Centennial of Protestant Missions in Korea

Background

Korean Protestants generally regard Horace Allen, who arrived in September 1884, as the first missionary to reside and work in Korea. Allen was a medical missionary sent by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (Northern Presbyterians). In June of the same year, R. S. Maclay of the Methodist Episcopal Church (Northern Methodists) came from Japan and obtained permission from King Gojong to undertake educational and medical work. The following year, on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1885, Horace Underwood and Henry Appenzeller arrived at Chemulpo (present-day Incheon). Korean churches had likewise taken Allen's arrival as the reference point when they held a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of missions in 1934.

Course of Events

• Preparation: In the early 1980s, ministers including Kyung-Chik Han, Won-Yong Kang, Ji Won-sang, and Park Chi-sun discussed forming a council in which multiple denominations would take part. The result was the Council for the Korean Christian Centennial Commemoration Projects, comprising twenty Protestant denominations and twenty-six agencies and organizations. The council brought together both the evangelical and the ecumenical (church unity) camps, as well as conservatives and progressives.
• August 15–19, 1984: The Korean Christian Centennial Mission Convention was held at Yeouido Plaza in Seoul. Its theme verse was "Behold, I will do a new thing" (Isaiah 43:19). Cumulative attendance over the five days is reported to have been between 3.5 and 4 million. Preachers included Joon-Gon Kim, Kyung-Chik Han, and David Yonggi Cho, and Billy Graham also preached. During the same period, separate conventions for clergy, children, young people and students, and women were held at various churches and universities.
• August 1984: The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap) completed the Korean Church Centennial Memorial Hall on the former site of missionary residences in Yeonji-dong, Seoul. Its construction had been approved by the 1980 General Assembly.
• November 19, 1984: Construction began in Incheon on a memorial tower commemorating the arrival of Appenzeller and Underwood. The tower was unveiled on March 30, 1986.

Outcomes and Influence

After the convention, the council continued its work through a "Practice of Love Movement." It established a hospital providing free sight-restoring surgery to the visually impaired (now Siloam Eye Hospital) and also conducted a blood-donation campaign and a sponsorship program for underprivileged children. The council further assumed responsibility for the Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery, dedicating a Mission Memorial Hall there in October 1986, and built the Korean Christian Martyrs' Memorial Hall in Yongin. The council later changed its name to the Korean Christian Centennial Foundation. In July 2005, the foundation established the Centennial Memorial Church to oversee the cemetery and the Martyrs' Memorial Hall.

Assessment

Rev. Kang Byung-hoon, who served as secretary general at the time of the convention, recalled that the event united a church community that had been divided by conflict. Yoo Suk-sung, former president of Seoul Theological University, remarked that because 1984 fell within a period of church growth, the convention had a festive atmosphere. He contrasted this with the church of today, which he described as having lost public trust and entered a period of stagnation.

Opinions remain divided over what date should be regarded as the starting point of Protestant missions in Korea.

• The Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong) regarded the arrival of an ordained missionary as the beginning. Accordingly, it is reported to have held a convention on April 5, 1985, reenacting Underwood's arrival.
• The Korean Methodist Church took Maclay's visit to Korea as its starting point and marked 2024 as the 140th anniversary of missions.
• Some Presbyterians commemorate 1885, when the two missionaries arrived together, and therefore regard 2025 as the 140th anniversary.
• The Communion of Churches in Korea used 1884 as its reference point and held a 130th-anniversary event in 2014.
• Others have argued that the starting point should be the baptism of Baek Hong-jun and others in 1879.