Korean missions: Joy over obligation

Introduction

In his spiritual history of Korea, the well-known Korean scholar Ham Sok-Hon portrayed Korea as the “queen of suffering” (1985). Indeed, when one discusses Korean Christianity, suffering is a fitting description. Korea has produced the third largest number Catholic martyrs after Spain and Portugal during its relatively short Christian history of less than 250 years. There were also a large number of Protestant martyrs during the Japanese occupation and at the hands of communists during the Korean War. At the same time, Korean Christianity is marked by the joyful witness of Christians who brought the gospel to their fellow Koreans and then to other parts of the world.

Mission is often described as obedience to the command of Jesus (Matthew 28:18–20; Mark 16:15), which might suggest that it is done merely out of duty and obligation. William Carey founded modern missions on the command to go (Bosch, 1991: 340–41; Carey, 1792: 7). But Evelyn Reisacher showed that joy is characteristic of the biblical descriptions of the mission of Jesus (2016: 5–10). It is also characteristic of the disciples at Pentecost, who evangelized because they experienced the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus (Acts 1:8), not because they were commanded to do so (Boer, 1961: 15, 100, 128). The “amazement” of Pentecost (Acts 2:7, 12) resulted in reinvigoration of the community of disciples; fear was replaced with confidence; and despair with hope. The new community was “glad and generous” (2:46), full of praise and attractive to others (2:46–47). The life of the early church was full of joy with a sense of exuberance, enthusiasm, excitement, and expectancy. Much the same can be said about early Korean Protestant Christianity. It experienced the transformative, life-giving nature of the gospel, which was the source of its joy.

This article explores some of the key stages in the early growth of Korean Protestant Christianity from the perspective of joy. It examines the works of Korean translators, colporteurs, and women evangelists in the 1880s, the revival movements in the early 1900s and at the “outpouring” of the Holy Spirit in the Christian lives, and the sending of Korean missionaries to Jeju Island from 1907 and to Shandong, China, from 1912. It then points to the transformative nature of the gospel which characterizes Korean Christianity, in spite of its weaknesses: the joy of experiencing the indwelling of the Spirit in the midst of suffering; the joy of receiving forgiveness from God and forgiving others; and the joy of witnessing to Christ as the expression of gratitude to what God has done for them through the faithful witness of others. These Korean examples show that Christian mission was understood more as the natural and joyful outcome of being in Christ than as a duty and command.

Korean translators, colporteurs, and women evangelists in 1880s

The joy of experiencing the indwelling of the Spirit in the midst of suffering was shown by the Bible translators, the colporteurs who disseminated the Bible and evangelized, and the women evangelists, or “Bible women.” The first known Korean Protestants to be baptized were Yi Eung-chan (who died of cholera in 1883), Baek Hong-jun, and two others possibly identified as Yi Seung-ha and Kim Jin-gi (Institute of Korean Church History Studies, 1989: 142–46). They worked on Bible translation with Scottish Presbyterian missionaries John Ross and John MacIntyre in Manchuria in the late 1870s. These Bible translators and other associates of Ross were to become the first Protestant apostles to Korea as they carried Bibles into the peninsula and encouraged others to read and believe. One missionary reported that “Even though the work is very hard, [the colporteurs] carried it out with joyful hearts” (quoted in Yi, 1991: 155). They played a key role by establishing Christian communities in Korea—about 34 churches in total between 1894 and 1918. In addition, they became leaders of the nationalist movement working for liberation from Japanese colonization. Most importantly, they gave the Bible impact and created a Bible-loving Christianity that contributed to the later revival meetings (Yi, 1991: 175–96).

By 1884, before any foreign missionaries had been admitted to the country, colporteurs had founded several Korean congregations. Probably the first Korean Protestant Church was founded by Kim Cheong-song, a medicine seller from the “Korean valleys” of West Gando in Manchuria (Liaoning province in contemporary China). In gratitude for the help he had received from the mission house, Kim took baptism and returned to valleys in 1882 with copies of Luke’s Gospel. Soon many others responded, and when Ross visited in the winter of 1884, he baptized 85 men and placed many more on a waiting list. Among them were political refugees from Korea who likely saw Christianity as giving hope for a new society (Ross, 1890: 244–46). One of the first Korean churches to be established in Korean territory was at Uiju just inside the northern border. As early as 1879 Baek Hong-jun traveled there for evangelistic purposes and by 1882 he was joined by Yi Seung-ha. In their excitement to spread the faith, they took risks to smuggle Gospels across the river and established a meeting which had 18 members by 1885. The town became a center of Christianity in the far north and a connecting point between the Korean Christians in Korea and Manchuria (Paik, 1970: 209–10). Another early church in the peninsula was in Sorae, a village on the northwest coast. It was founded by brothers Suh Sang-ryun and Suh Sang-u. Suh Sang-ryun, the elder of the two, was found by MacIntyre on the verge of death and nursed back to health. He later testified, “At that time I didn’t know much. Thanks be to Jesus Christ who saved me and moved me, whose soul and body was falling into death because of sin, into eternal life, into his kingdom” (translated from Yi, 1991: 66). He became a colporteur with a reputation for indefatigable evangelizing zeal and courage (Yi, 1991: 64–66). Sorae is widely accepted as the “cradle of Protestant Christianity in Korea” (Paik, 1970: 139, 204) and it was the source of many of the Christian leaders of the first few generations (Clark, 1971: 459–61). Men from there walked several days to Seoul to seek baptism from Horace Underwood, the first Presbyterian missionary to enter Korea officially (Ross, 1890: 246–58). The Sorae congregation demonstrated their gratitude for salvation by constructing their own building and becoming an exemplary model of a self-supporting Korean church.

Women were among those who responded to the Christian gospel with most enthusiasm. This was probably because they had most to be thankful for when they became Christians. All commentators agree that one of the major impacts of Christianity in Korea was to alter gender relations and to raise the status of women. In the late nineteenth century, Korean women’s lives were proscribed by three ways of thinking that put them in a vulnerable position. First, they were expected to follow the neo-Confucian social norms which subjugated women. They followed and deferred to their father, then to their husband, and then their son. Legally, they were almost nonpersons. Their names did not occur on the family lineages which followed only the male line (see Deuchler, 1992). The birth of a girl was rarely, if ever, a matter for celebration partly because economically she would be a liability rather than an asset. Once a daughter was married (which might be while she was still a child), she resided with her parents-in-law. She was expected to do the bidding of her mother-in-law and produce male heirs. A woman had no right of divorce and was not allowed to remarry on her husband’s death. No wonder that “There are two times of regret in a woman’s life: when she is born and when she is married” (quoted in Huntley, 1984: 73). Second, the deeply ingrained philosophy of yin–yang, or eum–yang in Korean, which explained the dynamics of the universe in terms of opposite forces, relegated the female to an inferior position. Although yin–yang may be promoted philosophically as a means to social harmony, socially it was used to justify the higher social status of men, the authority of men over women, and violence toward women (Choi, 2009: 24). Third, Confucian etiquette divided society firmly into public and private spheres. The public or outside world was the realm of the man and the private, or domestic, was the woman’s domain. Since the male line of descent and the father–son relation had priority over the marriage bond, even after marriage, women and men led separate lives, and yangban and middle-class women were confined in a private part of the house (Choi, 2009: 45–47).

This distinction between men’s and women’s networks allowed the gospel to spread among women unhindered by considerations of public life. Korean women were first engaged by foreign missionaries as interpreters and to help them gain admittance to the women’s quarters. Known as “Bible women,” they gradually took on other functions besides helping missionaries. Most early Bible women were widows (this was preferred) or cast-off or unmarried women over 20; they tended to be from the lower classes (Chang, 2005: 165–70). They themselves conducted prayer meetings or “family services” (gajeong yebae) in homes. They began to be employed by the missions as colporteurs (gwonseo) to sell Bibles and Christian literature and as itinerant evangelists (jeondo buin). Eventually they supported native church leaders, and later pastors, in leading services and visiting the sick (Chou, 1995: 30–35). As colporteurs and evangelists, like their male counterparts, Bible women traveled the country. They read the Bible aloud and their testimonies brought thousands of other women into the church. Women also strategized, using maps, to evangelize the whole nation. They then sent widows to settle in key locations, reach out to local women and draw them into a prayer and Bible study groups. Eventually their husbands would become interested and an institutional church could be founded (Lee, 2011: 344–67; cf. the founding of the church in Philippi, Acts 16:11–15).

In order to fulfil these roles, the Bible women themselves learnt to read. They received initial Bible training from women missionaries or other Bible women, and then catechumen classes leading to baptism (Chang, 2005: 170–76). Using the Bible and hymn books, these single women who had been marginal in society taught Korean script and Christian doctrine to other women. They organized their own courses and schools across the country, thus laying the foundations of women’s education in Korea (Yi, 1991: 165–67). Through literacy, women were introduced to the world outside the home which hitherto only men were expected to understand (Chou, 1995: 37). Soon women were organizing to challenge social patterns and double standards of sexual morality, and also campaigning for temperance (Choi, 2009: 179–82).

Women who became Christians testified to the social change it wrought (Huntley, 1984: 73–80). One of the most renowned Bible women was Kim Gang (also known as Dorcas, 1848–?) who started work for a Methodist mission from 1900 at the age of 52. She later testified that

The day of my baptism was the happiest day in my life. Of course I rejoiced most that I was acknowledging the Lord as my Saviour, but I also rejoiced that freedom had come to me—a woman. The day that Jesus Christ was preached in Korea began the emancipation of women from the bondage of thousands of years. Since my baby-hood name was, according to custom, discontinued when I was about eight years old, I had never had a name. Think of it,—for nearly fifty years without a name. On my baptismal day I received a name, all my own—“Dorcas”: Yes, it was the happiest day of my life. (Noble, 1927: 104–105)

Kim was given a circuit of churches to visit over 1450 miles of often mountainous territory. On the road, she was slandered, verbally attacked, refused food by local people, and was once imprisoned. Nevertheless, she told how God gave her strength and courage for the work. “As I recount my experiences in the Christian life, a song of thanksgiving rings in my ears,” she said. After naming family blessings as well, she concluded, “Human lips cannot describe the gratitude of my heart for God’s abounding grace so freely bestowed upon us” (Noble, 1927: 109–10).

The revival movements in the early 1900s

In the early years of the twentieth century, Korean Christians spread the gospel as a result of the joy of receiving forgiveness from God and forgiving others. Their efforts culminated in the Pyongyang Revival of 1907, which was understood as an “outpouring” of the Holy Spirit, like the first Pentecost. The origins of the revival can be traced to 1903 when a missionary, R.A. Hardie, confessed his sins to his colleagues and later to his Korean congregation, and testified that, as a result, he had “entered upon a realization of the fullness of the Spirit” (quoted in Lee, 2010: 15). This episode provoked other prayer meetings at which people confessed their sins in unison, kneeling and bowing to the floor, and there were outbreaks of emotional or ecstatic behavior. When the Spirit came, they rejoiced in their forgiveness and spread the word to others. Hardie and Korean Christians began to travel around the country inspiring similar responses.

In 1905, the general council of missionaries, most of whom were influenced by North American Holiness revivalism, called for a special effort to bring about nationwide revival. The Mokpo Methodist revival meeting in 1906 was one of the most significant. One missionary counted it as “the most powerful revival meeting [I] ever participated in . . . From the beginning to the end, the spirit of prayer, of intercession, of confession poured out upon the congregation, was remarkable.” He described the joyful scene as “Faces shone with new life and new light, the church rang with hymns of triumph, and men stood six deep, eagerly waiting their turn to testify of blessings received, sins forgiven, differences healed, victory over self, baptism of the Spirit” (Preston, 1906).

In Pyongyang (in what is now North Korea), where the church was particularly strong, the missionaries prayed for revival and Gil Seon-ju, leader of the Jangdaehyeon Church, organized early morning prayer for the crisis in the country and for revival. Revival eventually broke out in Pyongyang during the series of residential Bible studies in January 1907, which brought together leaders from all over the country. The meetings were led by Gil and missionaries—mainly William Blair and Graham Lee, who called on everyone to confess their sins. The Pyongyang Synod recorded the evening when the revival came:

When the Holy Spirit came, one person started crying aloud and confessing his sins and others joined in. In the evening as missionary Graham Lee was leading the service, there was the presence of a strong wind and then eventually the Holy Spirit descended. All people in the hall cried aloud and confessed their sins. The sound of confession could not be distinguished from the sound of crying. (Rhie, 2001: 110–11, our translation)

Blair described the simultaneous prayer in Pyongyang as “a vast harmony of sound and spirit, a mingling together of souls moved by an irresistible impulse of prayer. The prayer sounded to me like the falling of many waters, an ocean of prayer beating against God’s throne.” Lee wrote about the weeping that followed: “Man after man would rise, confess his sins, break down and weep, and then throw himself to the floor and beat the floor with his fists in a perfect agony of conviction.” The immediate results of the confessions in many cases were reconciliations with others and making restitution to neighbors. Reconciliations took place between missionaries and Koreans (e.g. Blair and Hunt, 1977: 71–73). Moreover, given the evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit, missionaries were compelled to recognize that Koreans were fully Christian (Huntley, 1984: 132–38; cf. Acts 10:47; 11:17; 15:8).

Although the experience was one of confession of sins, knowledge of forgiveness produced relief and renewed personal and community life. The Pyongyang revival generated such excitement that revival spread even beyond the boundaries of Korea to Manchuria and China (Rhie, 2001: 116–33). Its popular appeal not only increased Christian numbers but also contributed to the formation of a distinctively Korean Christianity with characteristic practices. These included communal singing, ecstatic simultaneous prayer, daily patterns of prayer, and forms of asceticism. Similar revival meetings were soon being held across the country, uniting Christians across different classes and regions, and also across different missionary jurisdictions. In the context of the protectorate declared over Korea by Japan in 1905, as the first stage in building its empire in the East, the revivals contributed to Korean nationalism. They provided an opportunity for Korean Christians to pour out their distress and panic at what had befallen their nation and to have hope that God would restore their nation.

News of the revival, as well as of political events, was spread by foreign correspondents and mission executives, and the attention of the Christian world was briefly fixed on Korea (cf. Paik, 1970: 269, 364–66). Events brought world mission leaders to see for themselves the exuberance enthusiasm, excitement, and expectancy of Korean Christians. One way in which this was shown was in a hundredfold increase in colporteurs’ Bible and book sales compared to 1905 (Paik, 1970: 374–77). John R. Mott, secretary of the Student Volunteer Movement, held up Korea as an example of the transforming power of Christianity socially as well as spiritually and stressed to a Western audience Korean Christians’ commitment to Bible study, prayer, giving, evangelism, and missions (Mott, 1910: 5–7). At the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910 (1910: 71, 80), the rapid Christianization of Korea was described as “one of the marvels of modern history,” raising the possibility of “the complete evangelization of the nation within this present generation.”

The sending of Korean missionaries to Jeju Island and Shandong, China

After the Korean Presbyterian Church was formed in 1907, as the first indigenous Korean denomination, Korean Christians looked for ways of sharing the gospel beyond their own national boundaries. Their efforts were prompted by gratitude for the faithful witness of the missionaries to Korea and joy at the salvation they had received from God in Christ.

The Nevius or “three-self” method, which the missionaries were following (Nevius, 1899), envisaged self-government for mission churches at the earliest opportunity. September 1907, the year of the great revival, had already been chosen by the Presbyterians for the creation of an independent Korean church. The ceremony for formation of the Korean synod took place in Pyongyang and was followed by the ordination of the first Korean pastors, who included Gil and Suh Sang-u. It was an occasion of great celebration as Koreans rejoiced that their church was counted as a member of the world church and they immediately applied for membership of the World’s Pan-Presbyterian Alliance (Clark, 1937: 146). The revival heightened awareness of churches and peoples in different parts of the world and motivated Koreans to be involved not only in the evangelization of Korea but also in world mission. As early as 1897 Sorae church had collected funds for famine victims in India (Clark, 1937: 113). Already Presbyterians had sent out an evangelist to work in Manchuria (1901) and reached out to Chinese and Japanese in Korea.

The first meeting of the newly formed Korean church “was really a foreign missionary meeting” (Blair and Hunt, 1977: 78). A Board of Foreign Missions was established and one of the seven newly ordained ministers, Rev. Lee Gi-pung, was commissioned to go to Jeju Island, off the southern coast of Korea, where no Protestant missionary work had yet been established. Allen D. Clark reported that the sending of missionaries was “a thank-offering to the Lord.” It was motivated by “such a deep debt of gratitude to Christ for blessings received.” Such was that thankfulness that, “with only seven precious ministers, newly ordained, they dedicated one of these men to the work of carrying the Gospel to those who did not know the truth of salvation” (Clark, 1971: 174). Rev. Lee’s work was funded by a nationwide thank-offering for the founding of the new church. Seeing themselves now as a mature church, Korean Christians chose Jeju Island because, although part of Korea, it could be described as “overseas.” Not to be outdone, the women of the Pyongyang churches sent the first unmarried woman missionary, Bible woman Yi Seon-kwang to Jeju the following year (Lee, 2011: 43–47).

The Presbyterian Church of Korea held its first general assembly in 1912. Such was the rejoicing that a further thanksgiving offering of missionaries was prepared and supported by the harvest offerings. Edinburgh 1910 anticipated the future role of Korea in world missions and the church was convicted that missionaries should be sent not only to diaspora Koreans but also to non-Korean peoples. In 1913, three clergy—Park Tae-ro, Sa Byeong-sun, and Kim Yeong-hun—were commissioned to go as “foreign missionaries” to Shandong province in China to reach out to Chinese (Min, 2015: 133–34, 140). So just 28 years after the arrival of the first foreign missionaries to Korea, Koreans themselves were being sent to other peoples (Clark, 1937: 246). The area had been resistant to Western missions and the first Korean mission ended in failure but the Korean church persisted in sending and the growth encouraged the Chinese Presbytery to turn over further territory to them. The mission included medical work with Korean doctors, well-attended Bible classes, and revival meetings attracting thousands. By the early 1930s, despite the disruption caused by the Communist insurgency, there were more than a thousand baptized and the churches were largely self-supporting and self-propagating (Clark, 1937: 229–36; Choi, 2002).

Mission out of joy rather than obligation

From the above descriptions, we can say that thanksgiving and “repaying the debt of gospel” were the primary motives for Korean evangelism and world missions (cf. Kim and Kim, 2015: 311). Rather than obedience to a duty or a command, Korean mission was expressed as the natural and joyful outcome of being in Christ, a thanksgiving offering for the gift of the gospel. We cannot say that Korean missions were devoid of a sense of duty. “Repaying the debt of the gospel” was necessary to fulfil the obligation arising in Confucian culture on receipt of a gift (Kim, 1983: 133). The grace received from Christ’s suffering on the cross and the sacrifice made by the missionaries to Korea together represented a gift which demanded a generous response. Furthermore, to be able to “repay the debt” was a matter of national pride and a duty to the martyrs whose blood should be the seed of the church (Council of Presbyterian Churches in Korea, 2000). Nonetheless, the Korean churches, unlike Carey’s fellow Baptists, did not need to be told that they were commanded to go. They were not reluctant but readily, and with great excitement, organized for world mission as part of their joyful response to the good news of Jesus Christ.