Profile of Ha Na Park (Applicant, Executive of the Denominational Council)

Ha Na Park

Minister, Immanuel United Church, Winnipeg 

I would like to enhance my contribution to the life of the United Church of Canada by becoming a Denominational Executive member. In this crucial time of restructuring, my gift of creating accountable theologies from lived experiences and my passion for the call toward equity will add to the voices of reason and experience already on the Council. I am passionate about remaking our church to truly be ours interculturally — our church as an open-ended and growing church which is ready and willing to be changed and transformed towards embracing diversity through strong relationships with all people. As we move towards restructuring, we need all of us. We need to encourage and affirm proactive initiatives coming from the margins. To make that happen, we must operate on barrier-free principles for promoting radical welcoming, to distribute power fairly, and to persist with courage through the institutional resistance to change. Embracing diversity is not the same as domesticating differences and new voices under the existing models and rules. It is the thoughtful intention to listen to these voices, to reimagine the new norms of belonging and full participation of all peoples in the United Church. I am eager to serve our church. 

In our church, sexism and racism are still prevalent, and white privilege is real. Yet I have a strong confidence in the United Church’s work to strengthen equity in its body and its mothering and nurturing capacity to grow the seeds of vital ministries. If I am selected to serve as a Denominational Council Executive member, I will bring myself as a woman being racialized who embraces queerness and is willing to ask questions for equity. I will work collaboratively, with a respectful awareness of each person’s differences and the shared love of this United Church of ours. I will also bring to the table the deeper understanding of intersectionality in solidarity with linked struggles and hopes. As a person who defines our Christian calling to be a boundary-dweller like Jesus, I will work hard to nurture the culture of mutuality. In addition, I believe that my skills and experiences of promoting diversity and organizing cutting-edge intercultural and affirming ministry programming in the church, such as Friendship Kitchen for Newcomers and Queer and Faithful would make a meaningful contribution to chart the new paths of the United Church, faithfully.

I believe in the wisdom of the circle and embracing the spirit of diversity as the way for shared life. As many indigenous sisters, brothers and kin teach us, the true shared life is inspired by a strong relationship between people and between communities; it should be deep-rooted in mystery — working of the Spirit —  rather than exchanging one style of management for another style of management. In this sense, I am very excited to see our church calling diverse people to serve on the Denominational Executive, especially those who have been historically marginalized in church decision-making due to various kinds of barriers, to share their true desire for the church and their skills and visions coming from their lived experience. I feel called — It is a blessing to be hopeful and excited for our future and want to share myself: my identity, theology and passion.