





































Ecclesial Futures
2023 – Volume 4 – Issue 1

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Ecclesial Futures – DOI: 10.54195/ef13746

A R T I C L E S

DOI: 10.54195/ef13746

Mongolian Migrants in a Korean Missional 
Church: The Case of Nasom Community

Seonyi Lee

Abstract
Ever since Lesslie Newbigin’s missional ecclesiology was introduced to South Korean 
churches in 2000, Korean scholars and pastors have been reaching beyond church 
growth theory to explore alternative and practical models. Missional ecclesiology led 
them to refine their ecclesiology and to restore the essence of the Korean church. This 
paper examines Nasom Community for Mongolian Migrants as a model of missional 
church in Korea. This study first describes the situation of Mongolian migrants in Korea. 
Secondly, the missionary vision and missionary strategies of Nasom Community, and 
how they are implemented in practice, are explored. Finally, the mission of Nasom 
Community is reviewed. This case shows the missionary potential of the Korean church 
for Asian mission.

Keywords: Missional ecclesiology; Nasom Community; Korean church; Mongolian 
migrants; Asian mission

Introduction
The Korean church began as a missional church. While Western Protestant missions 
originated from mission societies, the Korean church was a missionary community 
from the beginning. Protestantism entered Korea through Western missionaries in 
1885, and the Independant Korean Presbytery was organized in 1907 where Koreans 
were ordained as pastors (Moffett 1962: 55). Then in 1913 the Presbyterian General 
Assembly was organized and sent missionaries to Shandong, China. In only 30 years, 
the Korean church had become a missionary-sending church. At the time of the Edin-
burgh World Missionary Conference in 1910, the Korean church was still young. But 
in the 2000s it was sending more than 10,000 missionaries, and by the end of 2017 it 
was sending the second highest number of missionaries among all countries (Byun 



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2018: 317). Korean churches today play a central role in world mission, serving Asia, 
Africa and South America.

 However, the Korean church’s missionary work is not without problems. Korean 
church missions may be characterized as church-focused, self-expanding and indi-
vidualistic (Han 2010: 77). Korean Christians are used to understanding mission 
as church-focused. This was naturally the influence of Western missionaries and 
their missiology since the nineteenth century. From the 1980s, missions conducted 
by single church units had great impact and Korean church missions acquired the 
tendency to focus on the local church’s own self-expansion. This was influenced by 
the church growth movement that greatly influenced the Korean church at the time, 
the result being to reduce missions to an event of the church rather than the event 
of the Kingdom of God for the world. The church growth movement directed all the 
church’s resources to numerical increase in visible church membership. This natu-
rally also narrowed Christians’ focus on individual spirituality.

Since the 2000s, the Korean church has faced a crisis of stagnation and loss of social 
influence. In this situation, some scholars and pastors have suggested that missional 
ecclesiology is a solution. That is why Lesslie Newbigin’s missional ecclesiology that 
emerged in UK and then US academia in the 1980s and 90s gained attention in Korea 
in the 2000s (Korean Society of Mission Studies, 2015: 198). Newbigin’s The House-
hold of God: Lectures on the Nature of the Church showed us how to seek the missional 
nature of church facing secularization and Neopeganism in the Western World 
(Newbigin 1954). The missional church movement arose during the end of the twen-
tieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. The movement seeks to rethink 
and redefine the nature of the Church and create a new paradigm in which churches 
are seen as missional in natue. A missional church is a Christian community that is 
focused on engaging with its surrounding community and actively participating in 
God’s mission in the world (Han 2019: 45). This approach emphasizes the church’s 
role in reaching out to the entire world outside the church and in local context.

Missional churches seek to break down the barriers between the church and the 
world by actively seeking to understand the needs and challenges facing their 
surrounding community. This involves building relationships with people in the 
community, engaging in acts of service and justice, and sharing the gospel in rele-
vant and meaningful ways. Missional ecclesiology was a practical theology to over-
come the dominant church growth perspective. It afforded an opportunity to again 
ask what the church is and to re-establish Korean ecclesiology. The missional church 
movement is a response to the changing cultural context in which churches operate. 
It seeks to provide a more relevant and effective approach to fulfilling the church’s 



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mission in the world. Nasom Community is made up of several institutions including 
Nasom Church (http://www.nasomchurch.com). Nasom church, a local church, is a 
part of Nasom Community.

This study examines Nasom Community as a Korean church that practises this essen-
tial mission of the church. Nasom Community is a critical case to study for keeping 
the nature of missional church and reaching out to migrants who were excluded in 
Korean society. Nasom Community which is unique in sending migrants back their 
countries for mission, is a case of missional church in Korea. Nasom Community is 
involved in both local and overseas mission. This study first examines the situation 
of Korean migrants and the relationship between Korea and Mongolia to understand 
the context of Nasom Community’s mission to Mongolians. Second, the ministry and 
activities of each segment of the community to identify the missionary vision and 
strategy of Nasom Community is investigated. Third, the findings from the perspec-
tive of missional ecclesiology is assessed. Finally, suggestions are made for the 
Korean church may become a missional church for Asia as a channel of Missio Dei.

Mongolian migrants in Korea
The situation of immigrants in Korea
The number of foreigners staying in Korea began to increase in the early 1990s with 
the influx of manufacturing workers from China, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. 
During this period, the need for foreign workers for domestic production increased 
due to rising wages, avoidance of 3-D jobs (dirty, dangerous and difficult), low birth 
rate, aging population and high educational attainment. Therefore, an industrial 
trainee system, an employment permit system and a visiting employment system 
were implemented for foregin workers. Many of these workers are engaged in manu-
facturing or menial service, and most of their labour costs less than that of Korean 
citizens, which helps alleviate human resource shortages in these sectors. But the 
influx of foreigners is not just limited to blue collar industries. In the process of 
economic growth and transition to high-tech industries, the number of high-wage 
foreign workers is increasing, and foreign high-skilled people are entering various 
sectors in major corporations.

According to a report compiled by the Ministry of Public Administration and Secu-
rity, the number of foreign residents living in Korea reached 2.13 million as of 
November  2021, increasing fourfold since 2006 (Newspower 2022). According to 
monthly statistics, the number decreased from 2,524,656 in 2019 to 2,135,689 by 
the end of June  2020 in the aftermath of Covid-19 (Christiandaily 2020). In 2022, 
the number of foreign residents was 2,245,921, of whom 849,804 were from China, 

http://www.nasomchurch.com


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235,007  from Vietnam, 201,681 from Thailand, 156,562 from the United States, 
79,136 from Uzbekistan, 57,452 from the Philippines, 56,995 from Russia, 53,038 from 
Mongolia, 50,841 from Indonesia, 49,240 from Cambodia etc. (seoul.go.kr). However, 
the number of migrants in Korea is expected to continue to increase in the future as 
Korea’s population ages and birthrate falls.

 The Ministry Data Institute (2022) shared the results of a self-reported survey 
report on the religious life of 445 foreigners living in Ansan and vicinity from 4 July to 
22 August 2022. According to this survey, 8% of the participants are currently Protes-
tant, and more are Buddhists at 12%. More people responded that they have become 
non-religious after migrating to Korea, and the proportion of people adhering to 
each religion also decreased after migration. In addition, when asked if they had 
been encouraged to join a religion in Korea, 71% responded that they had not. Mean-
while, a high proportion of foreign migrants are favourable to Protestantism.

Protestantism topped all categories when asked to identify “the religion that has 
affection for migrants”, “the religion that best understands the difficulties of 
migrants”, and “the religion that provides practical help to migrants”. Of the non- 
religious migrants, 44.5 % responded that they may be open to Protestanism in the 
future, followed by Buddhism (31.1%), Catholicism (3.8%) and Islam (1.5%). Migrants 
who attended religious events had positive experiences because they “felt peace 
of mind” (41.9%) and were “welcomed warmly” (31.5%), suggesting that the Korean 
church should become a community of welcome and hospitality. As the number 
of migrants in Korea increases significantly, Korean churches must be attentive to 
missions and strategic ministry to migrants. Migrant missions are as important as 
overseas missions.

Mongolian migrants in Korea
Mongolian people began entering Korea after diplomatic relations were established 
in 1990. They came pursuing the “Korean Dream” of economic prosperity. Especially 
with the implementation of the employment permit system and President Roh Moo 
Hyun’s visit to Mongolia in May 2006, migration to Korea exploded (Korea News 2006). 
The Mongolian government asked the Korean government to accept more Mongo-
lian workers, and the president and other government officials visited Mongolia and 
signed a memorandum of understanding to permit entry of Mongolian workers into 
Korea. The number of Mongolian migrants has already exceeded 53,038 in Korea, 
which is nearly 1.6% of the Mongolian population. Mongolia’s most important source 
of national finance is Mongolian workers in Korea.

http://seoul.go.kr


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About 70% of Mongolian workers in Korea are highly educated people who grad-
uated from community college or higher education. Many of them are also young 
people in their early thirties. This tells us that most of Mongolians visiting Korea are 
the elites in the upper-middle class or young and competent leaders with the poten-
tial to shape public opinion in the future. These are the people lining up outside the 
Korean Embassy in Ulaanbaatar to enter the small country called Korea. Mongolia 
was once at the centre of world history and geopolitically located next to the neigh-
bouring countries of China and Russia at the heart of the central Asian Silk Road. 
Mongolia is also a museum of religions containing Islam, Christianity, Confucianism, 
Buddhism and shamanism. Therefore, there is a potential place for Asian mission.

The missionary vision and strategy of Nasom 
Community
The missionary vision of Nasom Community
Nasom Church was established on 5 October 1997 in the basement of a building in 
Gwangjin District in Seoul. The church belongs to the Seoul Presbytery of the Pres-
byterian Church of Korea (PCK), and naturally began with believers who shared a 
vision for migrant and multicultural ministry. In 2011, it became an organized church 
and formed the Nasom Community (Co.) that operates an International Mongolian 
School, Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Cultural Promotion Centre, Seoul Migrant Mission 
Centre, and Nasom Multi-culture Children Care Centre. The Seoul Migrant Mission 
Centre, a branch of Nasom Community, was established on 28  January 1996 in 
Seongdong District of Seoul before Nasom Church was established.

Figure 1 Organisation Chart of Nasom Community

The community motto is “serving the migrants, serving by giving, and serving by 
going forth”, expressing their identity as a community that welcomes Jesus Christ 
(Nasom Community website). The community aim is to support migrants and form 
a life-giving community. A large proportion of migrants Nasom Community serves 
are from Mongolia, so the scope of this study is limited to the Community’s mission 



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to Mogolian migrants. The Seoul Migrant Mission Centre is a missionary agency 
affiliated with the Seoul Presbytery of PCK. Currently, 2,500 migrant workers from 
29 countries are registered to receive medical check-up services. Over 10,000 people 
participate in this ministry each year. Nasom Community is a missionary community 
founded to support the neighbouring foreign migrant workers.

 For this article, an interview is conducted with Hae-geun Yoo, who is the president 
of Nasom Community. He graduated from Presbyterian University and Theolog-
ical Seminary and studied social welfare policy at Soongsil University. He was the 
first General Secretary of the Korean Church Foreign Labourer Missions Council. His 
ministry philosophy is to follow God’s will and stand with the socially marginalized, 
to incorporate diversity in the rapidly changing context of globalization and informa-
tion exchange, and to reject a capitalist standard of success. His aim is qualitative, 
rather than quantitative, church growth, presenting an alternative model of doing 
church. He is building a migrant ministry and missions network for Nasom Church to 
practise faith by serving the migrants and the marginalized.

Yoo was full of resentment toward God due to his child’s cognitive disability and 
the loss of vision caused by his disease. He had come to the end of his tether and 
decided to take his life, but met Jesus who more than empathizes with the poor and 
the marginalized and dwells among them (Yoo 2019b: 97–118). Yoo affirms that true 
mission and ministry is to love the marginalized neighbours and to live among them 
just as Jesus did. His vision for Nasom Church is for it to be a community that serves 
the migrants and to be the salt and light of the world. He refers to his ministry as 
“nomadic life and spirituality”. Nomads are those who chart new paths and respond 
to the needs of the time with a constant pioneering spirit rather than building 
fortresses (Yoo 2006: 244–49). Especially as borders blur in the age of globalization 
and information and as modern Korean society becomes multicultural, sojourning 
migrant workers may be the seedbed of world mission. Yoo shares the gospel with 
migrant workers as he sees the potential for world mission through them.

Currently, about 2,000 migrant workers are registered with Nasom Community, 
and more than half of them are from Mongolia. In 1999 the Community established 
International Mongolian School for the children of Mongolian migrants. The school 
has currently enrolled 65 Mongolian students and about 50 Korean and Mongolian 
teachers. Some of them live in their two dormitories, House of Nasom and House of 
Joseph. There is also Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Culture Promotion Centre, which plays a 
role in civilian diplomacy between Mongolia and Korea. In addition, the International 
Mongolian School is essential to prepare for mission to Mongolia. Education is also 
the most thriving type of ministry to Mongolian migrants. The role of Nasom Commu-



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nity serves the foreign migrants’ urgent needs. Koreans’ perspective may misinter-
pret the actual needs of the migrants but a true community is an open community 
that understands and accepts all migrants.

The mission strategy of Nasom Community
The number of foreigners staying in Korea grew rapidly from about 910,000 in 2006 
to about 2.3 million in 2018. To respond to God’s call to be the ark of salvation for the 
migrants coming to Korea, Nasom Community sends back migrants as missionaries 
to their hometown, operates missional businesses for financial self-sufficiency and 
trains retired seniors for missionary work.

The Seoul Migrant Mission Centre
The Seoul Migrant Mission Centre, affiliated with PCK, was the first among Nasom 
Community branches to be established on 28 January 1996. It serves foreign migrants 
with the love of Jesus Christ and shares the gospel with them. There are currently 
more than 150 people worshipping at the Centre each week. It serves foreigners and 
migrant workers with human rights advice and medical support, and holds various 
gatherings and events.

There are regional worship services at the Mission Centre. Every week, 150 migrants 
attend services for Mongolian migrants, for others from Southwest Asia (mostly 
India), Islamic regions (Iran, Türkiye), China and Vietnam, as well as services in English 
for others from the Philippines and Africa. For Mongolian worship, 20 to 30 people 
gather every Sunday at 2 p.m. to worship in the library on the first floor of the Inter-
national Mongolian School which also serves as the exhibition hall of the Mongol 
Cultural Centre. Most of the participants are Mongolian teachers at the International 
Mongolian School. The services encourage the teachers to share the gospel with the 
Mongolian students and educate them in the Christian worldview and values to fear 
God and love their neighbours.

Region Worship time Attendee

English-Speaking Region Sunday 14:00 4 teams

Southwestern Region Sunday 14:10 15 to 20 migrant workers

Islamic Region Sunday 14:00 3 Koreans and 3 Iranians

Mongol Region Sunday 14:00 2 to 30 Mongolian teachers

China Region Sunday 13:00 8 to 10 Chinese students and worker

Vietnam Region Sunday 14:00 7 to 8 Vietnamese Women & Workers

Table 1 Regional worship by Seoul Migrant Mission Centre.



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In the Seoul Migrant Mission Centre, various counselling and medical services are 
provided to effectively help migrant workers solve various issues they encounter 
in their employemt. Counselling is mainly on employment, wage, passport and visa 
problems and work-related injuries, to help them file reports and guide them to 
hospitals. The centre provides practical help for migrants in physically demanding 
working conditions and advocates for their rights. Medical service is provided on 
internal medicine, surgery and oriental acupuncture on Sunday afternoons by volun-
teers. Doctors and specialists provide medical services to migrant workers who have 
difficulty accessing medical care.

The Centre conducts a spiritual retreat programme for migrants during the Lunar 
New Year holiday every year at Nasom Multicultural Ecology Village in Yangpy-
eong. Nasom Church and Seoul Migrant Mission Centre also hold joint Easter and 
Thanksgiving services. In addition, a sporting event (May), cross-country pilgrimage 
(during Chuseok holiday) and Nasom Festival (December) are held annually. About 
100  people attend the retreat, where on the first day they have prayer sessions 
and Bible reading and meet in regional groups. On the second day, there is an early 
morning worship service, breakfast, then the Pilgrim’s Progress activity when they 
have time to commit to following Christ’s footsteps. They finish the event on the 
Lunar New Year, baking and enjoying pizza and spaghetti and enjoying the local hot 
springs.

 In Easter, members of Nasom Church and Seoul Migrant Mission Centrr worship 
together to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. After worship, groups from each 
country present their dance and praise. The presentations are attended by the 
Nasom Church members, who serve the migrants. The sporting event promotes 
mental and physical fitness for the tired migrants and multicultural families and 
helps them adjust to Korean community life. The teams are divided into countries; 
there are recreation programmes for children and also for their parents. They also 
worship together for Thanksgiving in a gathering of brothers and sisters in Jesus 
Christ with different language and culture to offer true worship through praise and 
prayer. In December, several teams of people from Mongolia, Iran, India, the Phil-
ippines, Vietnam and China participate in the Nasom Festival to present their own 
ethnic song and dance. The groups experience unity and comfort as they take time 
out from difficult daily life in this foreign land and practise the songs and dances of 
the country they dearly miss. Homesickness deepens by the year end and the New 
Year holiday. These events facilitate the sharing of the love of Jesus Christ with those 
who came to Korea as migrants.



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The Centre supports some migrants who accepted the faith in Korea to study 
theology and get ordained and be sent back for mission to their own country to 
preach the gospel in their own language. There are Pastor Borma of the Mongolian 
Blessed Church, Pastor L in Country A, Pastor Pangaz Kapila and Hye-jung Lee in 
India and Missionary Wentituha in Vietnam all work to expand the Kingdom of God 
by evangelizing people in their own language.

Borma came to Korea as a migrant worker and received Jesus Christ as her Saviour 
in Seoul Migrant Mission Centre. She studied theology at Presbyterian University 
and Theological Seminary and was ordained after graduation. Yoo tells her story as 
follows:

A undocumented migrant woman who only wished for money had an encounter with 
God. Ever since then, she prefered to turn the pages of the Bible than count cash, and 
she much more enjoyed serving church members than serving at restaurants. The 
church pastor who observed her closely supported her theological studies. After three 
years of difficult ministry training, she is now heading hom to spread the gospel (Yoo 
2008: 152).

In June 2006, Pastor Borma was dispatched to Mongolia Blessed Church. The Blessed 
Church’s Sunday 11 a.m. service is attended by 25 adults, 15 to 20 youths, and 20 
to 30 children. There are morning prayer services from Easter Day to 1 September 
every year. Most of the morning prayer meetings are attended by 5–10 elderly ladies. 
About 10 young people gather to pray for Mongolia and for the Kingdom of God at 6 
p.m. on Wednesdays.

Educational institutions and welfare programme for migrant children
Nasom Community has added several programmes for the children of migrants 
responding to their need. Mongolian culture is a family-centred culture so the 
migrants bring their children to Korea. There are the International Monglian School, 
the Nasom Multi-culture Children Care Centre and Free Meal Programme and the 
Good Samaritan Inn.

The International Mongolian School was established in 1999 with nine Mongo-
lian migrant children to provide education opportunities for them when they did 
not have access to a Korean public school. Later in February 2005, the school was 
officially accredited by the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. It was the first 
school for children of migrant workers to gain such accreditation. Today more than 
200 students are enrolled from grades 1 to 12 and are being educated according to 
the Mongolian curriculum. They also receive training in adapting to Korean culture 



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and preparing for globalization so that they may grow into leaders to transform 
Mongolia and the world. About 40 students whose homes are far from school stay at 
domitories, the House of Nasom and the House of Joseph.

Mongolian children are today permitted to attend Korean public schools, but it is not 
easy for them to adjust. They face numerous obstacles due to cultural differences, 
language gap and financial limitations. They are often bullied by others or suffer low 
self-esteem in Korean schools. The children forget the vast steppes of Mongolia and 
suffer through life in small cell-like rooms. They should be educated to live free as 
people of the steppes. Therefore, the International Mongolian School educates using 
the Mogolian curriculum and adds Korean language, English language and ICT educa-
tion to prepare them for globalization and leadership in Mongolia. The school aims to 
nuture future leaders of Mongolian society (Yoo 2018a: 103–70).

Daycare centres for multicultural pre-schoolers are urgently needed. Every child has 
a right to be educated and protected. They should receive the same benefits regard-
less of their nationality and residential status. But the Korean society still has a long 
way to go in accepting multicultural families and their children. Nasom Multi-cul-
ture Children Care Centre was established to provide suitable daycare for children 
of migrant workers and multicultural families aged three to seven. Today the Centre 
cares for 20 infants and toddlers of Mongolian and other ethnicites.

In Nasom Community, 60,000 meals are served each year – about 100 to 200 each 
day. It has been more than a decade since Nasom Community started this ministry. 
Alongside the meal programme, the Good Samaritan Inn provides shelter for home-
less and unemployed migrants. Unlike Korean homeless people, the migrant home-
less really have nowhere to go. They are also ostracized from the Korean homeless 
community. They may be found dead in the streets or in forgotten places. Some who 
struggle for basic survival may fall into despair and mental illness. The Free Meal 
Programme and the Good Samaritan Inn are basic welfare programmes for migrants 
who have fallen into desperate circumstances. They gain hope for new life as they 
eat and sleep in Nasom Community.

Multi-cultural education programmes
Seeing the need for education for multicultural understanding, Yangpyeong Nasom 
Multicultural Ecology Village was established in 2009 by Nasom Community as a 
multicultural learning centre. At this site visitors can experience cultures of various 
countries such as Mongolia, India, Iran, Turkey, China and Vietnam. In addition, it is a 
venue where urban dwellers can experience various wildflowers, plants and insects.



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The Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Cultural Promotion Centre was founded in 2001 with the 
official support of the government of the city of Seoul and the city of Ulaanbaatar. 
It organizes the annual Nadam Festival for Mongolians in Korea, as well as other 
events. The purpose of the establishment is to introduce Mongolian culture through 
mutual cultural exchange between the two countries, promote friendly relations 
between the two countries and contribute to cultural development. Since its estab-
lishment in 2001, it has served as a bridge between Korea and Mongolia through 
various exchange activities such as Mongolian culture education, the Mongolian 
Peace Corps and the Mongolian Language Institute.

The New Life Vision School was launched in 2012 to serve as a bridge between foreign 
migrants and retired seniors willing to serve as missionaries in the next stage of their 
lives. It provides short-term mission programmes for lay seniors to learn the basics 
of different cultures and migrant missions and put it in practice in Korea and abroad. 
The 10-week course is provided twice a year in March and September. Participants 
are former teachers, CEOs, office workers, entrepreneurs and housewives, mostly in 
their early seventies.

The New Life Mission is a non-denominational missionary organization led by these 
graduates of New Life Vision School. People who trained in New Life Vision School 
draw from their their abundant life experience to serve migrant workers and multi-
cultural families through medical service, legal counselling, Korean language educa-
tion, hairdressing and computer education in Dongdaemun, where people of various 
ages and backgrounds gather (Yoo 2019a: 128–36).

The Mongol Peace Camps were built hoping for the day of Korean unification. Nasom 
Community established an Ivy School to support North Korean defector youths. The 
school provides a network to support them to start their own business and fosters 
leaders in preparation for unification. In 2016, a non-government organization was 
started with the youths to provide the defectors with a space of encounter and educa-
tion. They are working to establish headquarters in Mongolia, Vladivostok in Russia, 
and Cambodia to serve as half-way stations on the road to unification. Mongol Peace 
Camp is at the heart of this effort. The Korean church must remember that East and 
West German unification was the result of persistent exchange between the East 
and the West German churches. Unfortunately, churches in the North and the South 
cannot interact, and today the relationship between the North and South Korea is at 
a critical point. But as more North Korean defectors arrive in the South, helping and 
serving them will pave the way to unification (Yoo 2018a: 214–23).



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Missional evaluation of Nasom Community
The implications of Nasom Community from the missional church 
perspective
Seen from a missional church viewpoint, the case of Nasom Community has the 
following implications.

First, Nasom Community in conducting ministry to migrants presents an alterna-
tive model of church in the multicultural era. Members of the Nasom Community 
have contacted migrants in local society. They established educational institutions 
for Mongolian migrants and the migrants have worshipped together with Koreans. 
Migrants have been helped to set up their own worship service. Jesus came down 
among the lowly and the marginalized, and the mission of Nasom Community is to 
meet the needs of migrants in Korea. Nasom Church leads them to the gospel of life 
and sends the gospel back to their homeland in their language. This suggests that 
churches and their missionary strategies should be changed in step with changes in 
missions paradigm from the traditional model of sending cross-cultural missionaries 
overseas to the new model of sending the people back to their home cultures. This 
is the work of supporting the wandering nomads to become pilgrims with purpose 
and vision.

Second, Nasom Community aims for a balance between missions and pastoral 
ministry for the glory of God. Yoo asserts that the Korean church has a mission 
toward migrants, and this mission should be conducted by recognizing South Korea 
as a mission field and striving to live and love faithfully in our daily lives (Yoo 2019b: 
210–13). Missions and church ministry are not far removed from each other. Mission 
is proclaiming the gospel and ministering to others in everyday spaces as an apos-
tolic community. In the globalization that has blurred national borders since the end 
of the twentieth century, migrants who approach us as friendly neighbours should 
be recognized as seeds of misson sent by God.

Nasom Community is very different from Korean traditional churches. Most big 
churches are involved in cross-cultural mission, but small churches are not. However, 
Nasom Community was established for migrants in Korea. Only members of Nasom 
church who followed Yoo’s vison remained in Nasom Community. The priority placed 
on migrants slows church growth even though Yoo seeks the balance between 
mission to migrants and the local ministry. Nasom Community members considered 
not only spiritual salvation but also social issues – discrimination, peace between 
South and North Korea, environmental problems – including migrant problems. 
Nasom church members are involved in social responsibility and this impacts the 
local community and Korean society.



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Third, Nasom Community practises giving and serving in daily life. It aims for qualita-
tive maturity based on missions rather than quantitative church growth. As national 
borders blur under globalization and people of various cultural backgrounds gather, 
church members primarily see themselves as temporary residents on earth with 
nomadic spirit, and as the light of hope that shines in darkness. The church descrip-
tion states that it is a community for Christians with nomadic consciousness. This 
community that dwells missionally among the marginalized is distinct from the 
majority of society steeped in capitalism and growthism.

Fourth, Nasom Community has limited financial and human resources. There are 
four types of missionary work in a multicultural society: planting, parallel, transition 
and special type (Korean Society of Mission Studies 2023: 370–76). Planting is when 
the church is started just for migrants. The parallel type is when church and multi-
cultural centre or school manage it together. The transition type is the church that 
starts with Korean members and turns into ministry to migrants. The special type is 
when the church member is Korean in nationality but of a different culture; this type 
of church is for North Korean refugees. Nasom Community is the parallel type. The 
strength of this type is making points of contact with migrants, various ministries 
through institutions for migrants and an active connection between migrants and 
local society. However, there is a lack of human resources and finance for managing 
institutions. People working in the institutions need to share their vision to help 
migrants. Nasom Community struggles to manage the institutions rather than the 
ministry of the local church.

In sum, Nasom Community is a missionary community that shares with migrants the 
joy of becoming the people of God. It is also as a community of neighbours serving 
strangers in their midst. It is a missional church that understands God’s will and plan 
and participates in God’s mission to save by the power of the gospel. Nasom Commu-
nity continues to be dedicated to establishing God’s Kingdom in various countries 
with the missionary vision of sending migrants back to their countries.

Significance of Mongolian mission by Nasom Community
The Asian continent has the lowest evangelization rate among the six continents. 
Western missionaries worked hard in Asian missions until the nineteenth century, 
but Christianity did not take root in Asia. Asia is multicultural, multireligious, and 
multi-ethnic, which means Asians who share such similarities should participate in 
Asian mission. Mongolia borders Russia and China. Genghis Khan in the early thir-
teenth century founded the largest empire in history. After the decline of the Mongol 
Empire, the remaining central region was subjugated under the Qing Dynasty and 
Outer Mongolia became today’s Mongolia. The country gained autonomy after the 



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Revolution of 1911 but this was then abolished in 1920. Then, influenced by Russia’s 
October Revolution, Mogolia launched the Revolution of 1921 and became inde-
pendent.

Of the religious population, 53% identify as Buddhist, the majority of them Mahayana 
Buddhists, and 4% identify as Muslim (Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Culture Promotion 
Center). Mongolia is at the geographic centre of Northesat Asia. In the past, it was 
an important passageway on the Silk Road, but today it has the potential to be the 
missionary starting point on the reverse Silk Road. Mongolia has had a communist 
system for more than 70 years since its socialist revolution that occurred alongside 
the Soviet Union. It was the second country to eatablish diplomatic relations with 
North Korea, before Mongolia established relations with South Korea. Mongolia may 
play an important role in the interaction and unification process between South and 
North Korea. Through missions in Mongolia, it may be possible in the future to main-
tain close relations with North Koreans and to solve the problem of North Korean 
defectors who flee China.

Nasom Community did not stop at ministering to Mongolians who came to Korea, 
but sent Mongolians back to their countries for mission work. Yoo believes training 
the migrants in Korea and sending them back to their home town is a sustainable 
missionary strategy (Yoo 2008: 144–59). Especially when many Korean missionaries 
had to return to Korea because of Covid-19, Mongolian migrants could be sent in the 
missionaries’ place to continue the work. They have no problems with visa, language 
or cultural barriers. That is why Nasom Community has sent missionaries not only to 
Mongolia, but also to Turkey, India, Vietnam and Uzbekistan. This is a new and alter-
native model of mission.

Conclusion
The Korean church has been zealous in overseas missions from the beginning. 
However, since the 1980s, church-centred and self-expansionary missions rather 
than God-centred missions have been recognized as problematic. As missional eccle-
siology began to be discussed in the Korean context in the 2000s, it served as an 
opportunity to re-establish Korean church ecclesiology. There was a move to reflect 
on the missional nature of the church and to restore the essential mission of the 
church rather than simply pursuing quantitative growth. Although most churches 
in Korea are still not interested in missional ecclesiology, many scholars and pastors 
have come to suggest the missional church as a desirable alternative.



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Nasom Community is one of the missional churches in Korea. Its mission is to serve 
foreign migrants, especially those from Mongolia. The Seoul Migrant Mission Centre 
was founded first; then Nasom Church was established for migrants who came 
to Korea. In addition, the International Mongolian School, Mongolia Ulaanbaatar 
Cultural Promotion Centre, Nasom Multiculture Children Care Centre, the Free Meal 
Programme, the Good Samaritan Inn, the Yangpyeong Nasom Multicultural Ecology 
Village, the New Life Vision School, New Life Mission and Mongolian Peace Camp are 
various branches with their own communities, ministries and purposes, yet they also 
form a coherent whole. Yoo writes, “More communities should be formed to turn 
migrants into pilgrims. Send them back home for mission to change the world” (Yoo 
2018b: 67).

As a missional church, Nasom Community is a church that is responding to the 
essential call to mission. Nasom Community serves the migrants, presenting a new 
model of church in the multicultural era. It is a pioneering community that aims for 
a balance between missionary work and pastoral ministry. As a community of giving 
and service, it aims for qualitative maturity rather than quantitative expansion. The 
church and mission centre for migrants total about 500 in Korea (Korean Society of 
Mission Studies 2023: 378). This is less than 1% of Korean churches. Korean Chris-
tians should be more interested in migrants in a multicultural society. If the Korean 
church recovers its identity as a missionary community like Nasom Community, it 
may be used as a channel for Asian mission.

About the author
Seonyi Lee has been teaching missiology as a professor at Honam Theological 
University and Seminary since 2018. She currently serves as Academic Dean of Korea 
IAMS (International Association for Mission Studies) Fellowship that incubates and 
encourages young scholars. She is also an editor of Theology of Mission, a periodical 
published by the Korea Society of Mission Studies. Her research interests include 
Asia, mission and gender. She has written numerous articles and books including 
Models of Asian Missiology (in Korean, 2019) and No Handle on the Cross (translation 
into Korean, 2020). Contact: seonyilee@gmail.com

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