| September 26, 2003
Dear Friends,
Come and listen all of you who fear God; let me tell you
what he has done for me.... But God has surely listened and
heard my voice in prayer.
Psalm 66:16, 19
When Art was asked to give the sermon for the 100th anniversary
celebration of Chung Myung Girls Middle and High Schools in Mokpo,
Korea, many thoughts came to mind. He thought of the many ways
that God has worked through Christian schools since the beginning
of mission work here in Korea. As a board member of the Honam
Christian Schools Foundation, which is responsible for four schools
for boys and seven girls schools, he has heard of some recent
problems: reduced government financing, changes in the education
law that could threaten the Christian character of schools, and
a relocation problem for two schools.
Yet all in all, these schools continue to provide a Christian
approach to middle and high school for some 800 to 1,200 students
in each school, chapel worship, Bible instruction, and Christian
teachers and staff to mentor students. The singing groups are
usually excellent and go on concert tours, several to the United
States.
The stories of these schools is similar to those of three schools
for boys where Art taught from 1957 to 1959 and this story does
not get much attention. This kind of education has provided much
of the leadership for modern democratic Korea and the church.
In three cities, Chunju, Kwangju, and Mokpo, these Christian schools
of the Southern Presbyterian mission were the first to bring modern
education in the Cholla Provinces and throughout the Japanese
colonial period there were far more Korean middle and high school
students in Christian schools than in government schools.
At the time of the March 1919 peaceful independence demonstrations,
students of Christian schools played a major part in mobilizing
the Korean population. Students from these Honam Christian schools
rallied in 1929 in Kwangju to protest the sexual molesting of
Korean girl students by Japanese students. The Christian girls'
schools opened the door to education for girls who previously
were secluded at home and excluded from classroom teaching. Of
course, Sue Kinsler graduated from Soong Eui Girls High School,
a Presbyterian school that had moved from Pyongyang to Seoul.
Sue continues her work advising the Bondong Koinonia Sheltered
Workshop. To mark the twelfth anniversary of this social welfare
center, the city government offices are sponsoring a display in
a popular department store. It features pictures drawn by the
24 members of the "Hands of Jesus" mentally challenged
persons' section that have been printed on cloth and the materials
made into dresses, aprons, and handbags by the physically challenged
members of the clothing workshop at Koinonia.
At the end of August Sue was in Harbin, China, for the third
anniversary of the 5,000-member Hallelujah Church, and she gave
a seminar for the wives of pastors being ordained before visiting
friends and churches in smaller cities of northeast China. She
renewed contacts and provided encouragement to the Korean-Chinese
community.
Just two months after she visited North Korea, providing $5,000
worth of powdered milk for the orphanage in Sariwon and furthering
other projects, Sue will make a return trip on October 7, this
time taking medicine and clothing as well. The orphanage director
has asked for the equipment to make milk from soybeans. Most of
the milk cows in North Korea were eaten long ago. This kind of
project might well be taken up by a supporting church, for such
machinery will be a big help in keeping alive the 800 orphans
in the Sariwon Orphanage. Similar gifts can be made to other orphanages
that Sue will contact and continue to visit.
Contributions may be sent to: Central Receiving Service, Section
300, Louisville, KY 40289. Write the title (Sheltered Workshop)
and the ECO number (ECO#864160) on the subject line of the check
and put it on your cover letter, too. Send a copy of the cover
letter to the Area Office for Asia and the Pacific at 100 Witherspoon
St. Louisville, KY 40202-1396. Or click here
to donate online.
Yours in Korea,
Art and Sue Kinsler
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 174
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