KOREAN CHURCH MARKING 1ST SERVICE.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

SAUGUS - In response to the growing Korean population in the Santa Clarita Valley, the Santa Clarita United Methodist Church is beginning a new ministry.

The Rev. James Seung-Min Shin, the former pastor of Bupyung Methodist Church in South Korea, will lead the new church, Korean United Methodist, which will celebrate its first service at 12:30 p.m. today at the Saugus sanctuary.

Shin and his wife Ann Young-Ah Lim and their daughter Eui Jin, 8, and son Myoung Chan, 3, arrived June 27 from Inchon City, settling into an apartment in Valencia.

``Our church members have been very generous providing household items for them to get started,'' said the Rev. Stan Fix, pastor of Santa Clarita United Methodist. ``When the family arrived from Korea, all they brought were six suitcases for a family of four. They sold their belongings in Korea and have come here as missionaries.''

Lim said they are very grateful for the support of their new community.

``We'd like to thank them. They are very, very kind,'' she said. Both she and her husband have enrolled in English classes at the church and are looking forward to becoming part of the Santa Clarita community.

``On Wednesday, the Korean members of the church invited me for dinner, American food,'' Shin said in halting English. ``American food is very delicious.'' Asked what his favorite American food is, he smiled and said, ``McDonald's hamburgers.''

``It is very beautiful here,'' he said. ``We are very impressed.''

The Shin children already have made friends with other Korean children in the complex. Shin said his son was very tired after spending hours and hours swimming with his new friends, something he did not have the chance to do in Korea.

At Bupyung Methodist, Shin was involved in pastoral training, church administration and mission-related events, such as music concerts.

Fix said Santa Clarita United Methodist had already helped another ``flavor'' of Korean worship, providing a meeting place for the Jesus Family Korean Presbyterian Church, which has since moved on to meet elsewhere.

``There are a large number of Korean language-speaking people in the Santa Clarita Valley, many of whom have been commuting to the San Fernando Valley and Koreatown to worship,'' Fix explained. ``We do not expect many of those people (to switch to the new church), unless they are motivated by the price of gasoline, because they are very devoted to their church.''

Fix said the church advertised in local Korean publications, announcing Shin's arrival and the establishment of the new church. Funding for Shin's mission is being provided by his congregation in Inchon City, with support from Methodist churches across the United States.

``Korean Christians do not take a large number to become financially viable,'' Fix said. ``They are very generous in support of their faith. The church I visited in Korea was a $23 million campus and they paid it off in three years.

``They are also very devout. Every Korean brings his or her Bible to church and applies their heart to Bible teaching. They also have an interesting practice: There is a dawn prayer service that starts about 5 or 5:30 a.m. when they sing a couple of songs, hear a brief message, then every person prays out loud simultaneously for 30 to 90 minutes. When they're done, they just get up and leave on their own.''

He said that the congregations he visited also had small groups that met in homes throughout the day.

``They don't go to church for just an hour, they come together in small groups and nurture one another with prayer.''

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) The Rev. James Seung-Min Shin has come from Korea to the Santa Clarita United Methodist Church to minister to the growing local Korean community. With him came wife Ann Young-Ah Lim, daughter Eui Jin, 8, and son Myoung Chan, 3.

(2) The Rev. James Seung-Min Shin said local people have been making his family feel welcome. ``It is very beautiful here,'' he said. ``We are very impressed.''

David Crane/Staff Photographer