Rev. Young-Mee Park
Senior Pastor / email
Rev. Young-Mee Park has been serving as the lead pastor Hinsdale UMC since July 2019. Her previous ministry experience includes DeKalb District Superintendent (2013-2019), lead pastor at First UMC of Oak Park (2005-2013), associate pastor at Dixon First UMC (2003-2005), and Seminary Intern at Evanston First UMC (2001-2003).
Born and raised in Korea, Rev. Park went to France in her young adulthood and obtained a BA, an MA (Université de Provence), and a PhD degrees (Université des Sciences Humaines de Strasbourg) in Linguistics. She, then, returned to Korea and taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels until she came to the United States in year 2000. She graduated from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2003.
Having been in many different places linguistically, culturally, and theologically, Pastor Young-Mee is passionate about meeting people where they are and bringing them closer to God and to each other, thereby building an authentic community of faith. She is a firm believer in full inclusion of all God’s children and is committed to living out United Methodist call to “Open Hearts, Open Minds, and Open Doors.” Her personal mission statement is to stay open and curious and live each moment fully, freely, and joyfully.
Rev. Young-Mee Park is an avid learner and enjoys traveling, hiking, and taking photographs. She is married to Rev. Dr. Sang Hyeon Yoo, and together, they are proud parents of two adult children, Ihwan and Eunhwan.