First Korean Woman to be Received into Full Connection in the United Methodist Church.
Colleen Kyung Seen Chun was born March 15, 1949, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
“It was in church that I received my call at the age of thirteen. Reverend Harry Pak was leading the moments of prayer. During the silent prayer, I marveled at how precious life is and asked God what my purpose in life might be. There came a small voice within me telling me to look up. I did and saw Re. Pak as he began to pray aloud. I knew God was asking me to be like Rev. Pak. The problem was that I didn’t know if women could be ministers. Later, I asked my mother if women could be ministers. She thought about it and said she had never known one, so she believed women could not be ministers.
“Thus began a decade of floundering about trying to find myself. Was God so out of touch with humanity that God could direct me toward something that was impossible? Perhaps it was by God’s hand that I was kept under the Methodist umbrella, because I graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1971. Then came years of wandering as I lived in St. Louis and then in Idaho. When my sister suddenly died, leaving four children, I returned to Hawaii from my sojourn and joined Wahiawa United Methodist Church. There I learned it was possible to answer God’s call.” She was received into full connection in 1983 by teh California-Pacific Annual Conference.
“I returned to pastoral ministries in 2002 after seven years on family leave. In terms of firsts, I was the first single clergywoman to adopt three children. My favorite biblical passage is Mark 10:27, ‘Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but nor for God; for God all things are possible.”’ Through God, my life has been a miracle.”