After earning her B.A. in religious studies, Han Powell enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at Princeton Theological Seminary. One afternoon, as she was settling into the East Asian Library to study, she was startled to see a familiar face in the midst of a wall of photos. “It was the same photo we had in my home, of my great-
grandfather Suk-Jin Han!” she exclaims.

She knew that he was one of the first Presbyterian ministers ordained in Korea. However, she was surprised to learn that he served as moderator of the first Korean General Assembly, in 1912. Present at the genesis of an important evangelistic moment, Suk-Jin Han was a pioneer who helped establish the Presbyterian Church of Korea.

As she continued digging into her Korean and ministerial heritage, Han Powell discovered that late 19th-century Protestant missionaries assisted the new Korean Christian community by providing tools for their faith development. They produced a Korean-language Bible translation, for example, and established theological schools. “Koreans maintained the heritage and traditions of Christianity,” she says, “but claimed the stories and narratives in ways that made them their own.”

Han Powell has a particular interest in youth and young adult ministries. “I am fascinated with this stage in a person’s life,” she says, noting that this younger generation “has seen the world change with the invention of the Internet. The ability to exchange and receive information so rapidly has enabled my generation to be constantly informed about what is going on in the world.”

This constant stream of information, however, “requires us to listen to the voices that we disagree with, test and challenge what we hear and be in dialogue constantly,” she says.

Last year Han Powell participated in an intensive Auburn Theological Seminary program that brought together Christian and Jewish students to share their perspectives on faith and the world. Informed by this experience, Han Powell is weaving multifaith dialogue and cultural awareness into her educational ministry. She designed a program with area rabbis, imams and ministers to facilitate better understandings among the three Abrahamic faith traditions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Through panel discussions and a film series, each faith group was able to share values, address misperceptions, show common connections and highlight distinctive characteristics. More than 200 adults participated.

“It was exciting to see the lightbulbs go on,” Han Powell says. More dialogues are being planned for the coming year.

Han Powell thinks often of the ancestor in the family photo who helped establish a new church on a different continent in a previous century. As she crafts her own theological enterprise, she is becoming a religious pioneer in her own right. It’s more than enough to make a great-grandfather proud.