About Us
Welcome to WPGUC. With open doors, open minds and open hearts, the church has welcomed worshippers from the West Point Grey community and beyond for over 100 years. Whether you are a committed Christian, a spiritual seeker, a member of the WPG community or from farther away, we hope you will join our faith community at worship on Sundays or as a participant in one of our many church activities. Whoever you are and from wherever you are, join us on our journey and find yourself at home.
We are
An Intercultural Church: We strive to be an intercultural church, where our differences are affirmed and celebrated. We understand that culture is much more than food, clothing and festivals; it is about our identity and boundaries. We want to create a safe, welcoming faith community that we call our home.
Committed to Reconciliation: We recognize the lands upon which we worship as the ancestral, traditional and unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh people, and commit to the ongoing work of reconciliation with all our Indigenous sisters and brothers.
An Affirming Church: On May 28, 2023 we officially joined Affirm United after two years of careful discernment. By joining Affirm United, we commit to Publicly (through the use of signs and symbols, such as the pride flag), Intentionally (through continued learning and ongoing commitment), and Explicitly Affirm the place of 2SLGBTQ+ people in our church, loved and blessed as God has made them. For more information about the Affirming Church movement visit affirmunited.ause.ca – or, if you’re looking for an affirming congregation outside of our area or internationally, check out gaychurch.org.
A Caring Church: We strive to support and nourish our Church Family through Pastoral Care. Our church also opens its doors to the wider community of West Point Grey and beyond, by welcoming all people, offering supportive services and programs and creating a warm, safe and inclusive environment.
A Church committed to a safe environment: We strive to relate to one another with respect, humility, patience, open – mindedness, courage, compassion and kindness. We are a community built on the contributions of all our members and adherents, each of us with our own perspectives, experiences, and capacity for service. We value each individual equally, acknowledging our different paths to and with our community of faith, respectful of each others’ backgrounds and identities. While we endeavour to treat others in the ways in which we would want to be treated, we realize that mistakes do happen. When mistakes or misunderstandings happen, we will work gently to ensure clarity and healing occur.
Our Team
Rev. Dr. Nam Ok Yoo
Coordinating Minister
604-224-4388 ext. 2
Nam Ok Yoo (柳南玉) was born in NamWon, South Korea, as the third of four children. She earned a PhD in Korean Language & Literature from SookMyung Women’s University in Seoul. She taught the Korean language and literature for ten years at many universities and colleges. After coming to Canada, she worked as a research associate in the Faculty of Education at UBC for seven years. As a team leader, she developed the Korean Language Curriculum as a second language for grades 5-12 in BC public schools.
In 2010, she strongly felt God’s call after a profound ‘God-talk’ moment. She pursued her studies at the Vancouver School of Theology, graduating from the Master of Divinity program with a Presbyterian background. In 2017, she transferred to the United Church of Canada and was ordained by the Pacific Mountain Regional Council in 2018. Her first call was from the Hardisty-Hughenden Pastoral Charge in east-central Alberta. The experience of serving in rural agricultural and petroleum industrial areas taught her valuable lessons about the sustainability and vitality of rural churches. This learning broadened her perspective in ministry.
In April 2020, Nam Ok returned to Vancouver to serve at Willingdon Heights United Church, a unique and vibrant intercultural congregation that includes Filipino, Korean, and Caucasian members. For about four and a half years, Nam Ok passionately served this faith community, dedicated to the idea of ‘doing the church together.’ Amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, she and the congregation witnessed that trust, joy, and unity are crucial to effective ministry.
In 2024, Nam Ok was called to serve as the Coordinating Minister at West Point Grey United Church, an intercultural and affirming progressive faith community on Vancouver’s West Side. She admires the congregation’s resilience, commitment to justice and equity, and its bold spirit in creating a Third Space. As she begins her ministry, she is eager to know the people, worship with them and work together to witness a thriving ministry and explore the meaning of Christian life as a community.
Nam Ok is a lifelong learner, an ardent seeker of truth, and she loves asking questions. She has two grown-up daughters.
If you would like to contact her, please call the church office at 604-224-4388 or email office@wpguc.com.
Contact
604-224-4388 ext. 2
Siiri Rebane
Director of Music
Siiri Rebane was born in Estonia where she received her Masters in Piano Performance from Estonian Music Academy before moving to the United States to pursue her doctoral studies in Organ Performance and Conducting.
Throughout her career, Siiri has led church music programmes as a music director, organist, pianist, choir director, and worship band leader. From 1995 to 2021 she held the position of Music Director/ Organist at St. Catherine’s Anglican Church in North Vancouver.
Siiri has worked and collaborated with various choirs and orchestras as a singer, an accompanist or a conductor in Europe and Canada. She was a singer and accompanist for Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, associate conductor and accompanist for BC Boys Choir and Coastal Sound Music Academy. As an organist, she collaborated with Estonian State Symphony, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, “Ellerhein” Girls Choir, and others.
Siiri is currently the director of the choral programme at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Siiri is active as an accompanist for choirs, individual singers, and instrumentalists. She is a BC Registered Music Teacher in piano and organ. If you would like to contact her, please call the church office at 604-224-4388.
Contact
Linying Hu
Intercultural Ministry Coordinator
Linying was born in Shandong, China, and relocated to Vancouver with her family in 2015. Before coming to Canada, she taught and conducted research in philosophy and bioethics in Peking University for decades. Her Chinese upbringing, philosophical training, and experience of beginning again in a new country continue to shape how she understands faith, culture, and community.
Through Bible study, care, conversation, and friendship, Linying hopes to walk alongside both newcomers and longtime members of the congregation. She is committed to reflecting honestly on the wounds that colonialism has left within the church and the wider community. She believes that no one should have to leave their language, history, or cultural identity at the church door in order to belong. Linying does not pretend to have easy answers but hopes to help create a space where difficult truths can be spoken with grace, where different voices are taken seriously, and where friendship can grow beautifully.
Linying enjoys reading, skiing, hot yoga, travelling, and conversations over a good cup of coffee. She has two children and a dog. She often takes her dog hiking in Pacific Spirit Regional Park.
To get in touch with her, please call the church office at 604-224-4388 or email office@wpguc.com.
Contact
Rev. SungRyeong Choi
Children and Youth Ministry Coordinator
SungRyeong Choi (최성령, 崔晟領) is an ordained minister from South Korea. She earned her Bachelor of Theology and Master of Divinity from Hanshin University in Seoul, and brings more than ten years of ministry experience, including six years at Oksu Presbyterian Church before coming to Canada. Her ministry has spanned worship, preaching, church administration, and Christian education, with a particular focus on children and young people. In 2024, she was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK).
In September 2026, SungRyeong began the Master of Theology (Th.M.) program in Homiletics at the Vancouver School of Theology. Her academic interests include Christian education, Minjung theology, postcolonial theology, intercultural theology, and feminist theology, and she is especially drawn to how preaching can connect Scripture with everyday life, helping communities live out their faith in the world today.
She is grateful to serve at West Point Grey United Church in Children & Youth Ministry. She hopes to create a space where children and young people feel they belong, are respected for who they are, and are free to explore questions of faith openly. She especially loves exploring the Bible together with them, discovering how its stories still speak into our lives today.
SungRyeong loves learning, asking questions, and exploring new perspectives. She looks forward to getting to know the children, youth, families, and wider congregation, and to walking together in faith and community. She believes that faith is not simply about having all the answers, but about having the courage to keep asking questions and discovering them together.
If you would like to contact SungRyeong, please call the church office at 604-224-4388 or email office@wpguc.com.
Contact
Micah Sébastien Zhang
Worship Support and Translation
Micah Sébastien Zhang was born in Shenzhen, China, and he is a Class of 2027 Bachelor of Media Studies student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Micah has been participating in West Point Grey United Church since August 2024. The spirit that has uplifted and supported him from the church community has made him ready to give in return.
Micah has started his Worship Support and Mandarin Translation role since September 2026. He is mainly responsible for translating church materials into Mandarin Chinese and operating presentation slides for Sunday services. As a then-journalist for The Ubyssey and a certified Apple Teacher with IELTS 8.5 English and upper-intermediate French proficiency, Micah is fully equipped and well-rounded for this opportunity in our church community to empower our church’s commitment of multiculturalism.
If you would like to contact Micah, please call the church office at 604-224-4388 or email office@wpguc.com.
Contact
Sonia di Tullio-Zelichowska
Office Coordinator
604-224-4388 ext. 1
office@wpguc.com
My name is Sonia di Tullio-Zelichowska. As the Office Coordinator I am delighted with my association with West Point Grey United Church.
I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil of Italian parents and have resided in Vancouver for the past 40 years.
My work experience has primarily been that of an administrative assistant working in various companies and organizations including the Provost Office at UBC.
The clerical and management role requires multi-tasking but communicating, supporting and responding to the staff and the congregation is what I most eagerly anticipate.
As we come to the end of the Covid-19 epidemic I hope to more fully complete that aspect as well. I look forward to getting to know you and working with this Faith Community.
Contact
604-224-4388 ext. 1
office@wpguc.com