A warm Korean lifestyle essay about Sunday lunch, dawn prayer, monthly worship, church volunteering, and the small bowls of care that hold a community together.
INDEX
Korean church culture is not only about worship services. It is also about shared meals, early morning prayers, quiet volunteering, and the warm Korean habit of saying “our church” instead of “my church.” This is Yuni’s very busy weekend story, told through Sunday lunch prep, dawn worship, a family dakgalbi lunch, voting, car washing, and one nostalgic bowl of patbingsu.
A Saturday Morning That Started at Church
You know what? Yuni’s weekend started very early and very busily.
On Saturday morning, I went to church for cleaning and Sunday lunch prep. In our church, each small group takes turns preparing lunch after Sunday worship. When it is our turn, we usually prepare food for about 200 people.
Two hundred servings.
Just hearing that number makes you feel a little dizzy, right? Haha.
Our church is not a huge megachurch, so our small group’s turn comes around once every three months. But this church lunch duty is not only about cooking. When it is our turn to prepare the meal, we also clean the church.
We divide the areas: the main sanctuary, dining hall, nursing room, and new members’ room. Some people vacuum, some wipe, some organize, and some go straight into the kitchen to prepare ingredients for the next day.
This week’s menu was spicy stir-fried pork, cold soybean sprout soup, kimchi, cucumber salad, and mung bean jelly salad.
Oh my. Even the menu sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? Haha.
Still, when we do it together, somehow it gets done. If I had to do it alone, absolutely not. Never. Hahaha.
Sunday Lunch, One of the Warmest Parts
of Korean Church Culture
While preparing food, I suddenly had this thought.
Is this kind of church lunch culture something unique to Korean church culture? Do churches in other countries also prepare lunch after worship and eat together like this?
Yuni has moved a few times because of work and the children’s schools, so I have had the chance to serve in several different churches.
When I think about it, over the past 30 years, I have probably served in about ten churches. And strangely enough, I do not remember a church that did not have some kind of lunch culture.
Of course, there were occasional Sundays without lunch. During holidays, special events, or times like COVID, church lunch would pause for a while.
But in many Korean churches, eating lunch together after Sunday worship feels very natural.
Even when a church has thousands of members, many churches in Korea still find a way to serve lunch. Larger churches may divide worship into first, second, and third services. Very large churches may operate something closer to a cafeteria. Medium-sized churches often have members prepare lunch themselves.
Some churches serve banquet noodles every Sunday. Some prepare a Korean-style meal with rice, soup, and side dishes. The menu changes from church to church, but the atmosphere is often similar.
A meal for people who served from early morning. A meal for someone who may have had to eat alone. A meal that gives people a reason to sit down, say hello, and ask how the week has been.
It is a little bit of Korean nosiness, in the best possible way, mixed with a culture of sharing. Maybe that is why Koreans say “our” so often instead of “my.”
Our country. Our school. Our church.
Maybe that is also why people feel a strong sense of responsibility and ownership. It is not only the church I attend. It is our church, the place we build and care for together.
Korean Church Meals Are Slowly
Changing Too
At the same time, Korean church culture is not frozen in one old shape. These days, the way churches share meals is slowly changing.
Some churches still cook a full Korean meal in the church kitchen, just like before. But some churches now use simpler options, like packed meals, rice balls, sandwiches, convenience-style meals, or simple soup and rice. It depends on the size of the church, the number of volunteers, the kitchen space, and the season.
There are also churches where small groups go out to nearby restaurants instead of eating in the church dining hall. Sometimes that is easier. No huge cooking, no heavy cleanup, and people can sit together in a smaller, more relaxed setting.
I actually think this is natural. The heart of the culture is not “we must cook 200 servings no matter what.” The heart is sharing a meal, noticing one another, and making space for fellowship.
Korean Church Culture Begins
Before Sunrise
Another part of Korean church culture that feels special to me is dawn prayer.
Worship begins as early as Monday dawn.
Maybe this is also one of those things that feels very Korean. Every church is a little different. Some begin at 5:00 a.m., some at 5:30, some at 6:00. But the heart is similar: giving the first part of the day to God, worshiping, praying earnestly, and beginning the day from that place.
“Does everyone in the church come to dawn prayer?”
Hahaha. No!
From what Yuni has seen, usually about 10 to 20 percent of the church attends regular dawn prayer. Of course, every church is different.
But somehow, I feel like the church stands firmly because of the prayers of those people. When the church lights are on early in the morning and someone is praying for family, for the church, for the country, and for people who are hurting, it touches your heart.
Monthly First-Day Worship
Yuni Tries Not to Miss
Yuni does not attend dawn prayer every day. Honestly, every day is hard. Haha.
But there is one dawn service I try to attend whenever possible: monthly first-day worship.
In Korean, some churches call it Wolsak worship. It is a dawn worship service held on the first day of each month. It feels like offering the first hour of the month to God and preparing the month through prayer.
Our church also has Communion during monthly first-day worship, so it helps me reset my heart.
“Lord, help me live this month well.”
“Please protect our family this month.”
“Help me handle the work and responsibilities given to me.”
That is the kind of prayer that naturally comes out.
Our church has about 200 people including Sunday school, middle school, and high school students. On monthly first-day worship, I think about 70 percent of the church attends. So we usually prepare breakfast for about 80 people.
The service begins at 6:00 a.m. Regular dawn prayer is usually simpler and shorter. We sing, listen to the message, pray together, and then have personal prayer time. The shared part usually takes about 30 minutes.
But at our church, it does not end there.
For people who need to go straight to work after worship, the small groups take turns preparing a simple breakfast.
Monthly worship. Dawn breakfast.
I would not say this exact breakfast practice represents every Korean church. It is more like our pastor’s heart and our church’s way of caring. But many churches do have some form of monthly first-day worship, and I think it is a precious way to begin a new month.
How Do We Prepare Breakfast Before Sunrise?
So how do we prepare breakfast that early?
We prep the ingredients the night before, then come to church a little earlier before dawn. That is the secret. Haha.
In April, our small group was in charge of breakfast for monthly first-day worship. The menu was abalone porridge and kimchi.
The night before, we washed and cleaned the abalone, chopped the vegetables for the porridge, sliced the kimchi, and placed everything in the refrigerator.
At dawn, two people in charge came earlier and started cooking the porridge. Not everyone had to come at the same time, so we divided the roles.
The rest of us came a little later, set the bowls, placed the kimchi on the table, and after worship, served the porridge. Then came the final cleanup and dishes.
It sounds simple when you say it quickly, but preparing food at dawn is not exactly easy. You feel a little nervous. You are tired. You think about it from the night before.
But one warm bowl of porridge before work can really touch someone’s heart.
I think our pastor probably wanted to share that warmth. For people going straight to work after worship, for parents who need to take care of children, for everyone beginning a busy day, a warm breakfast says, “You are cared for.”
And for the people preparing it, there is also a deep sense of reward.
“Thank you, I ate well.”
“It is so warm.”
“Now I can go to work feeling full.”
When you hear words like that, you think, yes, I am tired, but I am glad we did this.
Inside Korean church culture, there is this feeling of rice, soup, prayer, and care all sitting together at the same table.
After Church Work,
Family Lunch Was Waiting
Now, back to this weekend.
We started cleaning and preparing ingredients at 10:00 a.m., and everything finished around 1:00 p.m.
After we cleaned up, people asked if I wanted to go out for lunch together, but I had to run home.
Why?
Because I had a lunch promise with my family waiting at home.
It was not eating out, but the menu was still wonderful: Chuncheon Tongnamu House dakgalbi.
In Yuni’s opinion, this is one of the best dakgalbi places. It is the kind of place I want to visit whenever I go to Gangwon-do, but since it is far away, I cannot go often. So this time, I ordered it for delivery.
It comes as a meal kit, so it is easy to cook and still tastes good. Of course, eating it at the restaurant would be better, but enjoying it at home is also satisfying.
There was only one sad thing.
No makguksu.
Dakgalbi and makguksu belong together, you know?
So instead of makguksu, we decided to eat naengmyeon.
Tongnamu House dakgalbi plus cold naengmyeon. Honestly, that combination was pretty perfect too.
No extra side dishes needed. Haha.
An Eyebrow-Flying Family Lunch Prep
As soon as I got home, I think I used every homemaker skill I had.
“They must be hungry. I need to make this quickly!”
Maybe because of that thought, my body suddenly moved so fast. I was cooking and preparing everything at full speed.
First, I started the dakgalbi. Then I boiled eggs for the naengmyeon. I washed the lettuce and perilla leaves I brought from church, made ssamjang, sliced garlic and chili peppers for wraps, crushed the frozen naengmyeon broth, sliced cucumber, cooked the noodles, and rinsed them hard in cold water.
Hahahaha.
It was truly an eyebrow-flying moment.
I prepared lunch without even sitting down for a second, but the satisfaction level was 100 percent.
The dakgalbi was delicious. The naengmyeon was cold and refreshing. With lettuce wraps on the side, what more do you need?
And you know what Koreans say: hunger is the best side dish. Everyone was hungry, so everyone ate so well.
That is enough.
When the people you cook for eat happily, you feel proud. Even if it was tiring, you think, I am glad I did it.
I left the cleanup to the men in my house and sat in front of the computer for a little bit.
But only a little bit.
Really, just a little. Haha.
I Thought I Could Rest,
But Then Came Voting and Car Washing
After sitting at the computer for a short moment, I went out for early voting.
The voting place was very close to home, so I was planning to ride my bicycle and come back quickly. But then my husband said,
“Let’s vote and then go wash the car.”
Oh no.
So the day was not over yet? Haha.
It felt a little intense, but the car did need a wash. So my oldest son came with us, we voted quickly, and then we went to a self car wash near home.
Usually, we use an automatic car wash after getting gas. It is easy. You go in, come out, and that is it.
But sometimes we use a self car wash because it lets us clean more carefully. It is especially good for dust inside the car.
And there is one funny thing about self car wash places.
You end up watching other people clean their cars. Haha.
Everyone has different cleaning tools. Sometimes someone uses a really clever item, and then I immediately think:
“Oh, that looks good.”
“Maybe we should buy one too.”
That is how the shopping cart grows again. Why do other people’s cleaning tools always look so useful?
The three of us washed the car quickly. Today was not a “perfectly spotless” kind of day. It was more like, “This is good enough.”
Because the weather was hot.
I thought it would be fine because we were in the shade, but once we started moving, it was still hot. I was thirsty and tired.
And when you feel that way in summer, what do you need?
Patbingsu.
Old-School Patbingsu and a Childhood Memory
On the way home, we stopped by Lotteria.
We had patbingsu and one shrimp burger.
But listen. The ice in the Lotteria patbingsu reminded me of the ice I used to eat in front of stationery shops when I was little.
These days, snowflake bingsu is popular, right? Like Sulbing or fruit bingsu, the kind that softly melts in your mouth.
That is delicious too. In summer, I often order it or go out to eat it. The soft melting texture is definitely charming.
But today’s patbingsu was different.
The ice was rough. A little chunky. You had to chew it.
And I loved that.
The crunchy ice felt so cold and refreshing, and suddenly I remembered childhood.
That icy snack in front of the stationery store. A little colorful, very cold, making your tongue almost numb, but somehow so good.
That was the feeling I got today.
After cooling down with patbingsu, we came out and saw an unmanned ice cream shop nearby.
Could we just pass by?
Of course not.
We bought a bag of ice cream and went home.
Hahahaha.
What a full weekend. Not just full, packed tightly from morning to night.
A Busy Day, But a Warm One
Did the day end when we got home?
Nope.
Yuni’s final task was in front of the computer.
I searched for blog ideas, worked on images, organized a few things, and before I knew it, it was dawn.
Seriously.
Was this a weekend? Did I rest? I am not sure. Haha.
Church cleaning, Sunday lunch prep, family lunch at home, early voting, self car wash, patbingsu, ice cream shopping, and late-night blog work.
It was truly a busy day.
But strangely, my heart felt okay.
I think Korean church culture has this kind of warmth inside it. Preparing food for someone, eating together after worship, praying early in the morning, beginning a new month with worship, and offering a warm bowl of porridge to someone heading to work.
It is not always grand or dramatic. Sometimes it is just one bowl, one table, one small act of care.
It can be tiring. It can be chaotic. Sometimes your eyebrows practically fly away because you are moving so fast.
But there is a deep reward in preparing one warm meal for someone.
So what about you?
Maybe this week, you could share a little warmth with someone too.
It does not have to be something big. A kind word, a cup of coffee, a simple meal, or one message asking, “How are you?”
That small gesture might become the strength someone needs to get through the day.
