Korean Studies Program gains ground at Brite
A pilot program to provide a Disciples seminary education to Korean Americans is beginning to take flight.

The Korean Studies Program, which brings students to the Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University for their final year of classes, will host its first student this fall. Brite has also shown its commitment to the program by adding the program's director to its permanent faculty.

Currently in third year, the program is still in a "fledgling stage," reports Tim S. Lee, the Director of Asian Studies Program and an assistant professor of history of Christianity.

Lee's long-term vision aims to develop a program similar to Brite's Borderlands Center, which gathers Latino/Latina ministers for summertime workshops and training.

"We still have to work on funding. The Korean Church Studies program is a component of a larger program, an Asian and Asian American church studies program. This would have a Disciples component, but would speak to other denominations that have Asians and Koreans as constituents."

HELM committed to funding portions of the program's first three years with proceeds from an ethnic ministries endowment and helped in the negotiations that got the program started. North American Pacific Asian Disciples and the church's Mission Imperative Fund also have supported the program.

Students in the Korean Studies Program actually do their class work at two different institutions separated by more than a thousand miles. They complete about two-thirds of their studies at the Disciples Seminary Foundation outside Los Angeles or at the San Francisco Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). They then finish their degrees at Brite.

"By the time [a seminarian] graduates, she would be able to minister to both first-generation Koreans, who are mainly Korean-speaking, and second-generation Koreans," Lee said, "and be able to function within English-speaking setting like congregations, regions, and the whole church. This person can minister to both groups."

The first participant is expected to arrive at Brite this fall, with another student scheduled to arrive a year later. The program is intentionally small, with about four students at the most. One challenge is providing funding for the program; requiring students to move from one campus to another makes recruiting students a bit more difficult.

The agreements with the two California institutions officially end this year, but Lee believes they will be renewed.

Katie Griffin, a junior at Eastern Kentucky University from Bethany Christian Church in Evansville, Indiana, is an elementary education major. Beau Underwood, a junior at Eureka College from First Christian Church in Princeton, Illinois, is a political science and history major heading to ministry.They will be joining three other Disciples on the 10-member team:

• Natalee Cayton, a photography major at Webster University from Oklahoma City;

• Leslie Dobyns, an arts management major at Culver-Stockton College from Peoria, Illinois; and

• Jon Hall, a religion major at Transylvania University from Huntsville, Alabama.

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