Twin Cities endorses Kim for GA moderator
The Layman, January 29, 2010
If there is such a thing as “home court advantage” in the competition for Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly Moderator, the newly- endorsed candidate, the Rev. Jin S. Kim, will have it.
Jin S. Kim
Unanimously endorsed by the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area at its Jan. 9 meeting, Kim is the second confirmed candidate. The election will take place during the 219th General Assembly of PCUSA July 3-10 in Minneapolis, Minn.
Kim did not respond to recent requests by The Layman for an interview.
On his Web site, which includes a section dedicated to the Belhar Confession and South Africa, Kim calls for a new approach to leadership.
“How can churches be reoriented from institutional management to the kind of leadership that is daring, imaginative, prophetic, countercultural, yet peace-full?,” he asks. “In a time when many of the historic mainline churches find themselves on the brink, how might we reinterpret this de-centering as a gift and an opportunity for transformation? Is it possible to lead our local congregations and presbyteries into an embodiment of both radical diversity and deep intimacy that counters the homogenizing and commoditizing impulses of the dominant culture?”
Kim is the founding pastor and head of staff at Church of All Nations in Minneapolis, which boasts of representing “more than 25 nations, cultures, languages, generations and denominational backgrounds.” He was born in Korea in 1968, came to the United States with his family in 1975, and grew up in Columbia, S.C. and Atlanta, Ga. He holds degrees from Georgia Tech, Princeton Seminary and a doctor of ministry from Columbia Seminary.
The 41-year-old currently serves as moderator of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, chairman of the Cross Cultural Alliance of Ministries and as a PCUSA delegate to the National Council of Churches. He is also a part of the Jewish-Presbyterian Dialogue and the Special Committee on the Belhar Confession.
According to his Web site, he “has a passion for the ministry of reconciliation and a vision for the visible unity of the global church shaped by the best of our Reformed tradition.”
Kim’s family includes his wife, Soon Pac, and two children, Clair Nicea and Austin Athanasius.