Portrait of Poong Ja Shin. IMB Photo
Poong Ja Shin, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Japan, died June 18, 2024. She was 85.
Poong Ja was born May 16, 1939, to the late Dong Jin Kim and Soon Duk Lee. She graduated from Masan Girls’ High School in Changwon-si, South Korea; and studied at Chung-Ang University in Seoul and graduated from Sorabol College, now part of Singyeongju University, Gyeongju-si, South Korea.
Poong Ja grew up in a family that didn’t know about Jesus. From as early as elementary school, she loved to sing. She began to attend Masan Baptist Church so she could sing in the choir. In 1958, Poong Ja accepted Jesus as her personal Savior. “I promised God that I would praise the Lord with my voice all my life,” she wrote while seeking missionary appointment.
In 1959, Poong Ja moved to Taejon, where she joined the seminary choir at Korean Baptist Seminary and first met Jacob Suktae Shin. Later, she moved to Seoul to continue her studies. In 1962, Poong Ja was scouted as a singer for classical and semiclassical songs by the Korean Broadcasting System. In Seoul, she ran into Jacob again and began to sing in the church choir he directed. On Sept. 24, 1964, Jacob and Poong Ja were married.
Jacob moved to the United States in 1968 and Poong Ja, along with their two children, joined him there in 1971. In 1984, Jacob was ordained as a minister, and they planted a mission church in Maryland. A few years later, Jacob told Poong Ja the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) was looking for missionaries to work among Korean residents in Japan. They prayed together for several months before seeking missionary appointment.
In 1989, the International Mission Board appointed Jacob and Poong Ja missionaries to Japan, where she served in church and home ministries. While seeking appointment, Poong Ja wrote, “I am always praising the Lord from the bottom of my heart, because of His abundant grace and mercy on me.”
She is survived by Jacob, her husband of 59 years; daughter, Hei Jung; son, Ho Sik; and four grandchildren.
A funeral service was held June 21 at Icthus Mission Church in Rockville, Maryland, followed by burial June 22 at Norbeck Memorial Park, Olney, Maryland.