Tonight, I am flying to Korea. From Wednesday through Saturday, I will be attending the 2026 International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, jointly hosted by the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches in Korea.

To be honest, it is not easy for me to make this trip. I also felt that perhaps it was time for someone else to go in my place. I told the organizers so. But they said to me, “Rev. Kim, there really isn’t anyone from the United States who can attend this gathering. We know it is difficult for you, but please come and be there for us.”

Usually, pastors serving local churches do not attend gatherings like this. Most of the participants are denominational leaders and representatives.

I have been involved in ecumenical gatherings for peace on the Korean Peninsula since the 1980s. My wife sometimes teases me, saying, “If representatives of churches from around the world have met so many times to talk about reunification and peace, shouldn’t Korea have been reunited and at peace by now?” Still, I have not given up.

A younger pastor in Korea recently called me and asked, “Are you coming again this time?” I told him, “Rev. We Chang really should be going this time, but he cannot make it. Traveling back and forth to Korea is getting harder for me, too. I think this may be my last one.”

There is a special reason Rev. Chang should be there. Forty years ago, We Chang’s late father Bishop Ki-Chun Chang participated as a representative of the Korean church in the historic first face-to-face meeting between North and South Korean Christians in Glion, Switzerland. At that meeting, he celebrated Holy Communion together with a representative from North Korea. This year’s peace convocation commemorates the 40th anniversary of that historic Glion meeting.

Then, on September 15, I will attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Laos Peace Center, which is being established in celebration of our 50th anniversary. The ceremony was scheduled during my time in Korea so that I could be there.

Government officials will attend, along with the leaders of ten surrounding villages. It is expected to become a major celebration for the whole community. Since Laos is a communist country, our groundbreaking worship service will be held privately.

We have received precious offerings for this project. Deciding which country, the center should be built in and what kind of ministry it should serve required a great deal of prayer, time, energy, and discernment. Now that we are finally able to break ground, my heart is filled with gratitude for God’s grace. Even getting there will not be easy. I will have to change planes twice on the way.

Over the years, whenever I have attended meetings connected with the World Council of Churches, all kinds of strange stories and accusations have sometimes followed. Yet I continue to believe that Christians should not give up working and praying for peace.

I do not imagine that what I have done over these many years is something great. Perhaps it is only a small drop of water. But rivers are made of drops. If the churches of the world are trying to make a river of peace flow through places of division, hatred, and conflict, I simply want to add my small drop to that river.

My hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula has been such a drop. The Laos Peace Center is another. One small drop may not seem like much. But I pray that God will gather the small drops offered by many faithful people until they become a river—a river of reconciliation, healing, and peace.

Please pray for this journey, and please pray that our small drop may become part of God’s great river of peace.