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As a young girl, Priscilla Youn would carry her stuffed animals into her grandparents’ bedroom, line them up in a row, and teach class.
“I wasn’t teaching them math or science, I was teaching them Bible,” said Youn, MDiv student, “I would be like, ‘These are the reasons why Jesus loves you.’”
And yet, for a long time Youn wondered whether that childhood make-believe might be the closest she would ever come to ministry. She grew up attending a Korean American church where pastoral roles were typically reserved for men.
“There were no women pastors in my life,” she said. “So, from a very young age, though I had this heart for teaching, I knew it wasn’t for me in terms of a pastoral role.”
But over time, and after much prayer and support, those doubts have faded. Youn now sees ministry as her destiny.
“Long story short: the Lord is good,” she said. “He kept pursuing me and brought me to places where I could really unpack this call.”
Princeton Theological Seminary is one of those places. Youn just wrapped up a successful and very full first year in which she served in the Presidential Leadership Fellows Program, sang in the chapel choir, and enjoyed Korean food and friends in the Korean Student Association.
She describes it as a time of spiritual and intellectual growth, with compelling courses that sparked lively conversations with her fellow seminarians. “The reason why I chose seminary was to be challenged in my thought and challenged in my theology,” she said.
The Lord is good. He kept pursuing me and brought me to places where I could really unpack this call.
As she welcomes change and challenge, Youn also remains committed to her community. She plans to become a youth minister serving Korean American students. On weekends, she’s already working in that capacity at the First Korean Methodist Church of New York in Westchester County.
“My heart just naturally pulls toward Korean American students because we have this shared experience of confusion and challenge,” she said. “My dream is to reassure and reaffirm the students and myself that God made no mistake in allowing us to challenge and to live in this tension as Korean Americans.”
Youn grew up in a close-knit community in Dayton, Ohio, where the Korean language was spoken at home and weekend schedules revolved around the church. Friendships with other Korean American kids provided solace and support in a predominantly white community.
She went to Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) for her undergraduate degree with a plan to study elementary education. But after learning that the school offered a major in youth and pastoral ministry, she secretly enrolled in that major and threw herself into campus ministry roles. The reaction back home was decidedly mixed. Some family members felt ministry wasn’t a lucrative career. Others saw it as a job solely for men.
“I was really battling between culture and call,” she said. “I just prayed a ton, asking the Lord, ‘God, if this is truly from you, please soften the hearts of the people closest to me.’”
My heart just naturally pulls toward Korean American students because we have this shared experience of confusion and challenge. My dream is to reassure and reaffirm the students and myself that God made no mistake in allowing us to challenge and to live in this tension as Korean Americans.
The resistance she encountered was in no way unique to her family or community. Research conducted by the Innovative Space for Asian American Christianity found that women have fewer high-level leadership opportunities in Asian American churches than in other churches.
Although Youn’s denomination, the Korean Methodist Church, has been ordaining women since 1955, she said the number of women in leadership positions has grown slowly due to a lack of community affirmation.
As Youn struggled to find a path forward, she found support from an IWU professor and Princeton Seminary alumna, Miranda Cruz, MDiv ’08. Cruz shared books and articles written by Korean and other Asian American women, connected her to progressive organizations, and urged her to apply to Princeton Seminary.
“She really helped me in my journey,” Youn said. “Her laying that foundation for me was very comforting.”
Eventually, resistance from family and friends began to ease, especially after they noticed how committed she was to her calling. Youn often spent entire summers away from home working in camp retreats.
And, in 2023, she received a surprising job offer. The former pastor of her hometown church, the Rev. In Gyu Song, offered her a position as a part-time youth minister at his current church in Tarrytown, New York.
“I can remember when he called me because I knew this was big,” she said. “But I was also so worried about his church’s response because the previous pastors were all men.”
Despite her initial uncertainly about being the first female pastoral leader, Youn says she has been connecting with the congregation’s youth and building trust among parents. A key factor in her success has been the support from Song.
“My pastor is one of my constant supporters in ministry and leadership,” she said. “He seeks and considers my thoughts when making church decisions, and that has affected the church’s response to me. Even elders speak to me in honorifics sometimes, and that is huge!”
The experience also convinced her to attend seminary.
“I was humbled at how much I did not know about God and the Bible and how much I needed this theological education and enrichment, not for my sake, but for the kingdom’s sake,” she said.
At Princeton Seminary, Youn is getting an in-depth education through classes, research, and campus activities, while also learning from peers who embrace different faith traditions and hold divergent opinions on many theological and social issues.
“The conversations that we have demonstrate how there are so many theologies of God and so many different convictions of God,” she said. “At the end of the day, we’re all here because we love Jesus, and we can have these differences. That is going to translate into the way that I do ministry.”
