by Linda Gesling

Born in Inchon, Korea, in 1899, Helen Kim went to a mission school for girls and was graduated from Ewha College, the school for girls and women founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church. She earned college degrees in the U.S. and returned to Ewha, where she became its dean in 1926.

Always articulate with original ideas, Kim suggested that Methodist women in mission countries should form themselves into an organization that would relate to the U.S. church. This idea later became a reality through the World Federation of Methodist Women. She went to the International Missionary Council meeting in Jerusalem in 1928 and argued for a role for young Christians, an idea that was also taken seriously and implemented later by ecumenical bodies.   She became president of Ewha just before the Second World War, and despite the difficulties of Japanese occupation, led Ewha from a college to university status. The school was again placed under duress during the Korean War, when it had to evacuate its Seoul campus and relocate under refugee conditions in Pusan. Nevertheless, the school returned to Seoul after the war and continued to grow. It had a student body of 8,000 in the 1950s.

Kim served her government as public information officer, as ambassador to the United Nations, and as ambassador at large. She was also a leader in the Korean YWCA, the Korean Red Cross, and the National Christian Teachers’ Association. She continued to participate in ecumenical bodies, including the International Missionary Council and the World Council of Churches. Although she retired as Ewha president in 1961, she immediately became chair of a commission on evangelism for the Korean Methodist Church. “I feel most content after visiting non-Christian homes for my mission,” she said. She died in Seoul on February 10, 1970.

This and other stories of Asian women in mission may be found in Linda Gesling, Mirror and Beacon: The History of Mission of The Methodist Church, 1939–1968.

	See Also... Topic: Christian love |  Evangelization |  GBGM programs |  Missionaries |  United Methodist Church |  Women |  Methodism |  Geographic Region: Korea |  United States |  World |  Source: GBGM Mission News
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Date posted: Mar 09, 2006