March 16 marks the third anniversary of the spa shootings in Atlanta that took the lives of seven women, five of whom were Korean.
When Lawrenceville native Julia Kim heard the news from Charleston, South Carolina, where she was living at the time, she felt her world had “turned upside down.” But for those around her at work and church — who were mostly Black or white — it was as if nothing had happened.
“I realized that they didn’t care who I was. I was just another number in the seat,” Julia said. Even though she had intended to leave the Korean churches she grew up in behind because of clashing values with first-generation leaders, she went back after realizing that at least she could feel more connected to others there. She now attends REACTS Ministry off McGinnis Ferry Road in Suwanee, which serves around 130 people each Sunday.
Julia is among a growing number of second generation Korean Americans who have sought out Korean and Asian-majority churches after the spa shootings, according to local pastors and community members who spoke to 285 South. Her church, REACTS Ministry, is among an estimated 170 Korean churches in the Atlanta metro area, responding to the needs of a community that has grown by 9% in the past decade.
“I followed REACTS on social media, and [pastor] Steven [Kim] had always… address[ed] current issues in an authentic way,” she said about her decision to join the church.
Like Steven, Peter Lim also hasn’t shied away from plugging into current issues, even if they’re controversial. He’s the head pastor of 4Pointes, an Asian American church in Dunwoody, where more than half of its estimated 200 congregants identify as Korean. He’s spoken out against anti-Asian bias and White Christian nationalism.
In the wake of the shootings, he said 4Pointes “had a lot of people come to the church because the other churches they were going to were not addressing [the spa shootings]. Some immigrant churches also didn’t talk about it, but in majority church cultures, it definitely wasn’t talked about. They felt invisible; they felt hurt and overlooked.”
These churches mark a departure from the churches of their elders – which played a critical role for first generation Korean immigrants as community gathering spaces and access points to social services.
Julia said she broke away from the Korean churches she went to when she was younger because of a difference in values. “There is no culture of support or listening. It’s all about power dynamics,” she said.
As kids get older though, said Steven, they might feel a lack of connection in multicultural churches, so “they [try] to reconnect with their heritage and culture by joining a Korean American church.”
Hannah An, who attends 4Pointes in Dunwoody, said the events of the last few years have had a real impact on her, and the church has provided her an outlet for her feelings. “With everything happening around AAPI hate, Covid, and racism, this took it to another level. I had a feeling of being isolated, and an even deeper wounding of my own heart for my own people,” she said. In addition to being a preschool teacher’s assistant and praise team leader at 4Pointes, she joined the newly formed Asian American Christian Network of Atlanta and participated in rallies that advocated for Asian American voices in the broader evangelical church.
Steven thinks there’s a need for more second and third generation Korean churches, that are especially welcoming for Korean Americans who need a safe space. “It’s a reminder of the church that you grew up in, but with differences.”
Just two miles down the road from Steven’s ministry in Suwanee is Remnant Community Church, where pastor Daniel Kim gathers around 80 people for Sunday services. He describes his ministry as “very unapologetically Korean American.”
“Church is family. It’s not perfect, but nowadays, I think Koreans just want a place to gather where the most noticeable thing is not that we’re Korean,” he said. “This is a place where I don’t have to be reminded that I’m different. This is a place I can belong.”
As for Julia, she now helps lead the college group of around 50 students at REACTS Ministry, most of whom are Korean American like her. “People are tired of the churches they grew up in…it doesn’t work. We have to come up with a way for the church to start working for us by asking more questions about what is authentic [to us].”
