Trinity Church Korean Congregation

2006 to 2010

Trinity Church Korean congregation was established on the 1st of October 2006 with the support of Trinity URC & Methodist Church. Three Trinity Church deacons and 18 Korean people had a bilingual opening service in the Terrace Room. One of the deacons delivered a congratulatory address on behalf of Trinity Church.

About 30 Trinity Church members had a fellowship with the Korean congregation on 18th of March 2007 just before the AGM. Rev Martin Camroux addressed the congregation briefly and blessed them.

In February 2010 the Korean services ended with the sad departure of Rev’d. Wan Shig Shin and his family back to Korea

In the words of Rev Martin Camroux

"When you come to this country on an educational visa it gives you no automatic right to remain. There are two reasons why I believe in this case they should have been allowed to do so. Firstly all of Joon and Hyun’s their secondary education has been in this country - nearly half their lives. They now have a sense of belonging here that should have been recognised. In particular to ask Hyun to leave just months before he takes his ‘A’ levels is profoundly inhumane.

The second reason was given by the tribunal judge said when he said he had no doubt at all if the Shins were to remain they would be good citizens, but that was not the question he was being asked to rule on. For me it’s a good question when we are deciding who should settle in this country. In his spare time, without any payment Rev Shin began the Korean congregation pioneering a militia-cultural ministry. Mrs Shin is as honest as the day is long. Both boys, coming here with very little English, were heading for University places. Surely these are exactly the sort of people we should be welcoming to stay?

Why are they then being asked to leave? Let me give you my rather cynical theory. In the modern world immigration control is very difficult. In this country we have lost control of our borders. No one knows how many illegal immigrants there are. Estimates vary from half a million to nearly a million. This is politically profoundly embarrassing and the government is desperate to show it is doing something. It is very much easier to deport the Shins than it is to deport drug dealers with false papers who flit from one address to another. The honest suffer, and the dishonest escape. And that is the immorality of all this."