History of LWM

                                                 The Light World Mission (LWM) was founded by Rev. James Suksu Kim in 1989 at

                                                 the University of California, Irvine (UCI) with a vision to establish One Million

                                                 Indigenous Missionaries Movement' around the world. He introduced the vision of '

                                                 One Million Indigenous Missionaries Movement' in the late 1980’s, when the term

                                                 “indigenous missionary” was still unfamiliar.

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                                                The mission initially focused on evangelizing, nurturing, and discipling international

                                                students who came to study in the U.S. Over three years (1989–1991), this work

                                                bore valuable fruit, and the leaders raised through this ministry carried the spirit of

                                                revival, discipleship, and mission to Daegu, South Korea (in August 1992, through a

                                                6-week short-term mission). Through this short-term mission, university communities

                                                were established at Daegu University, Kyungpook National University, Yeungnam

                                                University, Keimyung University, and Daegu University.

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In 1993, Rev. James Suksu Kim began full-scale missionary work in Korea after being commissioned by the Korean Presbyterian Church in America (KPCA) and sent by the Dongshin Church in Southern California. Since then, he trained indigenous missionaries and dispatched them to unreached villages.

In "Africa," starting with Kenya in 1993, more than 100 missionaries have been sent to Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, and Congo, expanding the missionary movement.

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In "India and South Asia," the mission has borne fruit since 1994, with various pastoral seminars and missionary training and dispatches conducted in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Orissa, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.

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In the "Philippines and Southeast Asia," 22 cohorts of missionaries have been trained and sent, with a focus on the Muslim-majority Mindanao region. The missionary movement has expanded to seven areas in Mindanao, as well as Cambodia and Malaysia.

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In "Northeast Asia," missionary teams have been continuously sent since 1996, focusing on university missions and local missionary movements.

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In "the United States," Asian American church youth are recruited, trained, and mobilized for short-term missions in Africa and Asia, and is in partnership w/ The Well Church OC to continue to the work of LWM.

 

In conclusion, collaborating with churches in South Korea and the United States, Rev. Kim initiated church construction and well-digging projects in remote areas pioneered by indigenous missionaries. As he had said while alive, 'I want to die in the mission field with my shoes on,' he passed on to glory during a mission trip to India on November 7, 2016.