William Crooks
Juyoung Lee on the steps of Lennoxville United Church, where he will be serving as a student intern until April 2026

By William Crooks

Local Journalism Initiative

A new face has joined Lennoxville United Church this fall, bringing both international perspective and a deep commitment to ministry. Juyoung Lee, a 28-year-old student from South Korea, has begun an eight-month internship at the church as part of his Master of Divinity program with McGill University and the Montreal Diocesan Theological College.

Lee explained in a Sept. 12 interview at the church that his journey to the United Church of Canada began during a semester abroad in Saskatoon in 2019. “While spending one semester and studying the theology of the United Church, I realized that if this is what a church can be, and if this is how it works, I wanted to become a minister here,” he said. In contrast, he noted that many churches in his home country “tend not to be inclusive, and sometimes they are at the front line of excluding marginalized people.”

Having grown up in the Presbyterian tradition, Lee said he felt liberated when he discovered the United Church of Canada. “This is the field where I can use my talents and be freed from what restrained me back in South Korea,” he explained.

The internship in Lennoxville came about through connections at McGill. One of Lee’s former school directors spoke with LUC Minister Ron Coughlin, who suggested the church could benefit from hosting a student. “We don’t have a minister here at the moment,” Coughlin said, alongside Lee. “I suggested to the board that McGill might recommend a student who could help us with ministry and be part of our team. They recommended Juyoung.”

Under the arrangement, Lee will be in Lennoxville from Friday to Sunday each week until April 2026. His duties will include leading parts of the worship service, sometimes opening or closing, and at other times delivering a full sermon. “For example, this week I am leading the offering and the benediction,” he said. “Some weeks I take care of the whole worship service, starting from the beginning, through the preaching, to the end.”

Beyond worship, Lee will also be involved in pastoral care and outreach. “He’ll be visiting people in seniors’ homes and hospitals, as well as reaching out to the community on behalf of the church,” Coughlin said. Lee added that he is eager to learn about “how church work flows, including administration and counselling.”

The internship counts as half of his academic program at McGill, functioning as a practicum that integrates classroom theory with real-world ministry. “The final year of studies includes courses in preaching, pastoral care, outreach, mission and so on,” Coughlin explained. “Then he’s here practicing what he’s learning in those courses.”

Lee said his first visit to the Eastern Townships came earlier this year when he attended a Sunday service in Lennoxville to meet the congregation. “While I was driving from Montreal to here, it was so beautiful,” he recalled. “Even though it was snowing heavily, I was really amazed by how spectacular the view was.” The congregation, for its part, decided that both his learning goals and the church’s needs would align well.

Looking ahead, Lee said he is interested in serving where English-speaking congregations in Quebec remain underserved. “I learned that there are many anglophone populations around Montreal and especially in the Townships,” he said. “Ron told me that they need ministers here, but since it’s a francophone province, many anglophone United Church ministers don’t want to come. I want to be part of that.”

He also spoke of the social challenges facing older anglophone residents in the region. “One of the church members told me that there are older people living alone in the Townships,” Lee said. “After the late 1990s, when Quebec started to apply stricter French language laws, their children moved to other provinces to find work. The parents’ generation stayed in Quebec because they had nowhere else to go. Now they are facing a loneliness crisis. This really touched my heart, and I want to help address the kind of social issues that are hidden.”