from 1885 (Catholics from 1781)

Christianity in Korea: from the Catholics of 1781 to the revival and megachurches

Shelley: Christianity was brought to Korea by Koreans themselves – in 1781 Yi Seung-hun was baptized in China and returned with the literature of Matteo Ricci; the Catholics were persecuted for almost half a century. From the 1880s Protestant missionaries worked there, and Gil Seon-ju (Kil) began dawn prayer meetings and simultaneous prayer; in 1914 one Korean in a hundred was Protestant, and by 2010 one in three was Christian. Korea became the land of the world’s largest churches and, after the United States, the second source of missionaries

Key points

• Beginnings: in 1781, on a mission to China, Yi Seung-hun was baptized and returned with literature of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci
• Even without a priest Korean Christians baptized one another and celebrated Mass
• In 1794 the Chinese priest James Zhou came secretly (flock nearly 4,000); Catholics, he included, were hunted and tortured for almost fifty years
• Protestants: in 1873 King Gojong grew more open to the West; the Scot John Ross translated the New Testament in China; by the 1880s missionaries worked in Korea
• From 1885 American Presbyterians in Pyongyang translated the Bible, following John Nevius’s approach of supporting strong self-governing churches
• Gil Seon-ju (Kil): his family moved to Pyongyang (1885); he left Daoism after reading “The Pilgrim’s Progress” and, after a night of prayer and tears, believed.
• Gil Seon-ju: in 1903 he entered the Pyongyang seminary; news of the Welsh Revival led him to start dawn prayer meetings.
• Gil Seon-ju: at a ten-day session a missionary confessed ‘stubbornness and pride’, many began to repent publicly, and Koreans prayed simultaneously and aloud.
• Japanese rule: in 1910 Japan annexed Korea and was cruel to the churches; Christians first earned a reputation as opponents of colonization
• Kil headed the independence movement despite a vow of nonviolence; he surrendered to the authorities after arrests and died soon after release
• Noll: Kil preached more than 17,000 sermons and took part in opening sixty churches
• After 1945 the country was divided and fighting ceased in 1953; two thirds of Korean Christians were in the North, where the Communists opposed the Church.
• In South Korea Presbyterians, Pentecostals and Catholics flourished: in 1914 one Korean in a hundred was Protestant, by 2010 one in three was Christian.
• Yoido Full Gospel Church has over a million members; South Korea is second to the US in seminaries and missionaries; Cho credits growth chiefly to prayer.

People

• Yi Seung-hun
• Gil Seon-ju
• Samuel Moffett
• David Yonggi Cho

Place

Korea (Pyongyang, Seoul)