Key points:
- As she retires, the Rev. GaHyung Kim looks back on the challenges and blessings of serving in cross-racial/cross-cultural appointments.
- She shared her thoughts during a speech at the 2024 Northern Illinois Annual Conference, held June. 16-18.
- “The Northern Illinois Conference is blessed to have many Asian clergy and laity and other ethnic minorities,” she said.
Photo by Rev. Thomas E. Kim, UM News.
Commentaries
Editor’s Note: Excerpted from a speech delivered during the 2024 Northern Illinois Annual Conference meeting, held June 16-18.
At the beginning of my ministry back in 1988, I was asked a question by a church member: “Have you ever eaten a hamburger?”
But as time flew, and I kept moving from one church to another, I often heard, “Your accent is beautiful!”
Doing ministry in a new language has been both a challenge and a blessing to me. I often thought that I was patient in trying to figure out what you were talking about, but I realized that you were more patient in trying to understand me.
During my ministry, I received the best gift from God: my daughter, Seouen Rachel, who also has been a big part of my ministry from her childhood as a self-proclaimed “junior pastor.”
To all the churches I served, thank you for showing me grace by teaching me so much about being a pastor, every day. I have learned far more than the church members could possibly have learned from me, because you all outnumber me.
You have taught me to be present with you along your life journeys through inviting me to be with you, listening to your struggles, being with sick loved ones, being present when children were first born, and when making big life decisions.
I remember so many significant things and times that many, many of you said to me at important times of your lives.
And then there were those precious people who gave me so much of their wisdom before they passed. I am eternally thankful for all I have learned and for shared life together with the people in the churches of the Northern Illinois Conference.
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A well-respected spiritual leader once said, “Just like the baby Jesus received gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh from the wise men from the East, we Westerners also would like to receive the gifts of Asian philosophies.” The Northern Illinois Conference is blessed to have many Asian clergy and laity and other ethnic minorities.
I am grateful that I am your ministry partner in the ways you welcomed and included people. We live in a society where people struggle because of judgment on their age, the color of their skin, their economic status, disabilities and abilities, their sexual orientation and gender identity, their political affiliation.
Our conference, this body of Christ, this spirit-led community of faith, is very diverse, yielding much fruit with all our efforts. Thank you for being on that path.
A diversity consultant, Verna Myers, once said, “Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”
Ministry continues. Will you dance with me?
Kim is pastor of First United Methodist Church of Lockport, Illinois.
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