A Korean Presbyterian Home in the Heart of Gardena
Dae Hueng Korean Presbyterian Church (대흥장로교회) gathers each week on South Figueroa Street in the heart of Gardena's Korean American community. The sanctuary has become a steady meeting point for Korean speaking believers across the Los Angeles area, and the same building also houses an English language congregation that reaches neighbors who prefer English. The church's motto is a church that preaches the gospel to every heart without Christ, anchored by Isaiah 6:8.
The building on South Figueroa serves a congregation that has chosen to keep its worship in two languages, its children in three age groups, and its missionaries on five continents. Inside, the rhythm is orderly: a Sunday morning service, a Friday evening service, and special seasonal services that mark the Christian calendar from Advent through New Year. Outside, the church is sending men and women across oceans, from the highlands of Bolivia to the West Bank, to plant, to teach, and to walk alongside local believers.
Two Pulpit Rhythm: Sunday and Friday Worship
The congregation keeps two preaching services each week. The Sunday worship (주일예배) gathers the full congregation for expository preaching through Old and New Testament books, supported by congregational praise and the church's choirs. The Friday worship (금요예배) gathers members in the evening for a more intimate setting and has worked through shorter series like the book of James, the early chapters of Judges, and the Red Sea passage in Exodus 14.
The seasonal services (절기예배) gather the church for the major Christian seasons. A recent New Year's series worked through Genesis 12 to 21 in five messages, titled A New Knot, A New Beginning, A New Opportunity, A New Grace, and A New Vision, leading up to the 2025 to 2026 Old and New Year Watch Night service on Deuteronomy 31:7-8. Christmas Eve 2025 was preached in English by Rev. Aaron Sunu of ARC from Matthew 2:1 to 12 under the title Jesus, the King Who Shepherds. The 2025 Christmas celebration report (2025 성탄축하발표회) carries the seasonal archive through Advent and Christmas week.
Online giving is available from the top of every page, and the sermons are archived in full text. The church's YouTube channel hosts videos of recent services, choir pieces, and the seasonal specials, with new recordings added most weeks.
Three Sermon Series on the Calendar
The sermon archive runs deep and is open to anyone who wants to read along. The Sunday archive holds more than four hundred ninety messages, the Friday archive holds more than two hundred forty, and the seasonal archive holds one hundred twenty three. The pastors move slowly through books of the Bible, taking weeks at a time on a single passage.
Pilgrim number one took the text from Numbers 2:1 to 9 and preached under the Latin phrase homo viator, the pilgrim man, walking through the camp of Judah. Pilgrim number two took Numbers 3:1 to 4 and preached on the true worshiper. Pilgrim number three took Numbers 6:1 to 7 and preached on the spiritual Nazarite. Before this series came The Person God Is Looking For (하나님이 찾으시는 사람), a seven message journey that moved through Genesis 6, Exodus 14, Acts 10, 2 Kings 5, and Matthew 19, and the sixteen part Now (지금은) series that began in autumn 2023.
The Friday series moves at a steadier clip. Recent messages have walked through Judges 6 under the titles The People Cried Out to the Lord, A Prophet Was Sent, and I Will Surely Be With You, and through the book of James under titles like The Wisdom That Sows Heavenly Peace, Waiting and Patience, and The Lord Goes Before Us. The seasonal services have preached Lent through a seven part I Am That Man (내가 바로 그 사람입니다) series that looked at the disciples at the cross, with stops at Thomas, Judas, and Pilate.
The Pastoral Team at Dae Hueng
Senior Pastor Kim Jeong-hoon (김정훈 담임목사) carries the bulk of the preaching and pastoral vision at Dae Hueng. He has preached the recent Pilgrimage series on Numbers, the God Seeker series on Exodus and 2 Kings, and the spring through the gospels Lent series. He also preached the 2025 to 2026 Old and New Year Watch Night service from Deuteronomy 31:7 to 8, and the five message New Year series through Genesis.
On Friday evenings he shares the pulpit with Pastor Lee Yong-jae (이용재 목사), who has carried a long exposition through the book of James, and with Pastor Kim Woo-seung (김우승 목사), whose messages have moved through Mark and John. Pastor Kang Geon (강건 목사) joins for occasional Friday preaching and recently preached on the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20.
Guest preachers round out the calendar. Pastor Lee Jae-hak (이재학 목사), director of the Timothy Bible Research Institute, preached on Deuteronomy 8:1 to 10 in August 2026. Pastor No Jin-jun (노진준 목사), co-representative of PCM, delivered a three part mini series titled The Heart of the Father, The Prayer of the Community, and I Do Believe in October 2025. Rev. Aaron Sunu of ARC preached the English Christmas Eve message in 2025.
The English Ministry: Arise Reformed Church
Inside the same building, the English language ministry Arise Reformed Church (ARC) reaches Korean Americans and other English speaking neighbors who prefer the language. ARC has its own domain at arisereformed.org and its own place in the church's navigation under English Worship (영어예배부). Rev. Aaron Sunu of ARC preached the English Christmas Eve message at the seasonal service in December 2025, and the church's bilingual signage and the YouTube archive, which carries both Korean and English recordings, show ARC's growing place in the church's life.
The two ministries share the building, the children's and youth programs, and the mission board. Together they serve a Gardena neighborhood where the Korean American community is now second and third generation, and where many young adults and their children are more comfortable in English.
The Next Generation: Children, Youth, and the Saturday Korean School
The next generation at Dae Hueng has three distinct doors. The church school (교회학교) gathers the youngest children during the Sunday service for age appropriate Bible lessons. Shining Stars (유초등부) welcomes elementary age children, and Salt and Light (중고등부) serves the middle and high school youth. Both groups have their own pages and a gallery that documents retreats, mission trips, and graduation services.
A separate Saturday school (토요학교) carries on Korean language education for the second generation. The Saturday program is its own track, distinct from the Sunday church school, and meets most Saturdays through the school year. Children's and youth ministries are treated as a serious investment of the church's life. The most recent events have included a June 2025 Vacation Bible School, a Joshua evangelism committee picnic, and a graduation worship service in June 2026.
The mission board also supports the next generation across the seas. The Palestine field team's flagship project is a year round PowerPoint Sunday school curriculum covering nursery through high school, roughly six hundred twenty slides in English, with Arabic and Hebrew versions in development. The Philippines team's summer Bible school served seven hundred children in a recent six week run, and several of those children are now attending weekly prayer meetings and adult worship services.
Missionaries on Five Continents
Mission work (선교) is one of the most visible marks of Dae Hueng. More than two hundred forty prayer letters and updates are organized by missionary and field, and the church maintains dedicated pages for the larger fields. The mission banner reads in Korean: A church that preaches the gospel to every heart without Christ, with Isaiah 6:8 underneath.
The active fields include Bolivia, where the Hwangbo family (황보민) ministers with a dedicated sub page and regular prayer letters, and a separate field tag for short term teams. Mexico hosts five active workers, including 최건이고, 이기제, 양주림, and 추기성, with their own prayer letters. The Philippines field is led by 김명옥, who directs a children's Bible school that reached seven hundred children in a recent summer program and is now sending two students into a three year Bible college program. Other active fields include Uganda under Lee Chang-won, Cambodia under Cho Yong-gyu and the Light School Cambodia, Argentina under Lim Hyeong-man, and Venezuela under Jeong Myeong-jin.
The Palestine field has its own story. The Yoo family at Yoo Shidae (유교회유시대) served the Ramallah church for sixteen years and twenty years in total before transitioning leadership to local pastors. They are settling near the south of Jerusalem, on the Bethlehem border, and have set their compass toward reconciliation between Israeli and Palestinian believers. Their current focus is a Sunday school curriculum that can travel, with PowerPoint lessons that any local teacher can pick up and use, and craft samples that any classroom can reproduce.
Short term mission (단기선교) is a separate section from the long term fields and is in the main navigation as a parallel track for members who want to go for a season without becoming long term workers.
The Choir Loft and the Music Ministry
Two choirs share the worship life. The Hallelujah choir (할렐루야 찬양대) handles the heavier congregational praise, while the Shalom choir (샬롬 찬양대) carries the more reflective music. Both upload recordings and videos to the church's Dae Hueng Praise (대흥찬양) archive, with new songs posted most Sundays. Recent pieces include Lord of My Life from Hallelujah, Praise the Lord from Shalom, and Heading Home from Hallelujah.
The music ministry also gathers for its own dedication service. The most recent choir dedication, Even in the Trial I Can Hum, mixed congregational hymns with choir led pieces and gave the Shalom choir a space to lead the room in praise. The Dae Hueng Praise archive carries both audio and video of the choirs, with each post naming the choir and the date.
A Community That Reads and Listens Together
Two community spaces shape life between Sundays. The DKPC Sharing Court (DKPC 나눔터) hosts short essays, reflections, and reprinted Korean American essays from the Los Angeles 중앙일보. Recent pieces by essayist Lee Jung-ja (이정아) and member Kim Yoon-hee (김윤희) reflect on aging in a foreign place, on misreading through one's own lens, on AI as a conversation partner for active seniors in their eighties, and on the gifts of old friends who travel long distances to visit.
The weekly bulletin (주보광고) carries the church's announcements and is updated most weeks. A separate photo gallery (대흥갤러리) keeps albums of recent church life, including the September 2026 opening of the senior citizens' college (선배시민대학 개강), the June 2026 graduation worship service, and a district meeting at the Lee family home. The church's weekly publication follows the calendar from week to week.
The welcome letter (환영의글), the pastoral vision (목회비전), the staff page (섬기는분), the new member guide (새가족 안내), and the way to come (오시는길) help newcomers find their footing in the building.
Reaching Dae Hueng: Address, Online Giving, Sermon Archive
The church office can be reached by phone at (310) 719-2244, with a fax line at (310) 719-2229 and an email at dkpcoffice@gmail.com. Visitors driving in will find the church at 15411 S. Figueroa Street, Gardena, CA 90248, where Korean language Sunday worship and Friday worship, the English language ARC services, and the children's, youth, and Saturday Korean school programs all gather in one place.
Online giving is available from the top of every page, and the sermon archive runs back years and is free to read. The YouTube channel carries video of most Sundays, Fridays, seasonal services, and choir pieces. The staff answer the phone in Korean and English.
Dae Hueng's reach runs from Gardena to Ramallah to La Paz, but the heart of the church is the Sunday service on South Figueroa, where Korean and English speakers sit together to hear a sermon from a book of the Bible, to sing with the choirs, and to pray for the missionaries who carry the gospel further than they ever could themselves.