November 2003

Advent/Christmas/New Year/Lunar New Year

Dear Friends,

On 2 September 2003, Hanil University held a special chapel service to mark the school’s eightieth anniversary. At this service three members of the faculty were recognized for twenty years of service to Hanil University—Professor Daniel J. Adams, Professor Carol Chou Adams (Chou Fang-Lan), and Associate Professor Yu Tae-Ju. All three of us joined the faculty at the same time, and all three of us are members of the theology department. As we look back on our twenty years of service we can see many changes in Hanil and its programs.

When we first arrived at Hanil in 1983, it was a women’s theological seminary with only five full-time faculty members. The school was not approved to grant degrees and students received a certificate. The library consisted of one small room and a couple of shelves partially filled with several hundred English books from discarded pastors’ libraries in the United States. We can still remember those days—Saturday morning faculty meetings, huddling around a pot-bellied coal stove in the dean’s office during the cold winter months, and making kimchi (the Korean national dish) every November out behind the cafeteria. Attending worship services in the unheated chapel during midwinter was an exercise that sorely tested one’s faith, and teaching evening classes while the snow piled up outside was almost unbearable, especially when students insisted on opening the windows.

The library has expanded into a three-story building with thousands of volumes, and it is completely computerized. Indeed the entire university is computerized, including all faculty offices. Saturday faculty meetings are only a memory as the university has long since converted to a five-day work week. Perhaps most significant is the presence of heat in the offices, the classrooms, the library, and the chapel. To be sure, it is not on all the time, but it is on long enough to make the teaching-learning experience much more pleasant during the winter months.

There have been other changes too. One of the major concerns for faculty is finding a parking space each day, while students struggle to find adequate resources to pay their tuition fees each semester. Currently at least one-third of all Hanil students receive some kind of scholarship aid. The presence of international students on the campus is an enriching educational experience for everyone. Hanil has also taken a special interest in education for those with disabilities. The entire campus is now accessible for those in wheelchairs and those with impaired vision. Specialists in sign language serve an increasing number of hearing impaired students, and signing is provided in all classes where needed and in the chapel services. Students are required to have international experience and all social welfare students participate in at least one practicum in Germany or Switzerland. Students in the theological seminary have the choice of a summer trip to Europe or a winter trip to the Middle East where they have the opportunity to learn church history firsthand. In the past twenty years we have seen so many changes, and we count it a blessing from God to have been a part of it all as the school has moved from being Hanil Women’s Seminary to becoming Hanil University and Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Perhaps a fitting symbol of these changes is Yu Song-Gu, the son of Associate Professor Yu Tae-Ju, who was honored with us for twenty years service. When we first came to Hanil in 1983, we had dinner one evening with Rev. Yu and his family. Song-Gu climbed up on Dan’s lap for his first experience with a foreigner. Today he is completing his second year of theological study at Hanil and he plans to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an ordained minister. He is taller now than Dan, and soon will be taking a break from his studies to complete his compulsory military service. What changes can take place in twenty years! We give thanks to God for our twenty years at Hanil and for your faithful support which has made it all possible.

At this time of the year when we focus our attention on the coming of Jesus Christ into our world, we are especially grateful for the part that Hanil University has had—and continues to have—in making Jesus Christ known, both here in Korea and throughout the world. May all of you experience the presence of Jesus Christ in your lives, families, and congregations this Christmas season and throughout the coming New Year.

Faithfully in mission,

Carol Chou Adams/Daniel J. Adams

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 89