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W hile Pastor Danny Han worked on staff at a church called the Presbyterian Church of NJ ("PCNJ"), he
enjoyed great favor from the PCNJ leadership. In 1999, he sensed God's calling to start a new church for a
new generation. Joy Christian Fellowship was birthed on November 1, 1999. This new church would be an
environment where second-generation Korean-American believers could be encouraged and equipped to
step up to become leaders for their generation. By having an independent second-generation church, the
second-generation believers would now be radically challenged to take on higher personal responsibility,
ownership and leadership to reach their generation.
With the blessing of the sending PCNJ church, JOY became only one of a few Korean-American churches in
the U.S. that was established with the sending church's blessing at that time. Pastor Danny takes this to
be a testament of PCNJ's generosity and also God's early affirmation of His plans for JOY.
What began as a new church plant of 50 people gathering in a small KCCC (Korean Campus Crusade for
Christ) office in Fort Lee, NJ has now grown to over 500 people worshipping across three sites in Tenafly,
NJ, Edgewater, NJ, and Manhattan. We acknowledge that it is only by God's grace that He is continuing to
build a community who love Him here. We want this to be a worshipping community "where God feels
right at home."
In recent years, our church has been impacted to discover and show the joyful character ("face") of God
to others. Several years ago, an individual had a dream warning him that 185,000 young Korean-
Americans were spiritually dying in the East Coast. If nothing is done, the number would soon become
400,000. This dream highlights what we already know is happening. About 80-90% of Korean-Americans
leave the church by the time they graduate from college. One of the main reasons is because they have a
misconception of who God really is and His emotions towards them. They wrongly believe that God is
angry or distant when God, in fact, loves us and wants to draw near to us. In spite of our weaknesses,
God delights over us. Knowing this frees us to become passionate worshippers who celebrate His love.
So for our generation and for the next, we are actively pursuing God to enter into deeper places of
intimacy and joy with Him.
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