NEW MINISTER: The Rev Jin Sook Kim has taken over as the new minister for the Gisborne Presbyterian parish at St Andrew's Church, and is impressed with what Gisborne has to offer. She is the first Asian minister to take the parish under her wing. Picture by Liam Clayton
The Gisborne Presbyterian Parish has a new minister and the Rev Jin Sook Kim has been overwhelmed by the warmth of the welcome she has received.
Rev Kim took up her pastoral duties at St Andrew's two weeks ago.
The 61-year-old becomes the first Asian minister to serve at the church and is one of only three South Korean women ministers in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (PCANZ).
“The congregations of Gisborne Presbyterian Church (St Andrew's Church and Matawhero Church) are an absolutely lovely bunch of people, like my previous parish in Dunedin,” she says.
Rev Kim was previously the minister of the Waikouaiti Karitane Presbyterian parish in Dunedin, and prior to that was completing her ministry internship.
“When I was a child, my mother used to take me to Buddhist temples when it came to Buddha's birthday.”
No one in her family were Christians.
“I have been really interested in Christianity all my life, and from an early age I was interested in the Bible and studying scriptures.”
She became a Catholic at the age of 25.
“Later in life I wanted to study theology more and it led me to the ordained ministry in the Presbyterian Church.
“God is always telling me to love people as yourself.”
The Rev Kim has two children, a daughter Angela aged 35, and a son Michael aged 31, and was ordained in 2016.
She has a Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees, a Bachelor of Theology degree and two post-graduate diplomas, having studied initially at university in South Korea, and in more recent years at Waikato and Otago universities.
She describes St Andrew's Church (as well as Matawhero Church) as “a beautiful historic building”.
“It has so much lovely history, and I'm reading up about it now.
“I was so impressed to see how hard the church community worked to raise the money needed to repair the church after the 2007 earthquake in Gisborne.”
As for her aims and aspirations as the leader of her congregation:
“To care for them and nurture them as they are.
“God is in us, but we need to find a quiet place in ourselves, and I think we offer that at St Andrew's and Matawhero Church.”
She has been much impressed with Gisborne since she arrived.
“The people here are bright, lively and very friendly. Also, there's so much less traffic than in Dunedin and your weather is so much warmer.”