Korean Central Presbyterian Church


Korean Central Presbyterian Church is an Evangelical Christian megachurch located in Centreville, Virginia, situated in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America. From a sample of more than 50,000 churches in the United States, KCPC was selected to be one of the 13 "breakout" churches by the Rainer Group. KCPC currently averages 4,600 in attendance per week. It was founded on November 4, 1973. Rev. Eung Yul David Ryoo is the senior pastor of the church.
Korean Central Presbyterian Church is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America.

Mission statement

The mission of KCPC is "Training the Saints to Transform the World".

History

The Korean Central Presbyterian Church was founded on November 4, 1973, by Rev. Myung Ho Yoon with 20 Korean-American families. The first service was in his residence at 313 Park Street, N.E. Vienna, Virginia. Despite the growing pains of its early years, Rev. Won Sang Lee who became the succeeding senior pastor faithfully served the congregation for the next 26 years. With its emphasis on becoming a missional community of faith, the congregation grew to over 3,700 members by 2003.
After the retirement of Rev. Won Sang Lee and his installation as pastor emeritus, Rev. Danny C. Ro became the third senior pastor of KCPC starting from October, 2003. Rev. Ro resigned on July 1, 2012, as the senior pastor of KCPC to answer a call from Sarang Community Church of Southern California as its senior pastor. A new senior pastor, Rev. Eung-yul David Ryoo was called and installed in 2013 as its fourth pastor. To accommodate the growing size of the congregation and to expand the reach of its vision, KCPC relocated from the previous Vienna campus of to a new Centreville campus of July 11, 2010. In addition to the main campus, KCPC operates the Culpeper Retreat Center in Sperryville, Virginia.
The English-speaking congregation began in the early 1990s to minister to the American-born or raised members of the church. Its first pastor, Ray Chang, was called and installed, but left due to doctrinal and vision controversy. The congregation called its first PCA-ordained pastor, James Lee, in 1996. During his tenure, deacons were ordained and a second Sunday service, Impact, was launched which doubled the congregation from 250 to 500. When the pastor answered the call to be a missionary, Harold Kim was called as pastor in 2003. The congregation, having joined the Korean Capital Presbytery, changed its name to Christ Central Presbyterian Church during Kim's pastorate. In 2012, Owen Lee was called as new pastor at a time when the congregation was attracting about 100 worshipers. With the new pastor, CCPC became an organized church, having ordained ruling elders. However, CCPC still shares the church facilities with its Korean-speaking mother congregation. By 2020, CCPC attracted about 1,000 worshipers on a weekend.

Community service

KCPC was selected as one of thirteen churches identified as a "good-to-great church." The study, conducted by the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, examined 52,333 churches and the results were published in Breakout Churches by Thom S. Rainer.
The Korean Senior Center of KCPC received grant totaling $20,000 in 2006 from the SkillSource Group Inc., the nonprofit entity of the Northern Virginia Workforce Investment Board which was awarded grant by the United States Department of Labor. The grant designed to strengthen and build stronger faith and community-based organizations to provide a variety of direct services to meet citizen needs. It also received the Presidential Award from the Republic of Korea in 2002 and the Governor's Award of Volunteerism in Faith Organization in 2001.
KCPC was recognized by the United States Congress and its merits recorded in the Congressional Record for the 108th Congress in 2003.
KCPC's Meals on Wheels program received a National Foundation grant in 2000 and 2001.