Rev. Jihyun Oh joins Office of the General Assembly staff

Atlanta pastor serves as manager of call process support

January 24, 2018

Rev. Jihyun Oh, manager of call process in the Office of the General Assembly.

The Rev. Jihyun (pronounced “Jee-hum”) Oh, a pastor in the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, has joined the staff of the Office of the General Assembly as manager of call process support. She began working part-time on Nov. 29 and began working full-time in Louisville on Jan. 1.

Oh is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia Theological Seminary, where she is also working on her doctor of ministry degree. Ordained as a minister of Word and sacrament in 2007, she is currently interim pastor of Oglethorpe Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. Oh previously served congregations in Georgia and Illinois, and also served as staff chaplain at a level 1 trauma center’s intensive care unit and stroke center in Atlanta.

In her new job — a reconfigured position within the OGA’s Mid Council Ministries area — Oh is responsible for providing support, resources and training for committees on ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s presbyteries, including their call processes. She also carries management responsibility for the Church Leadership Connection.

“I have always been energized by working in critical situations: a changing context, loss and trauma, and/or transitions, among others,” Oh said. “While these are difficult times and situations, they are also opportunities for us to see God re-create, redeem and sustain Christ’s body in ways we may never have imagined before. Many of our churches are in the midst of these critical times, especially as they wrestle with changes in their neighborhoods, changes in their mission, and even changes within themselves with passing generations, moving members, fluctuating budgets, transitioning leadership, and shifting identities and calls.”

Oh has a wide range of experience in the PC(USA). She has held leadership positions in the Presbyteries of Greater Atlanta and Chicago and was a commissioner to both the 221st General Assembly (2014) and the 222nd General Assembly (2016). She also served as a committee leader at both General Assemblies. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation.

She has completed clinical pastoral education and interim ministry training, has been active on the Shalom Team of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta doing conflict utilization work, and has served as both an English- and Korean -language Standard Ordination Examinations reader.

“I am excited and thankful to be called to the work of supporting churches and mid councils as they wrestle with these opportunities and challenges, as they wrestle with what it means to be church in the 21st century, and as they discern what it means to call a pastoral leader in these times,” Oh said. “I am also excited and thankful to be called to support pastoral leaders as they discern how they can connect with and offer leadership to churches that need the specific strengths, talents and passions that they have been given by God for these times.”

Jerry Van Marter, Office of General Assembly Communications

Today’s Focus:  Rev. Jihyun Oh

Let us join in prayer for:

Presbytery of Greater Atlanta Staff

Rev. Jane Fahey, interim executive presbyter
Rev. Donna E. Wells, stated clerk
Rev. Chip Blankinship, director of operations and congregational consultant
Rev. Joy Fisher, congregational consultant
Cassandra Morrow, congregational consultant of church growth and vitality
Rev. Dr. Hyunsung Cho, congregational consultant for ECKAM churches
Rev. Lindsay Armstrong, director of new church development
Gwen Hairston, financial support specialist  
Mark Sauls, director of communications
Miranda Emery, administrative assistant for PGA and NCDC
Mary Dyche, assistant for committee on preparation for ministry

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Octavia Coleman, PMA
T.P. Coleman, PMA

Let us pray:

Thank you, great God, who is able to do more than all we ask or imagine, according to your power that is at work within us.
To you be the glory in the church and in Jesus Christ, throughout the world and throughout all generations. Amen.

Daily Readings

Morning Psalms 65; 147:1-11
First Reading Genesis 16:1-14
Second Reading Hebrews 9:15-28
Gospel Reading John 5:19-29
Evening Psalms 125; 91