Pastor
SoYoung Kim
She had Buddhist family background, yet she was baptized by Roman Catholic Church when she was 7 years old. Her major was Social Work, and she came to the United States after she graduated college in 1990.
She had a conversion moment with God in 1999 after being an atheist for almost 25 years. After that, God opened the door for her to serve the oppressed people at the Korean American Service Center, where she worked for 8 years as a heath program director until 2008. As she was serving people, called by God, she entered Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2005 and graduated with M.Div. in 2009.
Pastor SoYoung served at the First Korean UMC in Wheeling for 5 years as a youth pastor (2006 – 2011). She was then appointed to serve New Hope UMC as a provisional elder for 3 years. On June 1st, 2014, she was appointed to the First United Methodist Church of Bensenville and ordained as a full Elder in June of 2018. She started at Salem UMC in July of 2021.
Her calling Scripture is Isaiah 61:1-3 and she has compassion for the wounded hearts.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
She has a wonderful and supportive husband, Jonathan Kim and lives with Beeho Lee who is her younger brother since her mother passed in 2015.
Jessica Kearns
Administrative Assistant
Kjel Hanson
Music Director
Ilse Sutchar
Accompanist
Sherry Mummert
Treasuer
Corrina Milbrandt
Salem Methodist Preschool Director