He/him
Ordained Minister, Nominated by Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council
My name is Sungmin, which means "holy person" in Korean. I was born and raised in a Presbyterian Christian family in South Korea. My studying of theology at Yonsei University, Seoul, led me to come to Canada in 1994 to enroll in Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, and to immediately join The United Church of Canada through Fort Massey United Church. I was ordained in Maritime Conference in 1999 after an eight-month internship at Chilliwack United Church in British Columbia, and settled in Wesleyville, Newfoundland, for three years. I was then called by Hartland-Jacksonville Pastoral Charge in New Brunswick, where I served for ten years. I moved to a Korean United in North York where I served for five years, during which time it amalgamated with Willowdale United Church, also in Toronto. I have been at St. John's United Church in Alliston, Ontario since 2017.
I have had various involvements within the larger communities of our denomination, including being a Commissioner to the General Council four times (2003, 2009, 2015, and 2018), a member of the General Council Executive (2013–2018), a member of the United Church Observer Board of Directors (2004–2009), a member of the Toronto Conference Executive (2014–2018), and a member of the United Church Board of Vocation (2018–2019).
I have published two books: 성서새롭게다시읽기 (Reread the Bible with a New Eye), 2018, in Korean, and Finding Christ in You–The Hope of Glory (Reread the Bible in an Allegorical Way), 2023. A new book, Finding Christ in Heros and Heroines of the Hebrew Bible, will be published in July 2025, and was supported by a 2024 McGeachy Senior Scholarship.
I am married with one daughter, who was married last year. I am serious about golf.
Since October 2021, The United Church of Canada has renewed our bold identity by calling us all to "Deep Spirituality, Bold Discipleship, and Daring Justice." For the past 100 years, our church has taken significant steps in Bold Discipleship and Daring Justice. We should recognize and celebrate them as we gather in Calgary in August 2025. But what about Deep Spirituality? The Moderator of the United Church of Canada, as its spiritual leader, must have a clear vision of Deep Spirituality and concentrate on it as we move forward through another hundred years. Deep Spirituality is the foundation for Bold Discipleship and Daring Justice. Here, I want to share five elements of Deep Spirituality that I developed for the future of our church.
When golfers make mistakes or lose confidence, they always receive the same advice: go back to the basics. Check out your grip, address it, and keep your chin down when you hit the ball. This advice applies to both professionals and amateurs. The same advice is necessary when churches close and lose membership, confidence, and direction. The Bible is the primary resource for our faith journey, so let us take it seriously and be grounded in it. It should apply to both laity and clergy. In Romans 10:17, Saint Paul says, "Faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the good news about Christ." Let us spend more time and energy on the Bible than the Manual. That is the first step to the Deep Spirituality of our bold Christian identity.
The Bible is the primary resource for our faith journey, and we must embrace it fully, not partly, to revive our faith and the beautiful United Church of Canada. This is my discovery: the Bible is a treasure box where treasures are hidden, codified, and sealed. An allegorical approach is one of the best tools to open this box. I have spent more than 20 years studying and published two books on this topic in recent years. My new book is coming out in July 2025, which is based on the allegorical reading of the Hebrew Bible. One of the roles of Moderator is to help break the spell of literalism in the pews of our church. It still exists strongly. I am ready to serve and lead the church in that direction.
Saint Paul reminds us of the divinity in humanity in his letters. Let me highlight some of them:
"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16)
"To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27)
"But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us." (2 Corinthians 4:7)
In this mortal body, clay jar, and God's temple dwells Christ, the treasure, divine spirit, and the extraordinary power that belongs to God. The issue is that this Christ, the Hope of Glory, is innate but dormant like an infant. In the Christmas carol "Away in a Manger" we sing, "The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay." So the foremost mission of the church is to wake up the Sleeping Beauty in us, nourish and nurture it to grow with milk when it is a child, and with solid food as it becomes mature. In 1 Corinthians 3:2, Saint Paul says that he fed his people with milk, not solid food, for they were not ready for it. I believe that the United Church people are hungry for solid food, which our Moderator can provide.
We live now in the era of AI, robotics, Trump 2.0, and a society where individual materialism is dominant and morality and human conscience are collapsing. The fundamental role of the church is to be the light and salt of the world. This demands that we re-equip ourselves with high-quality spirituality and bold prophetic voices so that we may continue to distinguish good from evil, fight the good fight with the living Spirit of Christ to build God's kingdom here and now, and access the Tree of Life. Distinguishing good from evil is a blessing and divine privilege, as Adam and Eve took the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
When the church became the state religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, many valuable Christian documents were eliminated. In 1945, some were discovered in a cave near Nag Hammadi in upper Egypt and published as the Nag Hammadi Library.
One of the valuable documents I highly recommend to be recovered is the Gospel of Thomas. Thomas, in Aramaic, means "twin" in English. Here, Jesus treats Thomas and his community of faith as his twin brothers and sisters. Thomas is not a doubtful disciple, as he is described in John's gospel. Please do not misread it as if Jesus had a biological twin brother in his earthly life. Through the gospel, Jesus also invites us to be his true companions. Let me read one verse from the Gospel of Thomas (138).
"Since you are my twin and my true companion, examine yourself and learn who you are…Since you will be called my twin…although you do not understand it yet…you will be called "the one who knows himself." For whoever has not known himself knows nothing, but whoever has known himself has simultaneously come to know the depth of all things."
My goal is crystal clear: I will work for the Gospel of Thomas to become part of our denomination's lectionary readings over the next three years.
I pray that these five elements may lead us to deeper spirituality and timeless truth, which will benefit our church and future generations.
