Min Ja Kim Davis and Bok Nam Jin Davis on their wedding day at Market Square
The Davises
It has been 30 years since Susan Jin Davis regularly attended services at Market Square Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, and yet, she’s still an official member of the church.
Since moving out of the area, she’s never been able to find anywhere quite like Market Square.
“There’s something about that membership that I cannot let go,” she said. “It has an emotional hold on me.”
So much of Jin Davis’ past, and who she is today, is tied into her years at Market Square.
Diversity, equity and inclusion education and advocacy have been a large part of her professional work, and she traces a lot of that passion back to the church.
“All of this came from that experience at Market Square,” she said. “It’s had a huge impact on me.”
In April, Jin Davis returned to the downtown church to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its Korean Ministry—the program that her parents started and that helped shape her. It felt so good to be back that she wondered if she should make the two-hour trek from her home in Kennett Square back to Harrisburg, maybe just once a month.
The beauty of Market Square’s Korean Ministry, to Jin Davis, wasn’t just that it offered a community for those from her culture to connect and fellowship, but that it was part of a larger, multicultural congregation that, through differences, stuck together.
“The legacy of my parents to create a multicultural ministry—that was their dream,” she said. “I think what Market Square did was create that possibility that we can do this in the larger world.”
Korean congregation, 1980s
Something to Behold
Jin Davis described Market Square’s S. 2nd Street building, which dates back to 1860, as a hub for Korean immigrants from the 1960s through the ‘80s.
“It was literally the starting point for life in America,” she said.
However, before it became the starting point for dozens of Korean families, it became home to Korean immigrant Bok Nam Jin Davis, Jin Davis’ late father.
Bok Nam immigrated to the United States in 1962 and connected with congregants of Market Square shortly after. Although he was in his 20s when he came to the Harrisburg area, Bok Nam had been orphaned by war since childhood and the Davises, an American couple with connections to Market Square, adopted him into their family as an adult.
Just a year later, Min Ja Kim came to the states to marry Bok Nam, the pair having only spoken on the phone before her arrival. Both had endured great trauma in life, Jin Davis explained, and had to quickly learn how to navigate life on a new continent.
“They were some of the only people of color in Market Square at the time,” Jin Davis said. “It must have been very lonely and isolating.”
Bok Nam Jin Davis with adoptive parents Horace and Elizabeth Davis
As the new couple made their life in the United States and regularly attended the church, many of their family members and friends began to immigrate. Word spread about Bok Nam’s connection to Market Square, and it only made sense for him to set up a program to serve the church’s many new members.
“Market Square turned out to be an immigration spot in Harrisburg,” Jin Davis said.
In 1974, the Korean Ministry was born and the church held its first Korean language service.
Longtime Market Square member and historian John Taylor remembers the early days of the ministry as a time when the white members and Korean members fellowshipped together, despite cultural and language differences.
While there were separate English and Korean language services and Bible studies for the adults, they were one congregation, which had regular socials, picnics and gatherings, he said. The children’s classes combined both cultures, and the kids were friends and peers. Taylor taught the children’s classes for a time and recalled what he saw as a picture of diversity and unity.
“It was something to behold,” he said. “I think it helped them as they grew into adulthood to be accepting of people from different cultures.”
Gwen Lehman saw the impact the experience had on her children and their acceptance of those from different cultures, but also recognizes how the experience has shaped her.
“It’s very impactful when you hear their stories,” she said. “It’s given me a real appreciation for the courage and determination that immigrants possess.”
Unique Model
The Korean Ministry had several pastors over the years, but Jin Davis specifically remembers when Rev. Chul Soon Lee, affectionately known as Andy Lee, took the role of full-time associate pastor of both the Korean- and English-speaking congregations. Market Square members remember him as a bridge builder between the groups. The Korean members got to see someone in the church’s leadership who reflected them, and the white members got to see someone who was different.
“He looked like us. He could speak Korean for our first-generation immigrants, and he was able to be a pastor to everyone,” Jin Davis said. “On both sides, you got a stereotype-busting scenario. It was very profound in its effect.”
As she grew up in the church, Jin Davis found a place where she felt comfortable to be herself in a region where she didn’t always feel that way.
“It was really hard to be different in central PA,” she said. “We found Market Square as a place of belonging.”
Obviously, blending cultures wasn’t always easy, as there were challenges and communication barriers, members shared. In the mid-1980s, many members began breaking off from Market Square in favor of starting or joining independent Korean churches.
Following the departure of some Korean members, the ministry downsized, but many stayed, and the program remains vibrant today, Lehman said.
Rev. Ki Nam Lee, who currently serves as the pastor of the ministry, said that, while the program is smaller these days, the need is still great amongst Korean Americans looking for a service in their primary language.
The Korean members attend services together, go out for weekly lunches and visit those who are sick. But, they’re as involved with the rest of the church as ever, the two cultures serving together and participating in joint monthly services.
“We’ve always been multicultural. That’s what we value and cherish, that’s what we believe is our mission,” he said. “Of course, there have been challenges, but we have overcome those and celebrated our 50-year anniversary together, and we are proud of that.”
Jin Davis reflects on her years in Harrisburg with gratitude and pride for what her parents were able to create and the impact that the Market Square community had on her. Fifty years after the Korean Ministry’s inception, Jin Davis thinks what the church has been able to accomplish, fostering a multicultural environment, is still distinctive.
“Market Square is really a unique model for other churches,” she said. “I haven’t been able to find anything like it.”
Market Square Presbyterian Church is located at 20 S. 2nd St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.marketsquarechurch.org.
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