wfn.org | Council Members See Fruits of Missionary Labor in Korea

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

21-May-1997 
97215 
 
                  Council Members See Fruits of  
                    Missionary Labor in Korea 
                                  
                           by Gary Luhr 
 
SEOUL, Korea--For members of the General Assembly Council (GAC) Executive 
Committee, it was an opportunity to witness the product of 113 years of 
mission to this Southeast Asian country. For the Koreans who hosted their 
visit, it was a chance to say thank you. 
 
     Nowhere has the global mission enterprise of the Presbyterian Church 
(U.S.A.) and its predecessor denominations borne more fruit than in Korea, 
both North and South. It is evident in the thousands of Korean Christians 
who pour into churches six mornings a week at 5:30 for morning prayer, in 
the thousands more who fill sanctuaries five, six, seven times on Sundays, 
in congregations whose members number in the tens of thousands, and in 
universities and seminaries that proudly display pictures and monuments to 
their Presbyterian founders. 
 
     These were among the images impressed on Executive Committee members 
who visited South Korea April 25-May 3 at the invitation of GAC chair 
Youngil Cho, a Korean who now lives in Raleigh, N.C.  Sixteen committee 
members, eight GAC staff  and 20 spouses and guests took part in the trip, 
arranged by Cho with help from the Worldwide Ministries Division. Expenses, 
other than travel to and from the United States, were paid by Korean 
Presbyterians. 
 
     "It was a precious opportunity for Presbyterian leaders to see 
firsthand the amazing results of the courageous and faithful witness of our 
forebears," said General Assembly moderator the Rev. John Buchanan. "They 
built the Presbyterian Church deeply into modern Korean culture and left 
behind thriving churches, hospitals, schools and social service 
organizations." 
 
     The history of Presbyterian involvement in Korea dates to 1884, when 
Dr. Horace Allen, a medical missionary, arrived in that country from the 
United States. The first Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Horace G. 
Underwood, came the following year. The Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) 
began as a presbytery in 1907. The first General Assembly was in 1912. 
Today the PCK is the fifth largest Presbyterian church in the world with 
more than two million members. 
 
     "It's impressive, the work of the early missionaries, but also how the 
work of spreading the gospel has been transitioned to the Koreans," said 
Eugene McKelvey, chair of the Worldwide Ministries Division Committee. 
"They will be a strong source of mission for the future." 
 
     "To place the current work of the church in the larger perspective, 
both globally and over time, makes us aware of the lasting significance of 
the church and the importance of continued relationships," said the Rev. 
Cathy Chisholm of Vandalia, Ill.  
 
     The GAC trip included visits to 
 
     * Saemoonan Presbyterian Church, the first Presbyterian church in 
Korea, started by Underwood in 1885 and officially organized in 1887.  
     * Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary -- the largest 
Presbyterian seminary in the world with more than 2,500 students -- 
established in 1905 as an outgrowth of classes begun in 1901 by Samuel 
Moffett of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS). 
     * Yonsei University, the oldest university in Korea, tracing its 
origin to 1885, when the first hospital to practice and teach Western 
medicine opened in Seoul under the direction of Horace Allen. The 
great-grandson of Horace G. Underwood -- Horace H. Underwood -- is dean of 
the Graduate School of International Studies. 
     * Chung Shin Girls' High School, started in 1887 by Annie J. Ellers, a 
medical missionary with the PCUS. 
     * Taejon Presbyterian Theological Seminary, a regional seminary that 
began as a four-year night school in the Taejon Central Presbyterian Church 
in 1954. 
     * Hannam University, founded in 1956 by the PCUS. 
     * The Korean Christian Museum at Soong Sil University. The university 
was founded in what is now North Korea in 1897 by William Baird of the 
PCUS. 
     * The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, which separated 
from the PCK in 1953. 
     * The National Council of Churches in Korea, established in 1924. 
     *The National Organization of the Korean Presbyterian Women, which was 
established in 1928, but traces its history to the first Presbyterian 
women's group organized in 1898. 
      
     The day after they arrived, eight members of the PC(USA) delegation 
preached on Sunday morning at churches in and around Seoul. The next 
morning they worshiped with PCK staff in the chapel of the Korean Church 
Centennial Memorial Building, located on a former PCUS mission housing 
site.  Buchanan presented PCK moderator the Rev. Chong Soon Park a copy of 
the PC(USA) "Book of Common Worship." 
 
     Two other mornings, the group attended early morning prayer services 
with more than 1,000 participants at the So-Mang and Myung Sung 
Presbyterian churches in Seoul. 
 
     There were other visits during the week to the Korean Folk Village and 
the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea. The group also 
visited with PC(USA) mission personnel at dinner one evening. 
 
     "It was a wonderful experience to get to know brothers and sisters in 
mission and to see where some of our mission dollars have gone over the 
years," said GAC member Sandra Hawley of Bloomington, Minn.  
 
     "I'm just awed by the witness Presbyterians in the United States 
brought to the Koreans and how it has grown and blossomed and spread 
throughout the world," said GAC vice chair Jinny Miller of Mishiwaka, Ind.  
 
     The PCK has nearly 500 missionaries deployed around the world, 
including in the United States. 
 
     "They learned from us, but now we're learning from them,"said Cindy 
Monie, wife of GAC member the Rev. Blair Monie of Dallas. "It makes you 
realize we are a large family working toward a common goal." 
 
     "The Presbyterian community has become a vast forest," said the Rev. 
John Evans of Davidson, N.C. "The seeds our missionaries planted God has 
blessed." 
 
     Hawley noted that the visit seemed equally significant to the group's 
Korean hosts. "I have the impression it's been very important for 
Presbyterians here to have us here. The reception of us has been almost 
beyond words at times," she said. 
 
     The group met a number of women seminary students and heard about the 
changing role of women in the PCK, which began ordaining them as ministers 
and elders last year. 
 
     "The role of women was mentioned again and again," said Chisholm, who 
believes the PC(USA) needs to "support and encourage the Korean church in 
this new era they are entering. It is important for women [in Korea] to 
have role models of women as leaders," she said. 
 
     The group also heard a number of people share their hopes for 
"tongil," the Korean word for "unification." Hewon Han, associate presbyter 
of Salem Presbytery in Clemmons, N.C., and son of the founder of the 
50,000-member Youngnak Presbyterian Church in Seoul, said the churches in 
South Korea have set aside millions of dollars for building churches in 
North Korea once reunification occurs.  More than one speaker noted the 
important role churches can play toward hastening that day by providing 
relief to North Koreans, whose country has suffered in recent years from 
food shortages and devastating economic conditions.  
 
     The reality of the conflict that has plagued North and South Korea for 
nearly 50 years was seen in a tangible way during a visit to the 
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates the two countries. The visit 
included a hike through one of the infiltration tunnels North Koreans have 
dug 150 to 450 feet beneath the surface of the DMZ. Four such tunnels have 
been found. South Koreans believe there may be as many as 20 more. The 
tunnels were discovered in the mid-1970s after being reported by a North 
Korean defector. 
 
(Editor's note: The next issue of "NEWS BRIEFS" will feature excerpts from 
journals kept by participants on the journey to Korea. -- Jerry L. Van 
Marter) 

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