AMBS board appoints Lee to Teaching Faculty
Published: April 4, 2025
By Annette Brill Bergstresser
ELKHART, Indiana (Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary) — The Board of Directors of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), Elkhart, Indiana, has appointed Sung Hyun Lee, PhD, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, as Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology and Psychology, beginning July 1, 2025.
She has been serving AMBS as Visiting Professor of Church and Ministry (2024–25), teaching courses in pastoral care, ministerial leadership, Christian ethics, peace theology and spiritual practices.
Lee’s strengths and experience as an ordained Methodist minister, scholar, educator and academic coach serve her well in the seminary’s global community, notes AMBS Vice President and Academic Dean Beverly Lapp, EdD, who chaired the search committee.
“Sung’s record as an effective teacher and interculturally attuned researcher and practitioner was strongly affirmed by participants during her recent candidacy visit,” she reflected. “We’re excited about her ability to contribute broadly across the curriculum and help AMBS grow as a leader in spiritual care education rooted in justice and peace commitments.”
Lee earned a PhD in Psychology and Religion from the Graduate Division of Religion of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, in 2022. Her doctoral dissertation, The Power of Mature Empathy: Moral Implications of Empathy from Psychological and Care Ethics Perspectives in Responding to Sexual Violence in Faith-Based Community, will be published this year by Wipf & Stock.
As a scholar, she describes herself as “a pastoral theologian and feminist care ethicist whose core value is grounded in empathy.” Her core research questions include, “How can our society and communities — especially faith-based ones — utilize emotions such as empathy and anger to promote social justice and equality as well as spiritual growth?” and “What are communal ways that communities of faith can empower diverse marginalized groups such as (im)migrants, racial minorities, and sexually traumatized women?”
Lee has also presented and written on mental health, family systems theory, family therapy and feminist ethics. She’s a member of the Society of Pastoral Theology, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Religion, and a steering committee member of the Women of Color Scholarship, Teaching and Activism Unit of the American Academy of Religion.
As a South Korean immigrant, Lee brings a range of pastoral experiences in both South Korea and the United States to her academic work. While studying at Methodist Theological University (MTU) in Seoul, she served in unordained pastoral roles in three Korean Methodist congregations, ministering primarily with children and young adults (2000–08).
After earning two degrees from MTU — a Bachelor of Theology (2005) and a Master of Theology in Practical Theology with a concentration in Pastoral Care and Counseling (2007) — Lee moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to pursue a Master of Theological Studies in Pastoral Care and Counseling and Christian Ethics at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, which she completed in 2010. She then received professional training in counseling and Clinical Pastoral Education in South Korea and was Director of the Counseling Department at LTG Neuro Medical Center in Seoul (2011–12).
While pursuing her doctoral degree at Drew, Lee served as Lead Pastor of the Aroma of Christ Korean Methodist Church (KMC) in Fort Lee, New Jersey (2014–18), and as Education Pastor of Korean United Methodist Church (UMC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico (2018–19). She was ordained in 2016 by the KMC in South Korea. She also served as Lead Pastor of St. Paul’s UMC in Socorro, New Mexico, in 2023. She is currently an Affiliated Pastor of Good Shepherd KMC in Donghae, South Korea (since 2019), and a member of St. John’s UMC in Albuquerque.
As an immigrant with experience as an international student, Lee said she saw many immigrants struggle with racism, language barriers, and cultural and systemic differences in the United States. These experiences led her to found her own academic coaching business, Sojourner Coaching, LLC, in 2018, to mentor and support students and immigrants of Korean heritage. She focuses on helping her clients grow academically and vocationally, develop intercultural competence and prepare for ordination.
Rachel Miller Jacobs, DMin, AMBS Associate Professor of Congregational Formation and a search committee member, affirmed Lee as “an outstanding teacher, both in person and in completely online environments.”
“Her syllabi are strong, she relates well to students and she’s interculturally competent, all of which enable her to astutely meet the range of AMBS students and structure good learning environments for them,” she said. “In addition, she’s a delightful person and a wonderful colleague: quick to laugh, eager to help out, prompt in her responses to requests, and thoughtful in committee or decision-making processes.”
Lee named several factors that drew her to apply for the AMBS position.
“It thrills me that AMBS is an institution where the mission for justice and peace is the fundamental driving force behind its holistic education and practices,” she reflected. “Additionally, its international programs that invite diverse voices from around the globe resonate deeply with my aspirations as an international and intercultural scholar and pastor. Lastly, the collegial culture at AMBS, with its intercultural sensitivity, offers us new and vibrant perspectives as we strive to be disciples of Jesus. I look forward to walking with the community on this meaningful journey!”
Lee and her spouse, Ted Rohe, will relocate to the Elkhart area in the summer.
In addition to Lapp and Miller Jacobs, the search committee consisted of David Boshart, PhD, President (ex officio); Abenezer Dejene, a graduate student from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Janna Hunter-Bowman, PhD, Associate Professor of Peace Studies and Christian Social Ethics; and Paul Keim, PhD, Visiting Professor of Biblical Studies. The board appointment took place March 10.
Located in Elkhart, Indiana, on ancestral land of the Potawatomi and Miami peoples, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary is a learning community with an Anabaptist vision, offering theological education for learners both on campus and at a distance as well as a wide array of lifelong learning programs — all with the goal of educating followers of Jesus Christ to be leaders for God’s reconciling mission in the world. ambs.edu
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