A new report appears to implicate Covenant Fellowship Church's former head pastor, Min Joshua Chung, in fostering and creating a misogynistic church environment.
Min Joshua Chung founded Covenant Fellowship Church in 1990 as an outreach effort to local college students. The church has, since, grown into a congegration with more than a thousand attendees. Chung himself serves on several ministry boards, and even acted as a professor at URbana Theological Seminary for sevearl years. However, some internal tension caused many leaders to depart the church, with Chung stepping down as head pastor in 2019. A new report from the Chicago radio station WBEZ has gone into extensive detail regarding Chung's misogynistic conduct.
According to recordings acquired by WBEZ, Chung had admitted to touching a female "over the clothing for a brief moment" but stopped upon request. Others claimed that Chung assaulted them several times, including while on a two-hour car ride. There were also claims of pastors making sexual comments to teen attendees, officials brushing off sexual assault claims, and a general setting where women were seemingly less valued than men. Many of the women harmed while under Chung's leadership would begin to share their stories through an Instagram account, @letters_from-Rahab.
Several survivors would ask the Korean Central Presbytery (KCP), a denominational oversight group, to investigate Chung's inappropriate touching incident before WBEZ's reporting. The KCP did investigate the incident but resolved that Chung had been "restored to God, as well as the woman, and that that discipline instituted by CFC pastors was found to be sufficient." If Chung wished to return to ministry, he would be allowed according to the KCP's ruling.
At a later meeting, the KCP would discuss a complaint filed by several pastors who wanted to see Chung removed from office. They failed to get enough votes.
As of July 2021, CFC is lead by Reverend KJ Kim and is in the process of becoming part of the Presbyterian Church in America.
