Founding member, supporter, friend of the International Council for Higher Education, Dr John E. Kim passed away at 2:30 p.m. on May 10, 2010. He was 77.

Dr. Kim was born in Daeduk-eup, Jangheung-Gun, Jeollanam-Do in Korea in 1933. The Korean War broke out while he was just in high school inspiring him to pray for the very first time. He is believed to have prayed - "God, if you rescue me in the war, I will believe in you." Theology then became a very natural part of his life.

Dr. Kim graduated from Jinju High School and Kosin University and attended Covenant Theological Seminary. He was transferred to Calvin Theological Seminary in Michigan, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1961. His Master Of Theology degree came from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and his Ph.D. was from Temple University.

He was ordained as a pastor by the Philadelphia Presbytery in 1966 and served as an assistant professor in Chongshin University in 1967. He later joined the Christian Reformed Church as a pastor and went on to become founder and president of International Theological Seminary in Los Angeles. In the early 1970s when the number of Korean immigrants increased in that area, Dr Kim and other Korean church leaders in started schools to train men and women for Korean churches that were needed.

Dr. Kim then moved onto another dream - to found a seminary for international students from Third World countries so that trained local church leaders could be more effective in their own areas to evangelise and for church growth and church planting. This resulted in the International Theological Seminary in 1982. (http://www.itsla.edu/)

He was and continued to be involved with Reformed Theological Seminary as part of their Adjunct Faculty in Practical Theology until his death. In 1995, he returned to South Korea to serve as president of Chongshin University and it was then that his involvement with ICHE began. He gave enthusiastic leadership and will be sorely missed.


Copyright: 2004 - International Council for Higher Education (ICHE)