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About Joel and Jeannie

Vision

The South Korean education system is known as one of the best in the world. But it also is one that creates extreme pressure on students. How a student performs on an exam at the end of high school determines what university he or she can attend. And that in turn may significantly impact employment and even marriage options over a lifetime.  

It is not unusual for students in Korea to begin classes at 7:30 a.m. and not get home until 11:00 p.m. The pressure to perform has meant that suicide has become the leading cause of death among Korean adolescents. The performance culture often also carries over into the workplace. Many fathers do not come home from work until late in the evening and may only see their children on Sundays.

In this context some Koreans have begun to ask how the gospel of God’s grace in Jesus might lead to different values in both the school and the home. What if the identity of students and parents was rooted more in who they are in Jesus than in their performance? How would that change both how students were educated and their home environment?

Jeannie and Joel envision the gospel of grace as forming students and families who have their identity clearly rooted in what God has already accomplished for them in Jesus.

Mission

Grace International School is a Resonate Global Mission ministry partner located in Changwon, South Korea. Changwon is a city of about one million people an hour from Busan. Grace is in its first year of operation and has about 15 students in a variety of elementary grade levels. 

Grace is part of a growing, but still very small, Christian school movement in South Korea. Grace and some of the other small Christian schools have had their philosophy of Christian education shaped by Resonate's Education Care Program.

Jeannie has been asked by Grace International School to start an English language kindergarten. She will draw on her eight years of preschool experience at Nicaragua Christian Academy and her masters degree in English as a second language.

Joel will be volunteering as “principal” of the school. His role will be to provide pastoral leadership and walk alongside the Korean administration of the school in setting overall direction for the school. He will draw on his experience as Board President at Nicaragua Christian Academy and as well as with the broader Nicaragua Christian school movement.

Jeannie and Joel have made at least a two-year commitment to Grace.

Thank You

We praise God for His work around the world and the privilege of serving Him. Thank you for your prayers, generosity, and support for our ministry with Resonate. Together, by God's grace, our efforts are transforming lives and communities worldwide. Thank you.

"Out of his fullness we have all received grace in the place of grace already given" John 1:16 (NIV)

 

 

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