 he founded the Korea Evangelical Pastors' Council, a transdenominational association of pastors, and served as its president until 2007.
• Social service: He served as honorary chairman of the board of Yanbian University of Science and Technology. He was also involved in assisting child-headed households, aiding North Korean children, ministry to people with disabilities, and hospice ministry.

Influence on the Korean Church

He is regarded as a leading figure in bringing discipleship training, which had previously been carried out mainly by campus ministries such as Korea Campus Crusade for Christ, into local church ministry. He sought to shift the focus of church life, giving priority to the gospel over doctrine, to church members over leaders, to small groups over large gatherings, and to spiritual nurture over events. In addition to pastors from the Hapdong denomination, many pastors from other denominations, including the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Kosin), and the Korean Methodist Church, attended the CAL Seminar. Through it, discipleship training spread across denominational lines throughout Korean Christianity.

Assessment

Although he belonged to a conservative denomination, he is regarded as one of the rare pastors respected by both the conservative evangelical and the progressive camps. Commentators also frequently note that he retired before the mandatory retirement age and that, after retiring, he called for the renewal of the Korean church as a whole. Assessments of the discipleship training he led, however, are divided. Some credit it with transforming the church into a lay-centered community, while others criticize it for failing to overcome a dualism that separates the church from the world and for leaning too heavily toward individual piety.