World Mission names new mission personnel coordinator

Lydia Kim to recruit, equip and accompany mission workers

by Tammy Warren | Presbyterian News Service

Lydia Kim, formerly with the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program, is World Mission’s new mission personnel coordinator. (Photo by Zoe Hwang)

LOUISVILLE — Lydia Kim has been named World Mission’s new mission personnel coordinator, effective Jan. 28.

“Since stepping into the interim mission personnel coordinator role in November, Lydia has done some heavy lifting in accompanying mission personnel, the mission personnel team and our area coordinators through a wide variety of scenarios and has done so with excellence,” said Tamron R. Keith Sr., associate director of Presbyterian World Mission.

“Lydia has been able to identify some ways we can improve our recruitment processes to better equip and accompany our mission co-workers at home and abroad,” Keith said. “I am excited about the gifts and skills she brings to this role.”

Prior to this new appointment, Kim joined the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program as a mission associate for administration in 2012. For more than six years she has taken on progressively increasing responsibilities in the administration and direction of the YAV program, which celebrated its 25th year of service last year. More than 1,700 young adults have participated in the YAV program since it began in the early 1990s.

YAV provides opportunities for young adults ages 19 to 30 to participate in a year of mission service alongside church partners at sites in the U.S. and around the globe. Kim’s role with the YAV program has included facilitating the YAV application and discernment process, managing partner relationships, providing pastoral care and supervision of staff at YAV sites, administering policy and managing crises.

“Lydia and the mission personnel team will continue to provide similar care and support for our mission personnel deployed in more than 40 countries, just as she has supported our Young Adult Volunteers and YAV site coordinators,” Keith said.

“Lydia’s experience and training have strongly equipped her to lead the mission personnel team, actively participate in World Mission strategic planning, effectively work with internal staff and mission co-workers on personnel matters, provide pastoral care and oversee management of crisis situations should any arise.”

Kim has a background in clinical psychology and higher education. During the 1990s she worked as a psychotherapist in New York City, specializing in helping people overcome trauma and substance abuse. Prior to joining the World Mission staff she worked with college students as a student affairs professional.

“I am excited and thankful to be embarking on this journey,” Kim said. “During my time as interim mission personnel coordinator, I have gained greater respect for the work of our mission personnel. I am sad to leave the Young Adult Volunteer program. My position at the YAV program has been a clear call to ministry in my life. It has shown me glimpses of God’s community, where faith cannot exist without commitment to justice. I have learned a great deal and, in that sense, the YAV program has given me more than I was able to give. In my work as mission personnel coordinator, I will continue to seek what it means to be faithful in our broken world.”

Kim and her husband, Alexander Hwang, live in Louisville with their two daughters, Zoe and Emma, and the family’s Maltese dog, Pika.