With poise and optimism, Mikyoung Park explains, “God always opens new doors. You can plan, plan, plan—and you should—but you never know where God will take you next.”
After earning her Master of Sacred Music degree from Luther Seminary in 2009, Park set her sights on even more theological education. She enrolled as a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) student, choosing to focus her studies on children, youth and family (CYF) ministry. As a CYF student, her mandatory work site was Redeemer Lutheran in north Minneapolis, which ended up being the perfect setting in which to combine her gift for music and love of theology. And, it was the place where all Park’s planning went straight out one of God’s open doors.
Park didn’t complete her M.Div. degree like she thought she would. But she did spend five years with Redeemer Music Arts Academy, teaching about 15 lessons each week to students otherwise unable to afford a musical education.
Around the same time, in 2011, Park and her husband, Joshua Choi, ’08, helped launch Mosaic United Methodist, a church in Brooklyn Center with a multicultural emphasis. Working together with people from many ethnic backgrounds, the ministry grew and took on a social mission—such as opening a neighborhood food shelf—though unfortunately after a couple years, they had to close due to financial struggles.
“While the conclusion of one ministry is hard,” she says, “it’s amazing what comes next, how God opens new doors.” Relationships at Mosaic led Park to Living Spirit United Methodist Church in suburban Minneapolis, where she currently serves as music director. Living Spirit grew with the merger of two churches—one black and one white. “We have a diverse background of congregants,” she said. “But the church is very open to all different kinds of music.”
Park has also worked with Global Mission Gathering with the ELCA, training musicians to domestically and internationally lead faith groups in worship. She has also worked with Agora and its director, Paul Erickson, who has an office on the Luther Seminary campus. Agora’s mission is to equip and empower lay people from ethnic-specific, multicultural congregations.
Park wasn’t the only one from her family to attend Luther—in fact, her family’s seminary legacy is a robust one. Her brother-in-law, JoonHyuk Lim, the first from her family to attend seminary, was commissioned into the Army as a chaplain shortly after ordination and was stationed in Fort Campbell, Ky., where he was deployed twice to Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division. Her other brother-in-law, Chongsun Kim, ’14, is awaiting a call in the St. Paul Synod. Park’s husband, Choi, completed his M.Div. and Master of Theology, and then felt called to teach. He has worked at a Montessori elementary school the past few years.
Park weaves what she learned as an M.Div. student into her ministry, and feels blessed to be evangelical, sharing her faith wherever God places her. At MacPhail Center for Music in downtown Minneapolis, she gives weekly voice and piano lessons to students ranging in age from 6 to 70. “Sometimes a simple question like, ‘How was your day?’ can lead to moments of prayer and reflection with my students,” she says. “Other times, getting to know a student means discovering their desire to sing in the choir or perform at church, which means helping students learn and rehearse just the right hymn for that occasion.”
Regularly continuing to draw on her theological education through music, she believes within each hymn there are deeper truths and inspiring ideas. As her students feel what stirs within each song, new life emanates. “It is transformative,” Park says. “You’re not just singing the text. You’re singing the faith.”
To read more about Luther Seminary’s role in the lives of Mikyoung Park and her family, visit www.luthersem.edu/story/mikyoung10.