Amelia and Kevin are living in South Korea, Amelia’s home country. They are preparing to serve in a sensitive part of the world next year. To get ready for that, they are studying the Moore College Online Diploma of Biblical Theology. They have two children aged 18 months and baby daughter.
How did you come to know and follow Christ?
Amelia grew up in a non-Christian family in Korea. When she went to New York for her undergraduate studies and started to question her life goals, she met some Christian friends and started exploring Jesus’ claims.
She came to faith when she tagged along to a mission trip to Thailand and realised that the good news of Jesus is for sinners like herself.
Kevin grew up in a Christian home in the UK and came to a living faith during his teenage years through Christian summer camps.
Both of us grew in faith while doing our undergraduate and postgraduate (Kevin) studies, and postgraduate (Amelia) studies, in Oxford – under the faithful ministry at St Ebbe’s Church.
The Diploma of Biblical Theology breaks geographical boundaries to teach and equip you to serve the Lord wherever you are.
Can you tell us about yourselves?
Amelia is from South Korea but has lived in the US, China and the UK. Kevin is from the UK and they met at St. Ebbe’s church. We were both involved in the international ministry there.
Amelia worked for the church for a few years, both with international undergraduate students and postgraduate students. Kevin was working as a management consultant.
We have a son aged 18 months, and a daughter born just a couple of weeks ago.
Our church in Oxford has now sent us as mission partners, preparing to go to a sensitive part of the world next year. We hope to work with returning international students who have been exposed to the gospel abroad and are often new believers or seekers.
Why did you choose to study online with Moore college?
As mission partners, we were expected to get at least a year of formal theological training. We were looking for a remote/online learning option, as we hope Kevin can obtain Korean citizenship by living in Korea for a year (to give our international family life some stability in the future).
On top of this, Amelia was also expecting a baby in the middle of this year.
Among the online options available to us, Moore College came as highly recommended by friends and leaders at our church in Oxford. Some had studied at Moore College or who had other links. They commended the College as faithful in Bible teaching and rigorous in theological training.
How has studying God’s word and learning online in community informed and equipped you to serve Christ?
It has helped us greatly to take time to study the Bible in depth and engage with helpful ideas and readings.
The flexibility afforded by the online environment has suited our situation very well (particularly with two young children).
The smooth and easy to use interface, variety of teaching modes (readings, lecture notes, videos, quizzes, discussions, submissions), and engaging and interesting content, make studying a joy rather than a burden.
Interacting with other students through giving and receiving feedback has also sharpened our Bible-handling skills. The expositions and other submissions we regularly work on and get feedback for are particularly helpful for processing what we’ve been learning, engaging with the Bible and, then, effectively writing about that passage/topic.
What do you hope to achieve from completing the Online Diploma in Theology?
So far, seeing how individual parts of the Bible fit into the overarching storyline has been a key learning point. We hope that by completing the Diploma, we will be able to effectively, faithfully and confidently teach the Bible throughout the rest of our lives and ministries.
We are already putting these things into practice as we are involved in our local church in Korea. We are particularly hoping to be well equipped when we move next year to a sensitive country where there are many new believers and a huge need for good Bible-handling skills.
Ultimately, we hope and pray that we will be able to “entrust” the gospel of Jesus Christ “to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2).