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07806 December 11, 2007
Bringing the world home
Presbyterian missionary Art Kinsler spoke during Mission Challenge '07 on call to service, current work in Korea - North and South
by Toya Richards Hill Presbyterian News Service
LEXINGTON, KY - Back in Korea now and able to reflect on the results of Mission Challenge '07, the Rev. Art Kinsler said the experience revealed a real interest by people to learn more about international mission work.
"People were interested in hearing about world mission, the Korean church and especially about the new opportunities to feed hungry children and help the disabled in North Korea," said Kinsler, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-worker in South Korea for more than 35 years and now a mission volunteer.
He returned to Korea on Nov. 9 after taking part in the month-long Mission Challenge '07 in October, an effort by the denomination's World Mission office to spread the PC(USA)'s global witness story in at least 144 of the 173 presbyteries in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Kinsler and various other PC(USA) mission co-workers traveled throughout the country as part of the Challenge, stopping in 144 of the denomination's 173 presbyteries to tell their stories to Presbyterian congregations.
Among Kinsler's stops was Lexington (KY) Korean Presbyterian Church, a part of Transylvania Presbytery. At home with the crowd during an evening gathering that included dinner, music and a presentation, the Korean-speaking Kinsler provided a real-life link between the congregants and mission work back in their home country.
Taking his text from Isaiah 6, Kinsler talked with the group about service, especially highlighting verse 8: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I; send me.'"
"I'm talking about God's calling tonight," Kinsler said to the audience.
Born in Korea to missionary parents, Kinsler shared some of his own personal story, telling the congregants how he initially was not sure whether his calling was to teach, or pastor or something else.
He found his direction, and Kinsler's service through the years has included time as a U.S. Army chaplain and an assignment directing a service center in Korea in outreach to U.S. military personnel and others.
Via the Presbyterian Church of Korea, Kinsler's activities also have included church planting in rural Korea, industrial mission in new factory cities, and Christian outreach through the Bible Club schools for the disadvantaged.
His wife, Sue Kinsler, also serves as a PC(USA) mission co-worker, a position she's held for more than 30 years as well. Among other things, she started the Koinonia Sheltered Workshop and welfare center, and the Lighthouse Foundation, a humanitarian aid organization that particularly provides food, clothing, medicine and other supplies to the needy in North Korea.
Though in "retirement" now and working as a mission volunteer, Art Kinsler's work has not stopped, and his presentation during Mission Challenge '07 highlighted various efforts under way by Presbyterians in Korea.
"What God is doing in North and South Korea was the important thing for me to tell," Kinsler said from his home in Seoul.
"In spite of North Korea's being closed ... we can witness by helping feed the hungry and improve the lot of disabled persons," he said. And, "In South Korea the church has grown in size, and in both sending out missionaries and in helping the needy at home."
"We now are providing soy milk and bread for about 25,000 children and disabled persons, helping the Potonggang Welfare Center for the Disabled with its sheltered workshops, as well as special education schools for hearing and vision impaired persons."
Art and Sue Kinsler will return to the U.S. for another itineration assignment from March to July, yet another opportunity to share stories and put a live face on world mission work.
"We will tell our story and try to get support for our work ... that keeps growing in its opportunities," Kinsler said.
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