Shirley sees Southwestern’s influence during recent trip to South Korea

During a recent trip to South Korea, Chris Shirley, dean of the Jack D. Terry School of Educational Ministries, got to witness firsthand the partnership Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has with evangelical leaders in the country through its alumni and sharing of resources and efforts.

About a year ago, Shirley’s book Family Ministry and the Church was translated into Korean with the help of a Southwestern alumnus and a Korean publisher. This summer, Shirley was invited to go to South Korea and be the keynote speaker at a conference hosted by a conservative branch of a Presbyterian denomination and also address a number of seminaries and Baptist churches around the country.

“They’re very connected with Southwestern,” Shirley said of what is known in Korea as the Kosin Presbyterian branch. “They send a lot of students here and have over the years, because they are probably the most conservative branch of the Presbyterian Church in Korea. And so, they found a kindred spirit here in Southwestern.”

A former student and teacher’s assistant of Shirley’s helped him get his book translated and he and other alumni helped Shirley in his journey to a number of cities around Korea, including Seoul and Busan.

The conference was held on the topic of what they call church school, similar to Sunday school in the United States, and Shirley said pastors, church leaders, teachers, and lay persons of all ages attended the conference, one location hosting almost 2,000 and the second with about 1,000 participants.

Having agreed to speak at the conference and while still planning out the trip, Shirley said he suddenly began receiving other invitations as well as other alumni connected him with their churches, universities, and seminaries. Shirley ended up having the opportunity to preach sermons, lead chapel services, and give lectures and presentations around the country. With each group, Shirley said he found the common convictions of the importance of family, parents as spiritual leaders, and the goal of discipling children.

At one church with a school, Shirley connected with a Southwestern PhD student on staff at the church under senior pastor Billy Kim, a supporter of Southwestern who has sent a number of students to the seminary. There Shirley was able to spend time with the church staff speaking about family ministry, sharing information with them, and answering their questions.

Shirley said his journey across South Korea provided an opportunity for him “to talk about family ministry, to talk about marriage, to talk about some of the ideas about spiritual leadership in the home.”

Southwestern two-time alumnus Jin Moon was supervised by Shirley during his MACE and Phd in family ministry degrees and now teaches at BaekSeok Graduate School, which Shirley visited while in South Korea. Moon also met him at Wonchun Baptist Church, where they both spoke with the church leaders about the importance of family ministry and Christian education. In that setting, Moon said he saw the pastors and ministers were interested in developing this in their church, but also learned they did not have many institutions available that provide that topic in their degree programs.

“I teach the same things I learned at SWBTS,” Moon said. “And many students say to me, this is what they need to be a good educational minister at church, not just a scholar. I also teach them how to love students, how to talk with people, how to touch their hearts, and how to share the Bible, for growing their faith in Christ’s love. All I teach came from SWBTS.”

Moon said many Korean seminaries do not have Christian education in their PhD programs, which is what led him to Southwestern. He now hopes that students from Korea will consider going to Southwestern so they can bring what they learn into the Korean seminaries and churches, saying that partnership will help grow the Kingdom of God in South Korea and the United States.

“I believe that Southwestern is the best school for studying and learning educational ministry,” Moon said. “Because the school has a great passion for it, long history of teaching, and great professors.”

Everywhere he spoke, Shirley said he brought his listeners greetings from Southwestern and President David S. Dockery, even taking time to teach them how to say “howdy” as a proper Texan greeting. He shared the name of Southwestern at Baptist churches and seminaries and other independent seminaries that Shirley said forms a confederation that shares convictions and cooperates to educate those following God’s calling in South Korea.

“We’re looking at some possibilities right now of some relationships across the board with different denominations, again they’re like-minded, to cooperate with them over there because there’s a need there for resources, and particularly the area of family ministry,” Shirley said. “… In the area of family ministry, there is a need for teaching resources in the academic setting and in the local churches. And we have some opportunities here, I think, and some willingness on their side.”

Shirley said he hopes the seminary will be able to translate even more faculty books and textbooks into Korean in order to share those resources, while many of the Korean churches and other institutions expressed an interest in sending some of their people to Southwestern for further theological training they can then use to help others in Korea.

Shirley also reconnected with a number of alumni in South Korea who are now living out their calling and using their Southwestern degrees in a variety of ways. In them and their areas of influence, Shirley said he can see the stamp of Southwestern and the Terry School’s influence in South Korea.

“It was so encouraging for me to see that Christian education is alive and well in South Korea. And they have a desire, they have a hunger for it. They see that they understand the priority in their churches of it and are investing in it through their professors and seminaries,” Shirley said, adding that many of those professors studied at Southwestern. “… I think it was a productive trip, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the Lord’s going to do through it.”