History of Methodism in Korea

Background

Methodism is a denomination that emerged from the Methodist movement led by John Wesley in eighteenth-century England. It reached Korea by way of American Methodism. In 1883 John Goucher, an American Methodist minister, met the Joseon Bobingsa (a reciprocal diplomatic mission) during its visit to the United States. He then urged the Methodist Episcopal Church (the northern Methodist church in the United States) to open a mission in Korea and entrusted it with funds for that purpose.

Development

• 1884: Robert Maclay, a Methodist Episcopal missionary serving in Japan, arrived in Korea on June 24. Through the reformist Kim Ok-gyun he submitted a request to King Gojong, and on July 3 he received permission limited to educational and medical work.
• 1885: On Easter Sunday, April 5, Henry Appenzeller and his wife arrived at Chemulpo together with the Presbyterian missionary Horace Underwood. They were followed by the medical missionary William Scranton and his mother, Mary Scranton. In August Appenzeller began teaching students at his home in Jeongdong, which marked the beginning of Paichai Hakdang. Scranton began treating patients in Jeongdong in September.
• Subsequent years: The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, also began mission work in Korea. As a result, Korean Methodism developed along two separate lines, the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, each with its own annual conference (a Methodist regional governing body).
• 1924–1930: The two churches entered into discussions on union, forming a joint preparatory committee in 1925, and on December 2, 1930, they founded the Korean Methodist Church (Gidokgyo Joseon Gamnihoe). Ryang Ju-sam, a minister from the southern Methodist line, was elected the first general superintendent (an office corresponding to today's bishop).
• 1938–1945: In 1938 the Third General Conference opened with dongbang yobae (a bow toward the Japanese imperial palace) as officials of the Government-General looked on. The denomination's leaders also took part in Shinto shrine worship. In 1943 the denomination was reorganized as the Japanese Christian Korean Methodist Church, and in July 1945 it was forcibly merged with the Presbyterian and Holiness churches into the Japanese Christian Church of Korea.
• 1945–1949: After liberation the denomination split in two over how the church should be rebuilt. The Reconstruction faction demanded that clergy who had collaborated with Japan step down, while the Restoration and Revival faction emphasized restoration through established procedures and spiritual revival. The Restoration and Revival faction installed Kang Tae-hui as bishop in 1946, and the Reconstruction faction installed Jang Seok-yeong as bishop in 1948. The two sides united in April 1949, renamed the denomination the Korean Methodist Church (Gidokgyo Daehan Gamnihoe), and elected Kim Yu-sun as bishop.
• 1950s onward: In August 1950 Bishop Kim Yu-sun, Ryang Ju-sam, and some forty other clergy were abducted to North Korea. The denominational headquarters and the Methodist Theological Seminary moved to Busan. In March 1955 Chun Mil-ra and Myung Hwa-yong became the first Korean women to be ordained as ministers. The denomination reportedly split and reunited again over disputes concerning episcopal elections in the 1950s and the 1970s.

Results and Influence

• Early mission work centered on schools and hospitals contributed to the spread of modern education and medicine in Korea.
• With the 1930 union, Korean Methodism became a self-governing church independent of foreign mission boards. The "Doctrinal Statement," which summarizes the Methodist faith in eight articles, is also reported to have been adopted around this time.
• The Korean Methodist Church is a member of the World Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches in Korea, and the United Christian Churches of Korea, among other bodies.

Assessment

• Within Methodism the 1930 union is highly regarded, both because it preceded the reunification of the northern and southern Methodist churches in the United States and because it marked a milestone in the self-governance of the Korean church.
• The collaboration of church leaders in the final years of Japanese rule has remained a serious unresolved issue. Ryang Ju-sam, the first general superintendent, appears on the government's official list of pro-Japanese collaborators for actions that included Shinto shrine worship.
• The Methodist historian Lee Duk-joo has criticized the 1949 union, arguing that it was achieved without resolving the legacy of the colonial period, which lay at the root of the division.
• Views also differ on when the history should be considered to have begun. Appenzeller's arrival in 1885 is commonly taken as the starting point, but some argue that 1884, when Maclay received permission for mission work, should be regarded as the beginning.