We want to BE the church. 
The church is people who are:

1. Centered on the Gospel

To be centered on the Gospel means far beyond knowing facts about the Gospel. It means that your life is actually being affected by the truths of the Gospel. Our aim is to be people who are learning to place Jesus in the center of every aspect of our lives so that we become more like Christ.

2. Empowered By the Holy Spirit

Without the Holy Spirit and His power, we can do nothing. That is why Jesus graciously promised us the gift of the Holy Spirit – so that He can work both in us and through us to accomplish His work on the earth. Our aim is to be people who live as set-apart people. People who are continually filled with the Holy Spirit so that we have the ability to live as He has asked us to live.

3. Sent On Mission

If you have put your faith in Jesus, it means that you have become a witness of the Gospel. You have experienced Christ. This means you now have the call to go and tell others what you have heard, what you have seen, and what you have experienced. Our aim is to be people who follow this call. To be missionaries – people who share the truths of the Gospel and who show the truths of the Gospel.

We are Church because we will commit to spiritual growth of this congregation, providing fellowship and encouragement and a variety of educational opportunities, focusing on developing servant-leaders for service in God’s Kingdom.

▶ Gospel-Centered Teaching

▶ Faith-Filled Prayer

▶ Authentic Worship

▶ Intentional Fellowship

▶ A Heart for Multiplication

A membership class takes place every quarter. For more information you can talk to Pastor Kerey or our admin Ruth.

Elders

The church will be elder led. The elders, as overseers of the church, will have the oversight of all persons and functions of the church.  Having oversight of the persons involves ministering to the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of the congregation in alignment with Scripture. The functions of the church are diverse, but may be categorized as equipping and evangelizing.  These categories include worship, education, business, outreach, and missions, etc. The elders will be responsible for the oversight of each of these within the church.  

PICC will operate under a plurality of elders, so that authority will not be vested in one man.  Matters of decision shall be of unanimity following Bible study, prayer, and investigation on the subject. The objective in any decision is to find the mind of Christ.  Unanimity based on Scriptural truth best demonstrates having found the mind of Christ concerning any matter. Christ’s mind is not divided, and the decisions of the elders should reflect that to the church. When unanimity cannot be reached, the elders shall wait upon God to reveal His will. Elders will serve in the office of elder so long as the qualifications of the elder as mentioned in Scripture are maintained.

While under the guidance and oversight of FVC, PICC’s elder body will include the elders of FVC. 

Pyeongtaek International Community Church (PICC) traces its beginnings to the English-speaking congregation of Seoul Memorial Church (SMC) that began in 1971. Initially, Southern Baptist missionaries conducted the service for U.S. military personnel, civilians, missionaries and their children. Rev. James Swendenburg (deceased) was the first pastor, and he and his wife, Joyce, served the church from January 1972 to June 1974. Then in 1973, the Foreign Mission Board (FMB; now the International Mission Board) of the Southern Baptist Convention voted to release up to $30,000 in capital funds from the 1972 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering to allow SMC to purchase land on Yeouido Island in Seoul. Again, in 1974, the FMB released an additional $20,000 in Lottie Moon funds to assist SMC.

In February 1975, the FMB appointed Rev. and Mrs. Roland Leath of Shelby, North Carolina to serve in an interim pastoral ministry at SMC now SIBC (Seoul International Baptist Church). Rev. Leath served in this capacity until June 1976, when Rev. Cloyes Starnes assumed the pastorate, serving first as assistant pastor and then as senior pastor. During Rev. Starnes pastorate, SIBC completed construction of its facilities on Yeouido, next door to Yeouido Baptist Church. Rev. Starnes and his wife, Mary Jo, served the church until January 1980. Throughout the 1970s into the mid-1980s, the FMB also appointed several journeymen to serve in SIBC youth work. They included Karen Ballard, appointed in 1975; Mary Lyn Ward, appointed in 1977; Mark Okazaki, appointed in 1979; Sherry McGee, appointed in 1981; Jeff Waldo, appointed in 1984 and Gary Hartman, appointed in 1986.

In 1981, Rev. Jack Green and his wife, Mary Edna came to SIBC. During Rev. Green’s tenure the church added to the educational building on Yeouido using Lottie Moon funds. Yeouido Baptist Church also paid SIBC for a 99-year lease on the parking lot property and the church used those funds to construct a new worship center with fellowship and teaching space.

In October 1983, the FMB authorized Dr. and Mrs. William C. Link, Jr., of Liberty, Missouri, to serve as extended-term volunteers in South Korea. Dr. Link assumed the pastorate of SIBC in December 1983 for a one-year term while the Greens were on furlough.

Also, during Rev. Green’s 12-year tenure, SIBC became involved in a prison ministry through the help of a Korean pharmacist. The pharmacist, whose name has been lost to history, discipled converts from services that Rev. Green preached three times a year in the juvenile prison at Incheon. According to Rev. Green, the church baptized 1,028 young men during the ten years of this ministry. Rev. Green also recalled that he once baptized 132 men in one prison baptismal service.

Rev. Green and the church leadership dubbed SIBC, “a mission church on a mission field.” As a result, the church donated a large portion of its weekly receipts to the Home Mission Board of the Korean Baptist Convention. They also sponsored the start of ten new Korean churches and paid for their start-up expenses. The church also partnered with the blind church in Seoul, bought them a piano and helped them build a new facility.

Bill Colston and his wife, Gerry, succeeded Rev. Green and served the church from 1992 until September 2001. Back in June 1996, the FMB authorized the Korea Baptist Mission to sell the SIBC property located on Yeouido. The property, which was originally purchased in March 1975 for $39,627, had an estimated value of $4 million. The FMB authorized that funds from the sale be used to relocate SIBC, mission office facilities and other Korea Baptist ministries currently occupying the Yeouido address.

In November 2001, Rev. Tim Swihart and his wife, Mari, relocated from Busan, South Korea to lead SIBC. Under Rev. Swihart’s leadership the church grew in numbers and ministries and added vibrant men, women, children and prayer ministries. The church also renewed its mission emphasis, as members took trips to Bangladesh, China, Tibet, and Thailand.

In the mid-2000s, the International Missions Board (formerly FMB) recognized that most of its international churches had matured to the point that it was no longer necessary to provide missionary pastors and financial support. As a result, when the Swiharts completed their term in June 2007, the church formed a search committee and began searching to call their first pastor. During this process, the church invited Rev. Jack Peters to serve as interim pastor which he did with his wife, Debra, from June 2007 to June 2008.

In early 2008, SIBC called Dr. Dan Armistead from Cummings, Georgia. He and his wife, Sherri arrived in Seoul in June of that year. During the interim period and early in Dr. Armistead’s tenure, the church committed to planting English-speaking churches in and around Seoul. International Christian Fellowship in Yeonhui-dong was the first such plant, with the intent of reaching expat’s with ties to Seoul Foreign School.

In 2010, the leadership team travelled down to Pyeongtaek (1 hour south of Seoul) to explore the idea of a 2nd SIBC.  For years news had circulated about the move of Yongsan Garrison to Camp Humphrey’s near Pyeongtaek City.  At the time nothing materialized.  We prayed and asked God to give us his vision for this endeavour.  It wasn’t until the summer of 2016 that the leadership team finally decided and voted on a plan to plant a church in the Pyeongtaek area.  SIBC Pyeongtaek was born.  It began as a Saturday night service and continued with just that service for 2 years.  Finally in the summer of 2018, plans were made to begin a Sunday morning service. In February 2020 SIBC merged with another English speaking congregation to become Freedom Village Church (Freedom Village being the transliteration of the Korean name for the neighbourhood). After this merger, it didn't make much sense for SIBC Pyeongtaek to keep its name as there was no longer an SIBC in Seoul. In August 2024 the elders agreed on the name Pyeongtaek International Community Church. The intention behind the name Community church was to recognize our diversity in background, denominations, and traditions of our congregants who are from all over the world.

Back in 1980, Rev. Green cast a vision for SIBC as “a mission church on a mission field.” Although the areas of emphasis and the name may have changed throughout the years, the church continues working toward that vision as they share the Gospel throughout Korea and to the ends of the earth.