Choi, Chanyoung
Chanyoung Choi is an international Global Mission Fellow with the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, engaged in a two-year term of service.
The Global Mission Fellows program takes young adults ages 20-30 out of their home environments and places them in new contexts for mission experience and service. The program has a strong emphasis on faith and justice. Global Mission Fellows become active parts of their new local communities. They connect the church in mission across cultural and geographical boundaries. They grow in personal and social holiness and become strong young leaders working to build just communities in a peaceful world.
Chanyoung most recently was an evangelist at Sadong Chung-Ang Methodist Church, part of the Korean Methodist Church. “I led education, youth, pastoral care and older adult ministry,” he said. “I connected the church library with local libraries and taught students [to] speak English.”
He earned Bachelor of Theology and Master of Theology degrees in religion and philosophy from the Methodist Theological University, Seoul, South Korea.
As a university sophomore, Chanyoung had an opportunity to take a church history class. “I think it was God’s grace,” he said. “The professor taught very meticulously and advised me about my academic course. Especially, he taught me about the history of social justice through the church’s ministry.
“I was inspired by Catholic theologian Hans Küng, who said, ‘No peace among the nations without peace among the religions. No peace among the religions without dialogue between the religions,’” Chanyoung recalled. “I was also inspired by Brother Roger [Schutz], the founder of Taizé community. He said, ‘Reconciliation always brings a springtime to the soul.’
“I have tried my best to learn about other Christian denominations.”
A strong believer in healing and reconciliation through gospel and culture, Chanyoung especially admires priests Don Jose Maria Arrizmendiarrieta and Johann Hinrich Wichern. “Both created the Christian alternative community,” Chanyoung said. “In the name of love, they helped their people to set up their own determination and autonomy.”
Already, Chanyoung has devised a creative reading project called “Conelpida.”
“’Conelpida (con[with] + elpida[hope])’ means ‘share the hope,’” Chanyoung noted. He recommends three steps: First, read a book of your choice, feeling free to use YouTube videos and other tools to help with difficult concepts. Second, digest the book in your own way. “Every human,” he said, “can write, draw pictures, make songs and [follow recipes]. These activities encourage people to develop individual talents.” Third, “create your own works while communicating with the wider world.”
With a broad range of interests – alternative education, Christian alternative communities, global issues, human rights, interreligious dialogue, liberation theology, reading and world history – Chanyoung seems ready to chart his next course through Global Mission Fellows.