All Nations Fellowship Christian Reformed Church in Blacksburg, Va., is located less than a mile from the campus of Virginia Tech University. The small Korean-American congregation did not go untouched after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
Rev. Chan Jeong, pastor of the church and also chaplain of a Korean-American campus ministry at the university, led morning and afternoon prayer services on campus each day following the April 16 murders.
The following Sunday, Jeong and his congregation participated in a multifaith prayer service held at a local Korean Baptist church.
All Nations, which is supported by Christian Reformed Home Missions, did not lose any of its own members. But several church members had personal connections to the victims, one losing a professor, one losing a roommate, another losing a best friend.
As a campus minister, Jeong regularly meets with some of the 600 Korean students at Virginia Tech. He said that cultural and language differences along with financial hardships make it difficult for them.
“We’re praying a lot right now,” he says. “We’re praying for the families, for our own church members, and for the entire community here.”
