Korean Central Presbyterian Church

Korean Central Presbyterian Church (KCPC) is an Evangelical Christian megachurch located in Centreville, Virginia,[1] situated in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America.[2] From a sample of more than 50,000 churches in the United States, KCPC was selected to be one of the 13 "breakout" churches by the Rainer Group.[3] KCPC currently averages 4,600 in attendance per week. It was founded on November 4, 1973. Rev. Eung Yul David Ryoo is the senior pastor of the church.[4]

Korean Central Presbyterian Church (KCPC)
A Sunday school class at Korean Central Presbyterian Church
38.829337°N 77.480295°W / 38.829337; -77.480295
Location15451 Lee Highway, Centreville, VA 20121
CountryUnited States
DenominationPresbyterian Church in America
Membership4,600
Websitewww.kcpc.org
History
Founded1973
Founder(s)Myung Ho Yoon
Architecture
Stylemodern
Clergy
Pastor(s)KCPC pastor - Eung-Yul David Ryoo, CCPC pastor - Owen Lee

Korean Central Presbyterian Church is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America.[5]

Mission statement

The mission of KCPC is "Training the Saints to Transform the World" (Ephesians 4:12).[6]

History

The Korean Central Presbyterian Church (renamed from Korean Central Church) was founded on November 4, 1973, by Rev. Myung Ho Yoon with 20 Korean-American families. The first service was in his residence at 313 Park Street, N.E. Vienna, Virginia. Despite the growing pains of its early years, Rev. Won Sang Lee who became the succeeding senior pastor faithfully served the congregation for the next 26 years. With its emphasis on becoming a missional community of faith, the congregation grew to over 3,700 members by 2003.[7]

After the retirement of Rev. Won Sang Lee and his installation as pastor emeritus, Rev. Danny C. Ro became the third senior pastor of KCPC starting from October, 2003. Rev. Ro resigned on July 1, 2012, as the senior pastor of KCPC to answer a call from Sarang Community Church of Southern California as its senior pastor. A new senior pastor, Rev. Eung-yul David Ryoo was called and installed in 2013 as its fourth pastor. To accommodate the growing size of the congregation and to expand the reach of its vision,[8] KCPC relocated from the previous 45,475-square-foot (4,224.8 m2) Vienna campus of 12 acres (49,000 m2) to a new 172,500-square-foot (16,030 m2) Centreville campus of 80 acres (320,000 m2) July 11, 2010.[7][9] In addition to the main campus, KCPC operates the Culpeper Retreat Center in Sperryville, Virginia (13092 Major Brown Dr.).[10]

The English-speaking congregation (KCPC English Ministry) began in the early 1990s to minister to the American-born or raised members of the church. Its first pastor, Ray Chang, was called and installed, but left due to doctrinal and vision controversy. The congregation called its first PCA-ordained pastor, James Lee, in 1996. During his tenure, deacons were ordained and a second Sunday service, Impact, was launched which doubled the congregation from 250 to 500. When the pastor answered the call to be a missionary, Harold Kim was called as pastor in 2003. The congregation, having joined the Korean Capital Presbytery, changed its name to Christ Central Presbyterian Church (CCPC) during Kim's pastorate. In 2012, Owen Lee was called as new pastor at a time when the congregation was attracting about 100 worshipers. With the new pastor, CCPC became an organized church, having ordained ruling elders. However, CCPC still shares the church facilities with its Korean-speaking mother congregation (KCPC). By 2020, CCPC attracted about 1,000 worshipers on a weekend.[11]

In recognition of CCPC's particularization as an organized church, KCPC launched a 10 o'clock worship service for its English-speaking congregation (2E Service) in 2019, which is attended by second generation Korean Americans as well as English-speaking Korean congregant members. An English Congregation Support Committee (ECSC) was launched in 2020 to systematically pursue KCPC's vision of unity and diversity between first and second generation Korean-Americans under a "one church" model. On January 10th, 2021, KCPC launched its KCPC-DC Campus in Arlington, Virginia led by Rev. Daniel Kwon to reach the unchurched in DC.[12]

Community service
  • Funded and supports the D.C. Community Center that provides shelter & meals for the homeless.
  • Established and operates the Culpeper Prayer House to provide a place of rest and retreat for local pastors and individuals in the community.
  • Supports the Washington Metro Symphony Orchestra.
  • Supports the Youth Foundation Center.
  • Provides support programs for families with individuals with special needs and disabilities.
  • Supports Fairfax County government by providing building usage for the Providence District staff meetings and the Long Term Care Council monthly meetings.[13]
  • Provides a Personal Care Aids Program in Fairfax, Virginia.[14]
  • Established and manages an extended day program for the elderly Korean-American community.
  • Provides a life-skills enhancing program for neighborhood groups.
  • Offers U.S. citizenship classes.
  • Provides voter registration campaigns.[15]
  • Participants in the Senior Navigator Korean project which provides translation of information into Korean for the local Korean community.[16]
  • Hosted a Medicare Part D prescription drug campaign targeting Asian-Americans. About 400 Asian-Americans attended this meeting with Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt present to discuss the Medicare D prescription drug program.
  • In April 2006, KCPC played a major role in hosting the "Increasing Awareness of Medicare D Program Benefit" at the NVCC campus, Annandale, Virginia. In attendance were President George W. Bush, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and over 400 Asian-Americans.
  • KCPC's Senior Center was selected as a training site for online Medicare education beginning in May 2007.

Recognition

KCPC was selected as one of thirteen churches identified as a "good-to-great church." The study, conducted by the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, examined 52,333 churches and the results were published in Breakout Churches by Thom S. Rainer (Zondervan Publishing Co., 2005).

The Korean Senior Center of KCPC received grant totaling $20,000 in 2006 from the SkillSource Group Inc., the nonprofit entity of the Northern Virginia Workforce Investment Board which was awarded grant by the United States Department of Labor. The grant designed to strengthen and build stronger faith and community-based organizations to provide a variety of direct services to meet citizen needs. It also received the Presidential Award from the Republic of Korea in 2002 and the Governor's Award of Volunteerism in Faith Organization in 2001.

KCPC was recognized by the United States Congress and its merits recorded in the Congressional Record for the 108th Congress in 2003.

KCPC's Meals on Wheels program received a National Foundation grant in 2000 and 2001.

See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-08-24. Retrieved 2011-08-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24. Retrieved 2009-03-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Breakout Churches: Discover How To Make The Leap: Thom S. Rainer: 9780310257455: Amazon.com: Books". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-02-12. Retrieved 2009-03-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Church Directory". Presbyterian Church in America. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-27. Retrieved 2009-03-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2009-03-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Korean Church's Relocation To Centreville Causes Unease". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  9. "Projects Proposed". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2009-03-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. https://christcentralpc.org/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. https://dc.kcpc.org/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. "Providence District". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  14. "Family Services – Family Services". www.fairfaxcounty.gov.
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2004-11-29. Retrieved 2009-03-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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