Korean Global Mission Leaders Forum
Dr. Jon Bonk, CGCM faculty associate, has been serving as the president of the Korean Global Mission Leaders Forum (KGMLF). KGMLF demonstrated a model of vigorous cross-cultural interaction and produced multilingual publications that address complex but overlooked issues bedeviling missions regardless of the sending or receiving country, mission society, or denomination involved.
In February 10-14, 2011, a group of 48 men and women from around the world gathered at OMSC in New Haven to identify and tackle complex issues relating to financial, administrative, strategic and pastoral accountability practices and lapses in Korea. WEC, OMF, SIM, IBM, and SEND international were represented, along with other agencies whose ministries intersected with Koreans, Korean churches, and Korean mission societies. Major Korean sending agencies—both independent and denominational—all took part. The gathering produced the ensuing book (in Korean and English) Accountability in Missions: Korean and Western Case Studies.
The June 11-14, 2013 forum resulted in the publication of Family Accountability in Missions: Korean and Western Case Studies (OMSC Publications, 2013). In November 3-6, 2015 the third forum took place in Sokcho, South Korea, which resulted in the publication of the book Megachurch Accountability in Missions: Critical Assessment through Global Case Studies. In November 7-10, 2017, forum on “Migration, Human Dislocation and Accountability in Missions,” was held, and the proceedings will be published as People Disrupted: Doing Mission Responsibly among Refugees and Migrants. Dr. Bonk is planning the fifth forum addressing the theme of “Missionaries, Mental Health, and Accountability in Church and Agency Support Systems” (June 10-14, 2019). The case studies for this forum will examine a range of issues and approaches relating to fostering and effectively restoring missionary mental health in contexts of ministry.