PANAAWTM SUMMER NEWSLETTER

August 2026

Dear PANAAWTM siblings and supporters,

Hope you are having a delightful summer🌻

We are sending you our August/summer newsletter to keep you up to date on our recent activities, member highlights, board updates, and important changes to communications. Please read it till the end!

📢PANAAWTM is Hiring!📢

We are seeking a Programs & Operations Manager to work closely with the Board to bring PANAAWTM into its next phase of development as an organization. The Manager will be the main staff person and be responsible for leading implementation of capacity building initiatives, managing operational processes, and supporting the Board in carrying out PANAAWTM’s mission.

The Manager will work approximately 40 hours per month for an hourly rate of $50. If you are interested, please submit a cover letter, resume, and two references to panaawtmsearch@gmail.com by August 31, 2026.

Please share the word widely with your own networks!

For more details, please click on the link below for a

complete job description

THANK YOU!

💐

Browse Dr. Hong's books and publications,

here:

https://www.drchristinejhong.com/

Sending Dr. Christine Hong

Dr. Christine Hong has been so critical in helping PANAAWTM in this season as PANAAWTM's Capacity Building Grant Director. Not only has she helped PANAAWTM transition into updated systems, she has led projects to help PANAAWTM understand who makes up the network and why people find the org meaningful. She has laid the groundwork for this next chapter of PANAAWTM and we are excited to see the fruit of her good work.

Dr. Christine Hong is transitioning from her work with PANAAWTM to an Advisor with the Forum for Congregational Life housed under Duke Divinity School. The Forum manages the 3 Year Capacity Building Grant Program, of which PANAAWTM is a grantee.

Forum for Congregational Life

https://congregational.life/about-our-work/who-we-are/#advisors

Support an Asian Diasporic Theological Studies Initiative at Candler

Students, alumni, and faculty at Candler School of Theology and the GDR have launched a petition asking Candler to commit to sustained support for Asian diasporic students, proposing an Asian Diasporic Theological Studies initiative that would grow from a reading group and roundtable into a certificate program and eventually a dedicated faculty line.

The petition has gathered 130+ signatures, including past and future leaders at PANAAWTM.

The organizers welcome PANAAWTM members to add their names or feedback to support the petition.

You can sign the petition using

this link

Community Highlights and Celebration

Lynnette Li as a 2026 FTE Doctoral Fellow

Lynnette Li at Iliff School of Theology (University of Denver) was nominated as one of the 2026 Doctoral Fellows for the Forum for Theological Exploration!

Congratulations, Lynnette!

Facebook Announcement can be found here

Ann Gillian Chu's New Book

Ann Gillian Chu, the Assistant Professor (Christian Ethics) at the Divinity School of Chung Chi College at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, recently published a new book:

Hong Kong Christianities and Civic Life

Book information can be found here

The book is open access, and you can download the free PDF and eBook version here

Submit A Community Member Highlight

We would love to feature an update on your project, work, publication, community work, activism! Nothing is too big or small! We are hoping to keep our community connected through small updates in these newsletters. Please use the following link to share your highlights and celebrations!

https://forms.gle/eaJgEHSe9WFuqA6w9

PANAAWTM Announcements

PANAAWTM Board Stands with Buam-dong Community to

Protect Sacred Gingko Tree

Our PANAAWTM Executive Board sent a letter to the Board of Directors at ICOM Korea in solidarity with residents of Buam-dong, Seoul, and the activists behind the Declaration of Life, after learning that Whanki Museum injected herbicide into a gingko tree that has stood in the neighborhood for over a century.

You can read the full letter draft here, which is first stated in Korean and an English version to follow.

Here is the link to the Donation in support of this campaign!

In late May, the Whanki Museum in Buam-dong, Seoul injected herbicide to a local beloved gingko tree, and local residents and activists, including PANAAWTM elder/foremother Dr. Hyun Kyung Chung, have been taking action, tending to the tree and calling for repair by the Museum, particularly Director Park Mee Jung, who is also the Korea Director of ICOM (International Council of Museums). You can read more about the incident here: https://www.asiae.co.kr/en/article/2026052708355821399

Welcome our new Board Members!

Welcome our new Board Treasurer!

Jermaine Ma, PhD, currently teaches at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology as Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies. She lived, served, and studied in Turkey for over a decade. Her research interests include interpersonal trust, and the intersection of faith and culture in cross-cultural contexts.

Grant Updates

Year Three of our Capacity Building Grant funded by the Lilly Endowment through Duke Divinity has been approved for $50,000, this will finish our 3 year cohort with them.

Our grant has been approved by the Foundation for Theological Education in South East Asia (FTESEA) for $5,000.

Help sustain PANAAWTM's work

💖Consider donating to PANAAWTM💖
You can choose to give a one-time gift or a recurring donation!
⚠️We are looking for volunteers to help with PANAAWTM virtual programming. Email felicia.tran@panaawtm.org if you are interested!

🚩Reminder🚩

Retiring the panaawtm@gmail.com email account

Email changes

You will notice that we are shifting from using GoogleGroups for mass email communications to using EmailOctopus. This will streamline our mass communications and increase the privacy of information shared in correspondence with individuals.

Additionally, we are retiring our panaawtm@gmail.com email address and are now conducting our communications with our network through the email address info@panaawtm.org. Please update your address books and contact lists accordingly.

If you are able, it would be greatly appreciated if you could unsubscribe from the newsletter with the email addresses you are no longer using (we have found many duplicates and are not sure which ones are active). It will help us keep our data up to date!

info@panaawtm.org

https://www.panaawtm.org/

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