Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño of the California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church warmly extended her prayers today for Bishop Yong Jai Jun, the newly elected President of the Council of Bishops of the Korean Methodist Church.

As the leader of the Western Jurisdiction Korean Mission Advisory Council of the United Methodist Church, Bishop Carcaño articulated her hopes for strengthening God’s work among Korean brothers and sisters and all of the body of Christ Jesus.

Bishop Yong Jai Jun is familiar with the California-Pacific Annual Conference as he was the founding pastor of Cerritos Korean United Methodist Church, which was first located at Artesia-Cerritos United Methodist Church and is today La Palma Korean United Methodist Church.

In addition, Bishop Jun earned a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry (1984) from Claremont School of Theology.

The roots of the Korean Methodist Church reach back to the late 19th century when American Methodist missionaries began to arrive in Korea to open schools and hospitals.  Today, the Korean Methodist Church (as of 2010) is made up of 1.5+ million members and 9,000+ clergypersons and home to the world’s largest Methodist congregation: Kumnan Methodist Church (Seoul, Korea) with 120,000 members.