Rev. Hyo-Jung has been Pastor at Morsemere Community Church since September 2015. Preaching the gospel message of God’s abundant and generous love is at the heart of her ministry. In her ministry, she seeks to deepen and fortify the spiritual life of the church and to nurture the congregation as a faith community of justice, kindness, mercy, and compassion.
Born in Seoul, Korea, Rev. Hyo-Jung immigrated to the U.S. when she was 4-and-a-half years old. She grew up in a Korean speaking home in the greater Boston area and developed a bicultural and bilingual identity. She has a deep appreciation for both the traditional and the avant-garde.
Rev. Hyo-Jung is a graduate of Boston College, Yale Divinity School, and Harvard Graduate School of Education. In 1993, she was commissioned as an Ecumenical Co-worker by the Common Global Ministries Board of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the U.S. and Canada. She served in the General Assembly Office of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, a partner church, in Seoul, Korea for six years. Afterwards, she moved to Dublin, Ireland where she lived for seven years and worked as Communications Officer of the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin where she received a Postgraduate Diploma in Ecumenical Studies. In 2006, Rev. Hyo-Jung returned to the U.S. and moved to northern New Jersey where her family had moved. Since her ordination in the New Jersey Association, she has served as Minister of Christian Education in a number of UCC congregations before being called to serve at Morsemere.
Rev. Hyo-Jung is passionate about peace and justice for all God’s creatures and creation. She sees climate justice as one of the most pressing moral issues of our time and is passionate about the church’s obligation to be good stewards of our planet Earth, God’s creation. In January 2024, she began the Rutgers Master Gardener Program, which is run by Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Cooperative Extension. The program will provide in-depth, hands-on training in horticulture from Rutgers faculty and professional staff. After the completion of the program, Rev. Hyo-Jung will become a certified Rutgers Master Gardener. She would like to help local congregations plant gardens and encourage more involvement in climate justice and wildlife conservation.
Pastor Hyo-Jung is a member of the Ridgefield Clergy Group, Social Justice and Witness Task Force of the New Jersey Association, and Green Faith. She has also served on the Pre-Ordination Commission of the New Jersey Association and on the Board of Directors of the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, and the Central Atlantic Conference of the United Church of Christ. She also served as the UCC representative on the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations.
If you would like to make an appointment with Rev. Hyo-Jung, please email her at pastor@morsemerechurch.org.