University church

Hannam University was founded in 1956 by American missionaries from the Presbyterian Church (USA). So the school has been run based on Christianity. There are two organizations for implementing the school’s ethics. One is chaplains’ office and another one is university church. Today, I am going to talk about University Church in Hannam University.

            Hannam University Church was established in March 1979. The church has been working on school mission since it was started. The church supports faculty Bible studies as well as the students’. Also, the church backs up students who have a bad financial situation by offering houses near school. Not only does the church do mission work at the school, but it also makes an effort to conduct a mission trip to Thailand. This happens every two years, and the church gives financial support to students who want to go on the mission trip.

            Because University Church revolves around a group of university students, it makes sense that compared to other churches, there is a large number of students in that age group. The university group is implementing many big events of the church. One of them is the mission trip to Thailand. Through the mission trip, university group members grow spiritually and some of them even become missionaries. Moreover, for school mission, university group members offer tea and snacks during mid-terms and finals in front of the library. Through service, the members put what Jesus said in the Bible into practice.

            The church has a service every Sunday morning at 10 am. During the service, there is time for young disciples. In 2010, the Presbyterian Church (USA) dispatched three young adult volunteers, Jenny, Katie, and Becky, to Hannam University. Every Sunday, they come to University church and give a youth sermon to the youth group.

            One Hannam university church member said, “We hope that many university students who don’t know about Jesus will learn who He is and what He did for us, and our church and university students group want to help them understand Christianity.”

--Soo-Min Kim

Oh, my beautiful seu-seung-nim

This man, Dr. Yong-hun Lee, is one of my favorite people. He is a lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature at Hannam University. It was in 2006 that I first met him in class. My friends and I were surprised that he is a handicapped person with cerebral palsy. I couldn't accept how such a disabled person would teach students at a university. There was unconscious prejudice against the physically handicapped inside of me, which I never knew I had. After a short while, however, I greatly regretted my preconception. He was a well-prepared, brilliant and passionate instructor. Not only was his teaching method concise, but he tried to lead his students to the right path. He was a nice and humorous man who had a heart for students. He was a TEACHER. Thanks to him, my understandings about English linguistics have been broadened, and it inspired me to come to a graduate program. He encouraged me so that I can do it.  Now, I am studying with him at a graduate school and I see him offering as many academic opportunities as possible to me and my classmates. It is a big joy to learn from him.  

Unfortunately, most people, if not all, still have a biased view about the handicapped. I think this appearance-oriented society also makes us judge others by the outer image we look at. However, through my experience with Dr. Lee, I came to realize that there are just those who have less comfortable bodies than us. I reflected on my silly prejudice. Through him, my eyes got opened wider. What makes us us is what we have inside, not outside. There also have been so many disabled in the world that had made a significant contribution to our world, such as Steven Hawking and Helen Keller. He is my Steven and he is my Helen. I really want you to see Dr. Lee and have a chat with him. In five minutes, you would have a totally different view about disabled people. He is a true seu-seung (an honorific Korean word for teacher who leads students like shepherd) in Hannam.

-- Yeseul Park