At a time when the Seventh-day Adventist Church is celebrating 100 years in Korea, a group of American-based Korean Adventists are helping immigrant and second-generation Korean-Americans stay connected to their homeland - and their faith.
At a time when the Seventh-day Adventist Church is celebrating 100 years in Korea, a group of American-based Korean Adventists are helping immigrant and second-generation Korean-Americans stay connected to their homeland—and their faith.
The Korean Adventist Press (KAP), based in Los Angeles, prints and distributes publications for the Korean community in North America, as well as for 130 Korean Adventist churches in the region. Approximately two million Koreans reside in the United States and Canada. It’s estimated that more than 10,000 Koreans in North America are Seventh-day Adventist church members.
Editor Soon-Tae Song works with his associate editor and Treasurer Joseph Cho and a shipping crew to create and/or distribute material. KAP’s range of publications is linked to the needs of Korean Adventist church members in the United States and Canada, but don’t stop there, Song said. Two magazines, “Home & Health” and “Signs of the Times,” are designated as “outreach” publications for the general public, as are books containing the writings of Ellen G. White, a pioneering founder of the church, and several cookbooks emphasizing a healthy lifestyle.
For church members, KAP distributes quarterly Bible study guides and magazines prepared by the world church.
According to Song, the Korean “Signs of the Times” magazine distributed by KAP has a circulation of 17,000 copies. Church members pay for the subscriptions and for books to share with others.
KAP is the only Adventist organization for Korean members in North America, Song said, and serves as a resource for the Korean Adventist community. For the past 16 years, it has organized annual trips to Korea for some 50 high school and college students so they can experience Korean life.
Sunny Oh, treasurer for the Adventist Church in Southern California noted, “The press was established in 1980 as a subsidiary of the Southern California [district] and is recognized ... as a denominational institution.” Oh, founder and general manager of KAP, explained the genesis of the institution. “Around 1979, about 40 Korean churches worshiped in the U. S. and Canada, using literature and church supplies each church imported from Korea. Delays, shipping expense and other factors involved in getting materials from Korea to churches on this continent, especially dated materials such as Bible study guides and monthly magazines, created difficulties for the churches.
“Prior to 1980, no central organization or information exchange existed in North America for Korean churches, so they were just by themselves,” he continued. “This changed once the press was established. In addition, an annual directory of North American Korean members was developed (now published every 18 months) which includes contact information for all the Korean Adventists in the region. The directory helps Korean members worldwide know how to contact members who now live in North America.”
