Associate Professor

Williams Joins the Faculty as Director of Field Education and Assistant Professor

Effective February 1, 2021, Sara A. Williams joined the faculty of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary as assistant professor of community-based learning, ethics, and society. In addition, she will direct the field education program. This appointment comes as the seminary seeks to expand its field education program to incorporate community-based pedagogies into the curriculum. Williams brings a wealth of expertise in the areas of communityengaged and experiential learning, social justice, Christian ethics, ethnographic research methods, and religion and the social sciences.

“As theological education pivots to providing knowledge and skills that benefit people in the larger church and community alongside teaching students, we at Garrett-Evangelical have found an excellent scholar-practitioner to help us move into this reality in Sara Williams,” said Dr. Mark Teasdale, who chaired the search committee and serves as the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism. “Sara is an emergent scholar who already has an impressive level of academic sophistication, including having developed a model that explains and guides theological educators in the practice of pedagogy within the nascent field of community-based learning. More than this, she is an able administrator and community organizer, who is excited to make the Field Education Office a catalyst for mutual growth for everyone touched by it: the student, the field site, and the seminary. We see great promise for Garrett-Evangelical with Sara becoming part of our faculty in the new community-based learning position.”

Williams comes to Garrett-Evangelical from Emory University, where she is currently finishing her doctor of philosophy in religion in the area of ethics and society with concentrations in religious practices and practical theology and religion, conflict, and peacebuilding.

“I am thrilled to join the Garrett community,” said Williams. “It is a dream to find an institution with which I share a commitment to practice public theology by joining with community-led efforts to cultivate beloved community and form a more just and equitable society for all. I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to practice my vocation at GarrettEvangelical and in Chicagoland, an area replete with communities organizing for just social change.”

Williams holds a master of arts in religion from Yale Divinity School and a master of social work and graduate certificate in nonprofit management from the University of Georgia. She has served at Miami University (Ohio) as associate director of communityengaged learning and coordinator for the Community and Place-Based Interdisciplinary Program. She has also served at Xavier and Georgetown Universities as part-time instructor in the areas of theology and social justice.

Prior to entering academia, Williams worked for several domestic nonprofits and international NGOs in social work, nonprofit management, and human rights. She currently serves as co-chair for the Religion and the Social Sciences Unit at the American Academy of Religion and co-convener for the Fieldwork in Ethics Interest Group at the Society of Christian Ethics.

In addition to several articles currently under review, she has published in Glossolalia, Critical Research on Religion, the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, and the Journal of Scriptural Reasoning. She has also authored public scholarship in Religion Dispatches, The Cincinnati Enquirer, State of Formation, and Earth & Altar.

Kim and Yoo Encourage Fellow Alums to Support Their Alma Mater Soon after They Graduate

When Rev. Kook Ho Kim (G-ETS 2015) and Rev. Ran Yoo (G-ETS 2016) graduated from GarrettEvangelical Theological Seminary, they knew they wanted to support their alma mater right away. To begin with, they both received scholarships from Garrett-Evangelical and were grateful for the opportunity to attend seminary. Second, they wanted others to have that same opportunity.

“Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary was a meaningful place for me,” Kim said. “I met my wife there, and I had the opportunity to start my ordination journey there.”

“Because Garrett-Evangelical had a strong scholarship program, we were able to study there,” Yoo said. “By giving back, we want to give someone else this great opportunity.”

Soon after Kim graduated and Kim and Yoo married in 2015, they talked about their financial situation, including their offerings to the church and other donations. “We knew that seminaries do not have enough money, and seminarians don’t have enough money,” Kim said. “We wanted to help.” Although they had car payments and loans to pay on pastors’ salaries, the two decided that they wanted to start donating monthly to Garrett-Evangelical.

“The amount was not important, we thought,” said Kim. “We decided to start giving and increase it as we go. It was hard, but we knew we just had to start.”

“Many people think they will donate when they have the money,” Yoo said. “But that time never comes. So, we decided to give what we could and just get started.”

Kim and Yoo both grew up and went to high school in Seoul, South Korea. While Kim’s nuclear family was not Christian, his grandmother was, and she took Kim to church until she passed away when Kim was seven. Kim stayed in the church and ultimately went to Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, where he majored in German and Russian and continued to attend a Presbyterian church.

Kim interrupted his studies to serve in the Korean military for two years, a requirement for all Korean men. After his military service, Kim said he wanted to find a way to spend his life serving God. He found his answer. “God gave me a great opportunity to serve as a missionary in the south of Russia through my church,” he said.

While serving as a missionary, Kim met a Methodist missionary from the United States as well as a pastor from the Northern Illinois Conference of The United Methodist Church. They both recommended that he apply to GarrettEvangelical when he finished college.

Kim applied and was accepted, and six months after he graduated from university he enrolled at Garrett-Evangelical.

Yoo grew up in a Christian home. She heard her call to ministry while in high school. At the time, she was struggling with an undiagnosed sickness and trying several unsuccessful medical treatments. “Nothing worked,” she said. “So, I prayed, and while I was praying, I encountered God.”

After her encounter, Yoo was determined to find a way to serve God. Both a professional counselor and her pastor suggested that she become a pastor. So, after graduating from high school, she enrolled at the Methodist Theological University in Seoul, where she majored in theology. There, she decided she wanted to serve the local church.

Unfortunately, there was not a lot of opportunity for women clergy in the Korean church, Yoo said. One of her professors suggested she get her master’s degree in the United States and start her ordination process there.

Some of her friends from the Methodist Theological University were studying at GarrettEvangelical and highly recommended it. “They liked that Garrett-Evangelical focused on both the academic areas and also the practical areas,” Yoo explained.

After she graduated from college in 2012, she enrolled at Garrett-Evangelical, a year after Kim. As a member of the Korean Student Council, Kim helped new students adjust to life in the United States. He also led the Korean worship service at Howes Chapel where Yoo attended services. “Over time, we got close,” Yoo said. “We shared our vision with each other and found we had the same vision and same goals,” Kim said.

Both Kim and Yoo enjoyed their time at GarrettEvangelical. Kim loved that Garrett-Evangelical focused on both the academic and the practical. He was also grateful for his scholarship and his job at the Office of Student Life at Garrett-Evangelical. Garrett-Evangelical helped Yoo gain a broader understanding of theology and the church, she said.

During his field education, Kim worked as a student pastor at St. James United Methodist Church in East Troy, Wisconsin. “That started my ordination journey in Wisconsin,” he said. After graduation, he served as an associate pastor at the First United Methodist Church of Kenosha for a year. The two married that same year.

When Yoo graduated the next year, she asked the Conference to appoint her to a church near Kim. The Bishop asked them to serve together in the Upper Saint Croix Parish in northwest Wisconsin near the border of Minnesota. They served as copastors to three churches there until 2019, when Kim became a U.S. Army Reserve chaplain and the pastor of Brodhead United Methodist Church in Brodhead, Wisconsin. Yoo became senior pastor at New Horizon United Methodist Church, located in nearby Orfordville. The couple now has two children, Caleb, 3, and Christine, 6 months.

The COVID-19 crisis caused both churches to close and shift their services online and on cable TV. Both congregations are elderly, but most people have access to the services, Kim said.

Kim and Yoo credit much of their success in ministry to Garrett-Evangelical, another reason they feel so strongly about supporting their seminary. “We never took our education or scholarships for granted,” Yoo said. “Someone donated to the school because they believed that was one way to serve God and help others. We want to do the same thing.”