기 요한, John Egger

As I look back over my home assignment I'm thinking of all the places I've been and all the people I met over the past few weeks and months as I travelled across Canada. Everywhere I went there were people with Korean connections — folks from Korea who are working, studying, or living here in Canada; descendants of Canadian missionaries who served in Korea; Canadians who have studied or worked in Korea at one time or another; pastors from Korea who are now serving in the United Church; folks from the United Church who visited Korea as part of an exchange; Canadian soldiers who served in Korea during the Korean War; and former mission co-workers in Korea and elsewhere. What I discovered is that the connections between Canada and Korea are very deep, multi-layered and multi-dimensional! Wednesday Noon Worship at General Council Offices of the United Church,  Feb. 1 The message I shared was basically the same wherever I went: a bit   about the history of the Canadian mission prese

Coming up May 2: a special service of commemoration for all the mission co-workers from The United Church of Canada who have served in Korea over the years. United Church mission co-worker John Egger, who has served in Korea since 2018, is now in Canada on his final home assignment. John’s return to Canada marks a significant ending for the United Church, as he stands at the end of a long line of mission co-workers who have served in Korea since 1898, when the first mission co-workers from the Presbyterian Church in Canada arrived in Korea. Join us on May 2 at First United Church in Truro as we celebrate the ongoing partnership in mission between Canada and Korea and commemorate the contributions of the many mission co-workers who have served in Korea over the past 125 years. May 2, 2023 7 pm (Atlantic time) First United Church, Truro 711 Prince Street, Truro, Nova Scotia live-streamed at:  https://www.youtube.com/@firstunitedtrurons/videos for more information, contact johnegger@c

Please join me at this event Here is the link:   https://us06web.zoom.us/j/ 83922758892

As I process my time in Korea, I'm looking back on  2022, which was a year of exciting new developments as Korea went from delta to omicron to "living with covid," and my work started opening up again. Here are a handful of images showing some highlights of the year for me. The year began with some restrictions still in place on group gatherings. Nevertheless, people still found ways to meet. For myself, I was particularly busy with the global mission interns/young adult volunteers (and associated folks) as together we educated ourselves more and more about the social and political realities of Korea. Here I am pictured at one of our online meetings, with Hyeyoung, Yuki, Lydia, Grace, Kate, Lydia, Marie, Hans, Abigail (representing collectively USA, Germany, Japan and Canada). At the beginning of February I got my Pfizer booster—it didn't prevent me from getting covid in March, but I must say I came out of it okay and I was sure thankful I got the booster! In February

For the past couple of years, the coming of the new year has provided an opportunity for me to produce a blog post looking back over my past year in Korea. I may still manage to produce a blog like this in the next few weeks, but since my four-year term in Korea has now come to an end as of December 31, my most important work over the past few weeks has been to say goodbye to Korea. Let me share a few snapshots of what this has been like. Participating in the PROK's outdoor memorial service for victims of the Itaewon disaster at Seoul Plaza, Nov. 4: Saying goodbye at the English language ministry at Hanshin Presbyterian Church, Nov. 6: Giving a seminar presentation on the Canadian contribution to ecumenical mission in Korea for the Ecumenical Mission in Korea Study Group, Nov. 17: Visiting YangSeong Church in Anseong with Patti Talbot from the United Church of Canada, Nov. 27: Delivering a farewell speech (which I managed to do in Korean!) at the PROK Executive meeting on Nov. 29 (