Posted on 03/09/2007 3:51:22 PM PST by happygrl
While Christianity's explosive growth has swept through much of the Southern Hemisphere – particularly across Africa – another dramatic story has unfolded in Asia. Some have dubbed it the "Korean miracle."
About one-third of South Koreans are now Christian. Seoul, the capital, boasts 10 of the 11 largest Christian congregations in the world. And South Korea sends more missionaries abroad to spread the word than any other country except the United States.
No one knows how many Christians remain in North Korea. Two-thirds of Korean Christians lived there before the war, but many fled to escape Communist rule.
~sNip
Today, thousands of Koreans rise to attend prayer services in huge city churches at 4:30 a.m. before heading for work.
~sNip
The dynamism of Korean Christianity, many observers agree, is an outgrowth of the peninsula's unique history as well as the early role of indigenous leadership. Christian teachings were first brought to Korea not by foreigners, but by Korean diplomats who came in contact with Roman Catholicism in Japan and Manchuria. An active lay movement developed, but it led to controversy and periods of great persecution.
The first Protestant missionaries, American Presbyterians and Methodists, arrived in the late 1800s. The introduction of the Bible in the local language and the founding of schools for boys and girls helped spread the faith beyond the elites.
One key to the rapid growth was the strategy adopted by the young pioneer missionaries, which emphasized developing indigenous leadership: "self-government, self-propagation of the faith, and self-support."
"This encouraged national leaders to take care of their own affairs without foreign control or funding," Dr. Park says. "They practiced it from the beginning, advising but letting the Koreans preach and run the churches."
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
The first Christian missionary in Korea was a Japanese Christian.
Jesus Rules Ping
Pyongyang was nicknamed the Jerusalem of the East. How did it fall so far?! They are right about how vibrant Korean Christianity is though.
Quite likely that missionary was from Nagasaki.
It's too bad that the Japanese did not continue to be a blessing to the Koreans.
Wikipedia doesn't seem to recognize that--though the part about early Christianity in Korea is hazy and vague, and there is currently quite a bit of anti-Japanese bias in Korea, so the information could have been omitted by a pro-Christian Wikipedian who was trying to distance Korean Christianity from Japanese hegemony and later imperial rule over Korea.
One of my students, an Evangelical Protestant, went back to Korea and teaches at Namseoul University. He wrote his dissertation on Milton and Isaiah. Excellent piece of work.
WOW. I'm learning quite a bit.
When North Korea eventually falls, they will have the strength of the South Korean Christians to nurture them.
Here's a link: http://www.kimsoft.com/1997/xhist.htm. If you look at it, it is sort of unclear. Japanese soldiers who were Christians seem to have come first, but didn't necessarily proselytize the Koreans. Furthermore, those soldiers were with a Jesuit priest, which implies a European. Anyway, the link provides more information about this Korean Christian phenomenon.
Samson Agonistes should be read regularly.
Isaiah, Chapter 40, among the most magnificent in the scriptures.
What a wonderfully connected world we live in.
"Some have dubbed it the "Korean miracle."
It's not really a miracle when you consider that God is welcomed in S. Korea and made fun of in the US. It's only a sign that God knocked on the door - S. Korea opened the door and the US kept it shut as per instruction by the ACLU driven Cupreme Court. America, you're going to regret it.
The first foreign Protestant to reach Korea was Nagasaka, a Japanese Christian who landed in Korea as an agent for the National Bible Society of Scotland in Tokyo.
Appreciated.
Wait a minute, this can't be right! Rick Warren says we have to make services comfortable!
see?
My town has Koreans, Persians, Russians, Israelis, Chinese, Hindians, South Americans, Poles, Irish, damn near every kind of immigrant (all educated and legal - homes here start at $750k). The ROKS are top of the list in every desirable category. They value God, family, work, education and the arts. If they have any bandwidth left they golf. I am extremely impressed by them.
Me too! I hosted a Korean missionary and his family for a while. The are a very sharp people, have a lot of pride for all things Korean, and ... (this is always funny to me...), say that the Japanese stole most of their ideas from the Koreans.
Thanks for posting this.
bump for later reading
This aspect cannot be stressed enough.
I work with a group which does this type of translation work. I think we have 10 families from Korea who are my co-workers and there are about 10 more in the pipeline. That is just to my little part of the world. I think there are many more. It is so exciting and challenging to see their knowledge of Scripture and their commitment to fulfilling the Great Commission.
Some, or even most, of the people in our local Korean Presbyterian Church seem to have merely replaced Confucius (Kong-Ja) with Jesus (Yesu-nim). And I sometimes think I see disturbing similarities between the local, transplanted, Korean Presbyterians and Chinese Falun Gong, like warnings of possible ill-health consequences to those who dare to disagree with leaders.
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