About Ethos Communion Church

Our Pastor

SJ was born and raised in Southern California to Korean immigrant parents. He graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Applied Mathematics, but then decided pursue documentary filmmaking to spotlight the work of missionaries before the advent of social media. In 2005, while filming a project in India, he thought of the millions of people without the gospel and the Lord pressed the verse upon his heart, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” This was his call to ministry and he has been pastoring ever since inviting others to join the transformative journey of communion with Jesus Christ. SJ was also married to his wife Soojin in 2005, and they have three teenage children. After pastoring in a Korean American Church context for 18 years, he decided to plant Ethos Communion Church in 2024. He studied at Fuller Seminary, received his M.Div from The Master’s Seminary, and is currently a D.Min student at Puritan Theological Seminary.

The Vision

We live in a time where people’s souls are disconnected and they don’t even realize it, nor understand it. Ethos Communion Church is a place where their souls can be reconnected. Where their minds, their bodies, their community, and their spirits can be re-connected as they connect with the One who unites all things together.

In classical Greek rhetoric, there are three elements of effective communication: 1) Logos (content), 2) Pathos (emotion), 3) Ethos (character). It is widely agreed upon that while all three are important, ethos is the most important. As a church, we strive to not only preach the content of the gospel, but we want to be a living embodiment of the transformation it produces. While Ethos Communion Church will certainly focus on the content of the gospel, it is looking more holistically to the fruit of transformation the gospel produces as its members abide in the Vine. Of course, the transformation belongs to God alone, however we can create the kind of conditions by which God tends to bring transformation. This means the sermons for Ethos will not be intellectually heavy, though they will be intellectual. The aim of the sermons is to holistically engage both their minds, and also their wills so that they are encouraged to offer their bodies as living sacrifices to the merciful God.

However, we want the entire worship service, not just the sermon, to provide the conditions for transformation. We do not want the worship service to feel like three songs and a sermon. Instead, the order and flow of the worship service will intentionally follow a Gospel rhythm; walking through the movements of the gospel. In this way, the worship service will almost feel like a prayer meeting that allows each person to be still and know He is God. To provide space to engage, to listen, to commune with the living God. And the aim is that this rhythm will continue through the week so that the members of Ethos can live according to the heartbeat of Christ while breathing the air of heaven.

The Lord, himself, has provided another holistic means of communing with him through the visible sign of the Lord’s Table. This sacrament brings together the mind, the will, and the body in an act that demonstrates the spiritual union we have with Christ by faith. Members of Ethos will partake from the table on a weekly basis. There is simply nothing like the Lord’s Table that can bring so much spiritual depth for mind, body, community as this blessed sacrament which is fittingly also called Communion.

The word ethos, can also be translated as the “spirit” or “vibe” in which something is done. So Ethos Communion Church will not simply do church. Instead, we strive to be a church. That is, a people called out by God to live in communion with Christ in such a way that leads to a communion with one another. Ethos is a place for the weary, the outcasts, the spiritually sick. It is a place where they can be introduced the the Great Physician of Souls, and find rest for their restlessness. So Ethos will strive to provide conditions in which its members may commune with one another in Christ. When a visitor joins Ethos, they should feel the “vibe” of Christ.

To provide such conditions, Ethos Communion Church will be a simple church. This means that the people will not be laden with all kinds of ministry burdens. The Lord’s Day Worship service will not feel like an event production. Rather, the Lord’s Day will be a Sabbath day. A day to cease from our labors, so that we can rest in the labor of the one who came to serve us in his work of atonement. A day where we can enjoy the hope of the final Sabbath rest that will be ours in eternity.