—Donations to Support Uniting World through Love of Jesus Christ

On November 17, the Songdo Global Institute of Theology (GIT) held a Night for Donations at the President’s Residence to celebrate the establishment of the institute and raise funds to support its programs.  The event attracted more than seventy individuals, including Yonsei officials and students and Korean church leaders.

According to Pastor Kim Myung-hyuk of Gangbyun Church, the founding of GIT is a significant event in the history of the Korean church and Yonsei University: “The establishment of GIT will increase the mission work of the Korean church, which has received so many blessings from foreign missionaries in the past. Through GIT, the Korean church will return such blessings to the world and provide an opportunity to unite the separated Korean church through Jesus Christ.” 

Pastor Park Jong-wha of Kyungdong Church, chairman of the GIT Founding Committee, noted that the establishment of GIT followed the 2013 Busan World Council of Churches meeting; he stressed that the spirit of the Korean church is embodied in the new institute. He asked those in attendance “to commemorate this historical event with prayer and support.” In his progress report, Dean Jueng Suk-hwan of Yonsei’s United Graduate School of Theology said that “the establishment of GIT is an example of Jesus’s kindness and love. There are already thirty-five applicants to GIT from regions of Asia and Africa lacking in sufficient theology education.”  

At the event, Yonsei President Jeong Kap-young and Kim Sang-jun, director of External Cooperation, spoke of Yonsei’s future and GIT’s important role in it. President Jeong personally thanked donors for their generous support, providing each with a letter of gratitude. Just over 70 million won were raised on the Night for Donations. In mid-December, the GIT notified accepted applicants, who will begin their studies in March at the international campus in Songdo.