Marcus A. Hong

Director of Field Education, Assistant Professor of Practical Theology

Alma College, BA; Princeton Theological Seminary, MACE, MDiv, PhD (anticipated 2022)

Marcus A. Hong joined Louisville Seminary’s faculty in 2016. He previously served as a teaching assistant at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he also sat on the editorial board of The Weekly Forum for the seminary’s Institute for Youth Ministry (IYM).

Hong’s service of Christian ministry has taken multiple forms: as a college student planning Sunday night chapel for peers from a broad range of Christian traditions; as an intern in three PC(USA) churches in New Jersey; as the music director, interim high school co-director, and curriculum consultant for a 200-person youth ministry program; as worship coordinator for a 1001 New Worshiping Communities ministry at the intersection of university, seminary, and town in Princeton, New Jersey; and as lay pastor for two micro United Methodist churches in rural New Jersey. He regularly leads worship and music for the Montreat Youth and College Conferences. He now guides the multicultural and ecumenical worshipping life of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

He has written liturgy for the PC(USA) and the broader liturgical community, in particular for the Connections Worship Companion series (WJK Press, 2021–present). He has also developed courses and curricula for church use, including writing foundational essays for the PC(USA)’s Follow Me curriculum (2021–2023), and has published UWorship, a UKirk Worship Resource (Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2015), which was written with a team of campus ministers. His editorial and research contributions can be seen in such publications as How Youth Ministry Can Change Theological Education—If We Let It (Eerdmans, 2016) and With Piety and Learning (Lit Verlag, 2011). His current research interests include intercultural worship and ministry, the Psalms, spiritual formation, and the ways in which poetic and musical forms shape communities of radical welcome and hospitality.

From my background in a variety of ministries, I imagine that the future of field education lies not only in congregational or medical contexts, but also in more creative ventures. Collaboration must take into account students’ passions. The work we do in field education may enable us to be a part of reimagining how church looks.
—Marcus A. Hong