The Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, has elected a Korean-American pastor as its Stated Clerk for the first time. The Stated Clerk is the equivalent of a general secretary and is responsible for overseeing the denomination’s administrative operations.
According to the PCUSA, the General Assembly confirmed the Rev. Jihyun Oh on July 1 as the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly.
“I hope that we will continue to shift from lamenting the loss of the church’s central role in society and our communities and befriend the hopeful possibilities of our liminal marginality,” Oh said after her confirmation. “If we could see the possibilities of the margins, it might empower some and free others to see new ways of being church now and into the future.”
Oh is a multi-talented pastor. After studying biology and German at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), she earned a master’s degree in finance from Florida International University. Oh went on to graduate from Columbia Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity.
“The Stated Clerk is the one who practically oversees the operations,” said Rev. Keedae Kim of Church of Peace, a PCUSA pastor, adding, “Oh is a 1.5 generation pastor fluent in both English and Korean.”
Oh has served as a pastor at Hamilton Mill Presbyterian Church and Grady Memorial Hospital in Georgia, as well as a board member of the PCUSA Foundation and a trustee of New Covenant Trust Company.
BY YEOL JANG, HOONSIK WOO [jang.yeol@koreadaily.com]
