기 요한, John Egger

Hello everyone - I will be serving on a panel at this event next week at Emmanuel College in celebration of 60 years of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Canada. You are welcome to join in - online or in person! (register by Nov. 18) For more information or to register, follow this link: https://www.emmanuel.utoronto.ca/the-centre-for-religion-and-its-contexts/continuing-education-events-and-courses/#ac-1878

To help me reflect on my experiences as a mission co-worker, let me share with you an interview I did earlier in this year with two of my colleagues in the PROK, Lydia and Abigail, who are serving as Global Mission interns with Global Ministries (the joint mission agency of the United Church of Christ in the USA and the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ in USA and Canada.) At the time of this interview, Lydia had been in Korea 23 months and Abigail 20 months. Lydia, who is from California, arrived in Korea speaking some Korean, as her parents were born in Korea; Abby, who is from Ohio, arrived in Korea speaking no Korean, but has learned a little along the way. Lydia and Abigail in Seoul John:  Let’s start by having you both say a little bit about what it was like coming to Korea. What was that experience like for you at the very beginning?   Abby: My initial coming to Korea was a little stressful because I was having problems with my visa. We thought it was set, but then...

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 pres...

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 johnegg...

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...