A letter from Sook Hee Bae in Korea
May 1, 2009
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
It’s spring here in Korea, and we can see all kind of beautiful flowers and smell their pleasant scents. I am so grateful to God and give my thanks for your support for my ministry with women in Korea.
New life in our Lord
Two teenagers who had been abused by their parents and given shelter by the Women Ministers Association. Both were baptized in YeJi church’s Easter Sunday worship service.
In my newsletter of March 17, 2008, I wrote you about two sisters, Nami and Sumi. They came to our shelter, “Another Home,” at age 15 and 13, having run away from their father, who was abusing them sexually. They both started a new life at our shelter. Both became normal students and attended JeYi Church every Sunday. They get along with the other girls and have many friends. God has helped and transformed Nami’s and Sumi’s lives. They learned about Jesus and received Jesus Christ as their Savior and were baptized on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009.
All the church members and I were so happy for Nami and Sumi. It’s good news that God can transform someone’s life and walk with them. I would like invite you to join with me to share the joy of new life that Nami and Sumi found in our Lord.
Development of women ministers
After the spring presbytery meetings of Women Ministers Association of PCK (Presbyterian Church of Korea) at the end of April 2009, the WMA now has close to 1,000 members, all ordained women ministers. Praise the Lord!
As you may know, Korea is still a society dominated by men, and women have limited social status. Women ministers face the same situation in the Korean church community. They fought for many years for women’s ordination and for God’s justice and peace.
In February 2009, the Women’s Ministry Association decided to form four ministry development teams in order to help women ministers improve their leadership skills.
Now that WMA is blessed to have nearly 1,000 ordained members, they want to focus on developing their leadership to serve the kingdom of God. Accordingly, they organized a Ministry Development Center (MDC) at their winter retreat in February 2009, and the first meeting of MDC committee was held on March 9.
The committee decided that MDC needed four teams to develop and improve women’s ministry. The four teams are (1) ministry development, (2) spiritual development, (3) social and cultural development and (4) preaching development. WMA appointed staff and organized members for each team.
The members of all four teams are very enthusiastic and working hard to accomplish their goal of sharing their knowledge and experience with other ministers nationally. Over the last 10 years, the WMA has improved the status of women ministers in terms of their social position but the WMA needs continuing prayer and support from you. I am so grateful to God that WMA keeps growing not only in membership but also in its participation in the Korean church community as a role model.
I attended as many meetings of the four ministry development teams as possible in order to be with them as they shared their thoughts and opinions. I hope to encourage and empower their spirits. I pray to God that WMA will discern the best way to reach its goals. At the same time, I ask you for your continuing prayer and support. Later this year, I’ll update you on how the ministry development teams work.
Peace,
Sook Hee Bae
The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 120
