Professor Cho, long-time leader in PCUSA, would like to change direction of church By John H. Adams The Layman Online Monday, April 24, 2000
Then a precocious little granddaughter unwittingly may have sent him over the limit – if shoes count. She remembered Papa Youngil at a previous General Assembly when he was scurrying from place to place, so she sent a comfortable pair of walking shoes. Cho tells these stories because, like most fathers and grandfathers, he likes to talk about his family. But there's more. This kind of one-for-all and all-for-one commitment is how things ought to be in the church, Cho says, but they're not. He would like to help change that. Professor and assistant dean Youngil Cho is a quiet, decisive professor of business and assistant dean at North Carolina Central University in Durham. He has the heart of a preacher, a talent for getting things done, a long history of leadership in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and a Bible verse for just about every occasion. He is unapologetically "born again" and as moderator he would use the bully pulpit to redirect the church toward faith in Jesus Christ. But there's also a flip side of Cho: the management expert who believes in organization and efficiency. Herein, though, he has a caveat: Management and efficiency alone won't build up the church; they're tools to help the church become a more effective witness for Jesus Christ. For years, Cho has memorized a Bible verse a day, although he says he now "leaks" some memorized years ago. Memorizing verses is not simply a mnemonic exercise - it is Cho's way of feeding his soul the Word of God. He believes the Presbyterian Church (USA) is hungry for the same thing. 'Church … is in trouble' "The Church really is in trouble," Cho says. "We need a new direction. People are confusing the materialistic and spiritual life. People are departing from the Church. John 15:5. 'I am the vine and you are the branches, but if you are apart from me you can do nothing.' As much as possible, I will tell Presbyterians that we must put our faith in Jesus. My objective in running for moderator is to promote Jesus Christ as our savior." Cho talks exactly like that. A verse of Scripture intersects his thoughts and pulls them into focus. As a native Korean, Cho is a member of one of the strongest, Biblically grounded Christ-centered ethnic groups within the Presbyterian Church (USA). He is personally responsible – or so he once thought – for building a Korean congregation near Raleigh. That story did not begin with great faith. Cho read about a $2,000 grant available through the Presbytery of Orange (now Presbytery of New Hope) in North Carolina to help Korean immigrants. He asked the presbytery executive what he needed to do to qualify. Cho says the executive gave him a Bible, a copy of the Westminster Confession, a Book of Order and a Presbyterian hymnal. Grant won after crash course Cho gave himself a crash course. A week later, he could recite the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed, give a summary of all the books of the Bible and recite all the verses to Amazing Grace. He got the $2,000 grant. With great self-confidence and determination, Cho set out to build a Presbyterian Church. The task turned out to be more than he reckoned for. Along the way, the fledging congregation bought a building formerly owned by a Baptist church. Part of the deal with the Baptists was that the Koreans would never sell the building for commercial purposes. Cho gave his word. But the money didn't come in as expected, and the congregation was soon in trouble. The temptation to sell the building, take a huge profit and build elsewhere was great. Even presbytery leaders urged Cho's group to sell the building. A troubled Cho left town with a friend for quiet time on the beach. He says he was alone when he heard, "Youngil Cho, you are a liar and a cheat." "It was the voice of God," Cho says. Cho returned to Raleigh a broken and changed man, realizing that his efforts would not build the church, that God was in charge. Crisis resolved quickly The financial crisis was resolved quickly. Other Presbyterian churches in the Raleigh area came to the aid of the Korean congregation. In six years, Duraleigh Korean Presbyterian Church was debt-free. Cho's first contact with Presbyterians came in South Korea, where he was born in 1933. As a young man, he was sent to the United States on business. While abroad, a coup toppled the government he served. Alone in the United States, unable to speak English, Cho says his faith began to come alive. He said he found that he could depend on no one – only on Christ. In time, his family came to be reunited in the United States, where Cho set out to build a new life. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin and M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from New York University. He has been a professor for 35 years. Cho has served at every level of the Presbyterian Church, as elder and stated clerk at Duraleigh, as a member of the council of the New Hope Presbytery, as a General Assembly commissioner, as chairman of the General Assembly Council, as president of the National Council of Presbyterian Men and as chairman of the National Korean-American Presbyterian Men. Chairman of Council He was in the limelight especially when he served as chairman of the General Assembly Council in 1996-97. That was a year of great turmoil, when James Brown, former executive director of the council, was defending Louisville staff members for their participation in the ReImagining God movement and Presbyterian finances were in turmoil because of declining income. Under Cho's leadership, the council began using money that had been accumulating in long-term investments for the donors' intended mission purposes. Brown was not re-elected executive director, and Cho played a key role in getting Frank Diaz to become the new executive. After his term as chairman of the General Assembly Council, Cho accepted the task of serving as chairman of the committee charged with building a chapel at the denomination's headquarters in Louisville. But it was more than just a building project – he had to raise the money as well. Cho took an usual tack. The huge and fast-growing Presbyterian Church in Korea was the product of evangelism by American Presbyterians generations ago. Cho decided it was "payback time." He raised $300,000 from Presbyterian congregations in Korea and the chapel project was off and running well ahead of schedule. Controversial issues The issues that draw the greatest attention in the denomination – ordination standards and same-sex marriages – are not the issues closest to Cho's heart. He addresses them reluctantly. He clearly favors the church opening its doors to all kinds of people. "The Church is for troubled people," Cho says. But he does not favor ordaining self-affirming, practicing homosexuals. Likewise, he opposes same-sex marriages. But Cho worries about how the Church has tried to resolve the issues. "We try to resolve these issues through human means," he says. "We don't trust God's leading. That's our problem. He will give us wisdom, but we have to repent." His view of Scripture is that it is life-sustaining. "If we don't have Scripture, we're dead," Cho says. Scripture, Cho says, leads us to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. "They will teach us how to behave." |
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