Independent Presbytery of Korea

Overview

The Independent Presbytery was the first presbytery of the Korean Presbyterian Church. It was established through the joint efforts of the several Presbyterian missions working in Korea. In Presbyterian polity, a presbytery is a governing body in which the ministers and representative elders of a given region meet to govern the church. The name "Independent Presbytery" (Dongnohoe) is commonly explained as referring to a presbytery of the Korean church that was independent of the foreign mission boards. The minutes of the period used the name "Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Jesus in Korea." The years from 1907 until the founding of the General Assembly in 1912 are known as the "Independent Presbytery era."

Background

Four Presbyterian missions, including those of the Southern and Northern Presbyterian churches of the United States, formed the Presbyterian Council to coordinate their mission work in Korea. At one point Presbyterians and Methodists agreed in principle to establish a single national church together, but the plan was never carried out. The Presbyterian missions therefore moved to form a single church at least among Presbyterians.

In 1904 the Council decided to publish the Westminster Shorter Catechism. In 1905 the Committee on Preparing a Church Constitution proposed the so-called Twelve Articles of Faith as the creed of the Korean Presbyterian Church. In 1907 the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pyongyang graduated its first class of seven students. The Korean church therefore needed a governing body of its own (a body that governs the church and installs its officers) to ordain them as ministers. In addition, the Great Pyongyang Revival, which began in January of that year at a Bible conference at Jangdaehyeon Church, had greatly increased the church's membership.

Development

• September 17, 1907: The first meeting of the presbytery was held at Jangdaehyeon Church in Pyongyang. Thirty-three foreign missionaries and thirty-six Korean elders attended. The missionary Samuel A. Moffett (Korean name Ma Po-sam-yeol) was elected moderator, and Bang Gi-chang was elected vice moderator.
• Ordination: The presbytery examined the seven seminary graduates as candidates for the ministry and ordained them on the evening of September 17 at Jangdaehyeon Church. They were Seo Gyeong-jo, Han Seok-jin, Song In-seo, Yang Jeon-baek, Bang Gi-chang, Gil Seon-ju, and Yi Gi-pung, the first Korean ministers of the Korean Presbyterian Church.
• Commissioning: The presbytery sent Yi Gi-pung to Jeju Island with the title of "missionary." Gil Seon-ju took charge of Jangdaehyeon Church, and most of the remaining ministers were appointed as evangelistic ministers.
• Creed and rules: The first meeting adopted the Twelve Articles of Faith proposed by the Council, along with the Shorter Catechism and rules of government. These were adopted provisionally for one year, subject to further review. They are reported to have been formally adopted at the second meeting of the Independent Presbytery in 1908. The Twelve Articles had been drawn up by the Presbyterian Church in India in 1904 and were adopted without alteration except for the preamble.
• 1912: The founding of the General Assembly brought the Independent Presbytery era to an end. The Independent Presbytery became the starting point of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Jesus in Chosen; until that time it had functioned in effect as a general assembly.

Results and Influence

With the establishment of the Independent Presbytery, the Korean Presbyterian Church took shape as a church pastored by Korean ministers. By adopting a confession of faith and rules of government, it also established a polity characteristic of Presbyterianism. The Twelve Articles subsequently became the doctrinal standard of the Korean Presbyterian Church. Yi Gi-pung's commissioning to Jeju is frequently cited as an early instance of the Korean church sending out a missionary of its own. Today many Presbyterian denominations in Korea regard the Independent Presbytery and the 1912 General Assembly as their common root.

Assessment

• Gil Seon-ju is said to have described the founding of the Independent Presbytery as a great and spiritual event of historic significance. Pointing to the emphasis on cooperation among the missions in the Independent Presbytery's preface, some studies argue that the Korean Presbyterian Church was born of a spirit of cooperation and unity. This interpretation appears, for example, in articles published in the academic journal of Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap).
• Limitations have also been noted. Because the first moderator was a missionary and nearly half of those in attendance were missionaries, the Independent Presbytery began under considerable missionary influence.
• Assessments of the Twelve Articles are likewise divided. Some credit them with concisely summarizing basic doctrine by expressing the common ground shared by the various missions. Others criticize them for not having been written by Koreans and for their thin treatment of ecclesiology and predestination. Since the divisions within Korean Presbyterianism, the Tonghap denomination and others have used revised versions of the Twelve Articles. The Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong) retained the original form but in the late 2000s discussed supplementing it.