Salem Community Church

From Pastor TJ - Inspring Methodists

2009-11-10T15:56:13Z

Time to time, I encounter an event which makes me proud to be a Methodist pastor. The Bone-Marrow Donation Campaign in Chicago is one of those events. This campaign has begun by Pastor Young Min Paik at Glenbrook Korean United Methodist Church in Northbrook. He found out that one of the members at his church was a leukemia patient and wanted to do something about it. Realizing that the only hope for those patients is bone marrow transfer, he and his church members have launched a campaign to collect 3,000 bone marrow registrations from the Korean community in the Chicago area. It is indeed a very ambitious plan. When told by the director of Bone Marrow Association of Asia that it is an impossible goal, Pastor Paik replied, “Yes, I know it is almost impossible. But I believe that God’s people can do this together!”

My heart is “strangely warmed” by his remark. I was told that there are 3,000 leukemia patients of Korean decedents. And if we have 500,000 bone marrow registrations, the chance is that 90 % of them can be cured. However, we have only 160,000 registered donors so far. This campaign will help increase chances of someone receiving a life again. If you are over 18 years old, you can be part of this worthy campaign. Would you be a proud Methodist today by being willing to share your life with someone in desperate need? Thank you!

Pastor TJ

(Thanks to you, we had close to 40 new registered donnors last Sunday! Thank you!)

Harper Friends (10/30)

2009-11-03T02:36:05Z

Salem’s friends at Harper once again met for lunch at their favorite hangout spot, Applebee’s at Roselle & Schaumburg. This time Brian actually came on time! It was good to see that everyone is not only studying and working hard, but also serving faithfully at church. We shared things that we are thankful by playing “thanksgiving bingo” and had a Bible study on the power of thanksgiving … while munching on the delicious 2 for $ 20 lunch meals. It was a nice “break” from the busy flow of studying, working and serving at church. It was good to see you all!

November Downtown Group

2009-11-03T02:17:57Z

Salem EM’s downtown group met last Thursday at Holly’s apartment in the Lincoln Park area. Loumalnati’s pizzas and salads were our main menu and the dinner was nicely topped off with pumpkin pies that Holly got for us. Elli couldn’t make it, so there were six of us, including Pastor TJ. We enjoyed playing “thanksgiving bingo,” with Henry winning the first place prize, a box of “huge” cup ramyuns. The meeting concluded with a Bible study on the importance of thanksgiving. This was our third meeting this semester and we are grateful that people are willing to take their time off from their busy schedule to be together once a month. Our December meeting will probably be around Christmas, jointly held with the EM’s Christmas party. If you would like to find out more about the Salem EM’s downtown meeting, please email to PastorTJKim@gmail.com.

Heartwarming ...

2009-11-03T01:48:43Z

A couple of Sundays ago, I spotted Henry squatting in the playhouse in the Children’s chapel. I later found out that he spent quite some time there sitting next Vincent who got upset about something that happened during the children’s time. When we remember that ministry is being with people at where they are, our brother Henry showed us what it really meant to serve others. As a minister, it was heartwarming to see him in that playhouse.

That could have been why he got lucky to win the first prize for the “Thanksgiving” bingo that we played at our last downtown small group gathering at Holly’s apartment. As we took turn to share what we are thankful for, Eugene, another recent comer to our church, shared that he was thankful for the Salem community, where he found love and care, which meant a lot for him as he was about 300 miles away from home. As the minister, it was heartwarming to be able to hear that about our church.

As we played the “Thanksgiving” bingo, I was reminded that it was the season of thanksgiving. And I am truly grateful for so many things that I see around me that bring heartwarming thanksgivings. Yesterday, I saw Annie, a youth group member who began coming to our church a few months ago with her friend Mira, working all day with other youth members, for the preparation of the Fun Fall Fest. I was really glad to see that our church became a place where she could feel at home.

For these and many many more, I am truly thankful. Hallelujah!

Announcement - 11/1

2009-11-03T01:25:49Z

· Welcome to Salem Community Church's Sunday worship service. Afterwards, there will be refreshments provided downstairs.
· A special thank-you to those who served at Wayside yesterday.
· Another special thank-you to Holly for providing a meeting place for our November downtown meeting.
· Harper Group also met Friday at Applebee’s. It was good to see everyone!
· Please, have your picture taken for our new picture directory, today.
· Please join us for Growth Group Bible Study on Fridays at 7:45 PM in the Fellowship Hall. We have started on Genesis. Everyone is welcome!
· EM ministry Council will meet today after worship.
· Please continue to pray for our on-going building project.
· We have begun ‘Gleaning Campaign for a Heifer’, which will run November through December. Please give generously for this project.
· Let us bring our talents together for the upcoming Annual Thanksgiving Talent Show on Saturday, the 28th. Please talk to Pastor TJ for more info.
· Annual Youth Winter Retreat will be Dec. 28-30. Prayerfully consider serving as counselors and volunteers. Talk to Pastor Kyungsu for more info.
· Please sign up to provide snacks for the AfterCall. You can find the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board next to the kitchen in the Fellowship Hall.

Announcements - Oct. 8.

2009-10-15T14:27:17Z

Greetings, brothers and sisters in Christ!

Here are the announcements for the week of 10/8:

• TIME CHANGE! Please join us for our Sunday worship service at 1:15 p.m. Afterward, there will be snacks and refreshments provided downstairs in the Fellowship Hall.

• This Friday will be Growth Group fellowship night! Come join us for dinner and a movie (Where the Wild Things Are?). Please arrive at Salem no later than 7:30 p.m. If you plan on arriving late or have any suggestions, please call or text Daewoo at 312-259-3250.

• Downtown Bible study meets the first Thursday of every month. Our next meeting will be on 11/5 at Holly's place.

• Don’t forget! Please contribute to the Wayside fund – only $1 a week – so that we may continue to provide fresh fruit and meals to the homeless.

• A new Korean class for adults is being offered at Schaumburg Korean Language School. It will be held from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday. The tuition is $120 ($150 for non-Salem members). If you are interested, please contact Pastor TJ.

• Looking to serve? AfterCall is a wonderful opportunity to grow closer to one another as we prepare snacks for our congregation. Please sign-up outside the sanctuary or downstairs in the Fellowship Hall.

• Please continue to keep the following in prayer: Roy and Matt, who are serving in the military forces, Daniel, who is studying in Boston, Kyungsu, who is studying at Garrett, and Ann, who is leaving her job after 21 years (!) to venture new horizons, and the building project.

If you have any more announcements, or joys and concerns to share with the community, please contact salemcommchurch@gmail.com.

Rev. Theddeus J. (TJ) Kim

2009-10-15T14:15:34Z

Pastor TJ Kim has been leading Salem Community since 2004. His dream is to nurture a faith community that allows and empowers its people to fully enjoy the abundance of God’s grace. Christian life begins with restoring wholeness to a broken life through God’s grace. Once restored and nurtured to live a life like “a tree planted by the water” (Jeremiah 17:8), Christian community, then, should be able to share the abundance of God’s grace with the rest of the world, “enlarging the boundaries of God’s love.”As part of this dream, he has pushed for faith-nurturing Bible study programs and been on five short-term mission/vision trips to Mexico, Russia and North Korea in the past five years. In the future, he would like to see a family counseling center to be established to help struggling families. He would also like to see a senior-citizen’s apartment and a group home for mentally and physically challenged minority people built near the church, so the church can minister to them directly. Ultimately, he would like to see the church’s oversea mission work expanded to North Korea and build a church there someday.

Another dream of Pastor TJ is to build a faith community that provides new opportunities to the underprivileged. Being enlightened by Gladwell’s book “Outliers,” Pastor TJ wants to build a church that helps those people, especially children, who otherwise would not have the opportunities necessary for them to grow to have a meaningful and fruitful life. To this end he has been working hard to start and continue the summer program and the weekend Korean school for children and also to build an educational building adjacent to the present church building. In the future, he would like to establish a scholarship foundation and an afterschool program as well.

When he is not consumed by these dreams, he enjoys playing guitar, Korean drum, singing, fishing, and recently walking his family dog Bruno. But more than anything he finds joy in being with his wife, Wendi and their four children, JD, Jocelynn, Jemi and Joshua. Currently, he is leading both Korean and English congregation at Salem Church.

Rev. Theddeus J. (TJ) Kim

1988 Graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana, BA in Philosophy
1992 Graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary, M.Div.
1994 Ordained (Deacon), The United Methodist Church
1994 Director of Korean American Campus Ministry, Chicago, Illinois
1998 Associate Pastor, English Ministry, Korean Church of Atlanta, Georgia
2001 Ordained (Elder), The United Methodist Church
2001 Sr. Pastor, Warren United Methodist Church, Warren, Illinois
2004 Sr. Pastor, Salem Korean United Methodist Church

Whatever Happened to the Good Old Class?

2009-10-15T02:34:56Z

When John Wesley began the Methodist movement in 1740s, one of the cleverest things he did was organizing small groups. He called them “Classes”. Each Class consisted of 12 people, led by a leader who was required to visit each member at least once a week. They met weekly for the purpose of fellowship, support and discipleship. The attendance to the Class meeting was so emphasized that the members were issued a membership card every three months to verify their active participation, without which they could not participate in the weekly Class meeting and the quarterly Love Feast.

The success of the Methodist movement was credited to the structure of the Classes which organized tens of thousands Methodist into a system where the continual care and support were possible. The Class system existed for about 100 years in the Methodist Church and slowly died out around 1850s.

However, the Class meetings, called “Sok” in Korean, are alive and well in the Korean Methodist churches. Presently our KM is organized into 7 different “Sok”, which meet once a month, usually on the first weekend of the month. The Class is led by a class leader, called “Sok-Jang”, whose ministry is to care for his or her Class members, by calling them and visiting them. They attend the monthly Class leaders’ meeting on the last Saturday of the month and are asked to come to at least once a week to a morning prayer meeting to pray for their Class members.

Sometimes we also have a class teacher, who is gifted in teaching and assists the Class leader in the monthly Class by leading the Bible study portion of the meeting. The monthly gathering begins with a simple meal, after which they gather for a time of worship, which include Bible study. We use the inductive Bible study method, in order to encourage the members’ participation. The Class meeting also includes a time of intercessory prayer and offering. The offering collected during the Class is used for the mission project that the Class has decided to support. We are hoping to have more frequent Class meetings, at least every other week, but this hasn’t come true yet.

As you have heard many times, the small group meeting has become very prominent in today’s church ministry. It is because the small group meeting is the most effective setting for nurturing and life-changing transformation, If you look at the Methodist Class meeting, you’ll find that there are all five elements of the church’s ministry, namely worship, fellowship, discipleship (Bible study), mission (offering) and service (providing meal). Therefore, whatever that needs to and should happen at church can happen in the Class, only at a more intimate and personal level. Because they happen at the more personal and intimate level, its effectiveness is augmented.

I know that the EM has been trying to establish healthy small group ministries, yet has not seen that happen to our satisfaction. May it be that re-establishing the “good old” system of the Class might prove to be helpful for us?

TJ Kim, Pastor

Welcome

2009-01-07T23:54:13Z

We're glad you're here.

Join us for Sunday Worship Service: 1:00 PM / Main Sanctuary
10 S. Walnut Lane, Schaumburg, IL 60193

>> We invite you to join us for our Sunday Worship Service, as we seek to grow together in a deeper relationship with our Lord and Savior. You can expect a casual, yet intimate, time of praise and worship, relevant and challenging weekly messages, as well as a friendly face or two. Come as you are, but remember that God will not leave you as you were! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at salemcommchurch@gmail.com or Pastor TJ at pastortjkim@gmail.com.

Ministries

2009-01-07T23:03:30Z

Our Ministries

Friday Night Growth Groups: 7:30 PM / Fellowship Hall / Studying Galatians

>> Growth Group is a weekly gathering of college students and young adults to study the Word of God together in prayer and meaningful conversation. Come join us for a laid-back, casual Bible study where questions can be asked and more importantly, be answered. For more information, contact Jason Choi at jschoi1016@gmail.com.

Wayside Ministry: Future Dates TBA

>> The Salem community is committed to living out the Gospel in our own lives, as well as in our community. Each month, volunteers raise funds and prepare food and Bible studies to minister to the homeless in partnership with Wayside Ministry. For more information, contact Ann Park at apark@schawk.com.

Connect Ministry: 6:30 PM / First Saturday of the Month / Location TBA

>> Connect is a non-denominational multi-ethnic ministry that strives to gather young adult believers in building community, encouraging spiritual growth, and strengthening the local churches through relevant Biblical teaching and corporate worship. This is an interchurch ministry that meets once a month for Bible study, worship, and prayer. It is also a wonderful way to get connected to other brothers and sisters in the Chicagoland area. For more information, please contact ministry.connect@gmail.com.

About Us

2009-01-07T21:44:24Z

Our Story

>> Salem Korean United Methodist Church was established over twenty years ago to minister to the first-generation of Korean Americans who immigrated to the United States. As the children of the first-generation grew older into the adult stages of their lives, the need for an English Ministry (EM) geared towards this second generation became increasingly evident.

After much prayer and deliberation, the English Ministry at Salem KUMC held their inaugural EM worship service on February 4, 2007 to celebrate their new journey of faith together. Those in attendance were approximately 15-20 college and young adults; all of whom were committed to building the Kingdom of Christ. Today, our community has expanded beyond that of a traditional Korean American ministry to fully embrace those of diverse ethnicities and cultures. In order to further reflect this vision, the English Ministry at Salem KUMC officially changed its name to Salem Community Church in the Summer of 2007. Our hope is that our church would be a beacon of light to the world around us.

Although we are still young, we are a community of believers who are committed to growing as lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ. Of course, we are by no means perfect, yet the desire of our hearts remain; to worship our Lord and Savior in spirit and in truth, spreading his Name to the ends of the earth. We invite you to join us in this journey of faith!

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14