Reverse Mission of Korean Migrant Women Ministers in White Anglo Congregations

This paper examines the phenomenon of "reverse mission" through the ministries of Korean migrant women ministers leading predominantly white Anglo congregations in North America. Drawing on qualitative research with ten first-generation Korean im/migrant ministers, it explores how their leadership reflects broader shifts in global Christianity as missionaries from the global South increasingly minister in the global North, which were historically missionary-sending contexts. The paper first situates these ministers within the historical legacy of American women’s missionary work in Korea, which both expanded and constrained women’s roles in Korean Christianity. I then argue that im/migrant Korean women ministers in white Anglo congregations embody a form of boundary-crossing leadership that reimagines mission, pastoral authority, and preaching. Through postcolonial perspectives, transcontextual preaching strategies, and relational practices rooted in the Korean concept of Jeong, their ministries offer a new vision for the mission of the church that shapes the future witness of increasingly diverse North American churches.