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!
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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 presence in Korea, going back to 1898, a bit about the more recent history of the partnership between The United Church of Canada and the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, and a lot about my own experiences as a mission co-worker—particularly my experiences as the last long-term mission co-worker serving in Korea. My return to Canada is a significant ending for the United Church, in that it means that this one way of being in mission relationship is coming to an end, but it also means that we are standing at the beginning of new ways of being in relationship that we have yet to discover and develop. And everywhere I went, I reminded people that even without a mission co-worker on the ground in Korea, the partnership between the PROK and The United Church of Canada will continue. So my presentations focussed on a mix of the past, present and future of the mission partnership between Canada and Korea.
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Lunch and Learn at Trinity St. Paul's United Church, Toronto, Feb. 5 |
For a stretch of a few weeks I was on the road, visiting a handful of communities of faith in the Northern Spirit, Living Skies, and Chinook Winds Regions of the United Church (these are United Church regions in Alberta and Saskatchewan), including an online panel discussion with St. Andrew's College in Saskatoon on the future of the partnership between The United Church of Canada and the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, and spending time with the participants in the Designated Lay Ministry Learning Circle taking place at St. Andrew's in March.
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Friday Afternoon Coffee and Conversation with Trinity United Church, Fort Macleod, Feb. 10 |
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Visiting with Rev. Hyun Heo and Rev. Joyce Sasse, former mission co-worker in Korea (1967-71)
Pincher Creek, Feb. 11 |
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| Time with the children at Varsity Acres Presbyterian Church, Calgary, Feb. 19 |
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| Sunday Worship at Spirit of Hope United Church, Edmonton, March 5 |
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| Sharing Communion with Grosvenor Park United Church, Saskatoon, March 12 |
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| Panel with Rev. SunDo Hyun and Rev. Catherine Christie through St. Andrew's College, March 20 |
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| Sunday Morning at Nanton United Church, March 26 |
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| United Church of Canada Consultation with PROK, meeting at Emmanuel College in Toronto April 26-27 |
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| Exchange of gifts between General Secretary of the United Church, Rev. Michael Blair, and General Secretary of the PROK, Rev. Dr. ChangJu Kim, solidifying the partnership between the two churches |
After the consultation I immediately left for Nova Scotia, where it all began in 1898 when the first three mission co-workers from what was then the Maritime synod of the Presbyterian Church in Canada were sent to serve the people of Korea. On May 2 in Truro, I attended a special service commemorating all the folks who have served as mission co-workers in Korea over the past 125 years. The United Church, because of limited financial resources, has now made the decision to discontinue the long-term mission co-worker program, but as I said, this does not mean the end of the partnership between the two churches. So this service looked to the past in that it celebrated the contributions of all the mission co-workers over the years, but it also looked to the future in that it celebrated the contributions of these mission co-workers to a partnership that will continue to evolve and grow as we move into the future.
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| Sunday morning worship at St. Matthew's United Church, Halifax, April 30 |
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Special Worship Service Commemorating All the Mission Co-workers who served in Korea
First United Church, Truro, May 2
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From Truro I travelled 4000 km to Medicine Hat so that I could address the Chinook Winds Regional Gathering. While there, I re-connected with several Koreans who are serving in the region, including Rev. MiYeon Kim, Rev. MyeongNam Park, and Rev. OhWang Kwon (who was the first PROK pastor to serve in the United Church under the mutual recognition of ministry agreement), as well as Catherine Christie, former mission co-worker in Korea (2010-2017), and Rev. Taylor Croissant, who also spent time in Korea.
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 | | Addressing Chinook Winds Regional Gathering as the United Church's final long term mission co-worker to serve in Korea, May 6 |
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One thing I was told, when I left Korea, was not to let the people of United Church forget how crucial their partnership was in the struggle for democracy and human rights in South Korea during the time of military dictatorship in the 1970's and 1980's. Just the presence of mission co-workers on the ground told the Korean church that they were not alone in their struggle. Over the years, going back to 1898, the partnership between the two churches has had a profound impact. The United Church of Canada and the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea have both been transformed by this relationship. And we still have lots to learn from each other! One way the United Church continues to be blessed through this exchange is with the arrival of so many Korean pastors serving in the United Church. May the partnership continue to bless us in so many ways!
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