Six days a week in Koreatown, hundreds of people converge on Oriental Mission Church for a prayer service before sunrise.
Some worshipers inch their way to the base of the cross on their knees. Others raise their arms heavenward, calling out, "Hana-nim Aboji! (Father God), or Joo-yoh! (Lord Jesus)." Some just sit, weeping.
The scene is repeated at Korean congregations throughout Southern California, with thousands of Korean Americans packing churches for predawn services before hustling off to work or school.
Korean immigrants in Greater Los Angeles have established the biggest Korean community outside Asia, and their growing influence on the business community is well known. Perhaps less obvious is the extraordinary growth of Korean churches, which tend to practice a brand of Christianity emphasizing daily worship and missionary work.
Experts say that nearly 80% of Korean immigrants attend church. By comparison, a study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life this year found that 54% of Americans went to church weekly, more than once a week or a few times a month. The rest attended services occasionally or not at all.
"The local church is the center of fellowship, comfort and consolation," said Anselm K. Min, professor of philosophy of religion and theology at Claremont Graduate University.
An association of Korean Protestant churches in Southern California has 1,359 congregations, representing 39 denominations. A study last year by the L2 Foundation, a Christian group that strives to develop Asian American leadership, found that of 7,000 Protestant Asian congregations in the U.S., 4,000 were Korean.
The Rev. Hee-Min Park, a respected pastor and former missionary who pastored Korean churches in L.A. and Toronto, attributes the proliferation of the immigrant churches to the huge influx of Koreans since the 1970s, the growth of Korean seminaries and a tendency for congregations to split when they run into disagreements. "Our strong points are passion, prayer and evangelism," he said.
Yet for all that vibrancy, some Korean Americans are wondering when and how Korean churches will interact more with other institutions in the region. They cite some tendencies in Korean church life: a reluctance to work in partnership with other churches and not paying sufficient attention to social justice issues.
