Kim Chi-sun

Life

Kim was born in Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province, the eldest son of his family. In 1916 he became the adopted son of the Canadian missionary Luther Young (Korean name Yeong Jae-hyeong). During the March First Movement of 1919 he was active as a student representative; he was arrested and spent a year in Seodaemun Prison. For this service he is reported to have been posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation (Patriotic Medal) in 2020.

He studied at Chosun Christian College (Yonhi College) and briefly attended Pyongyang Theological Seminary. He then graduated from Kobe Central Theological Seminary in Japan in 1930. In the United States he studied at Westminster Theological Seminary and Dallas Theological Seminary, and he is reported to have received a Doctor of Theology degree in Old Testament from Dallas Theological Seminary. After returning to Korea he served as a pastor in his hometown, and in 1937 he moved to Japan. There he led Korean churches in Kobe and Tokyo, and he was at one point detained by the Japanese police for writing and ministering in the Korean language. He returned to Korea in 1944 and was installed as the sixth pastor of Namdaemun Church in Seoul.

In 1966 he was diagnosed with brain cancer and underwent surgery, but he died on February 24, 1968.

Ministry and Achievements

• Three Million Revival Movement: In 1946 he organized the Three Million Revival Evangelistic Association. The movement aimed to evangelize three million people—a tithe, or one-tenth, of the thirty million people then living in North and South Korea. Under the slogan "Dig a well in every one of the 28,000 villages," he called for a church to be planted in every village. Monthly revival meetings were held, with revivalists such as Son Yang-won, Park Jae-bong, and Kim In-seo serving as speakers.
• Theological education: In August 1948 he opened the Presbyterian Evening Theological School at Namdaemun Church, where people who worked during the day could study at night. In 1949 he became its principal himself, and in 1950 he renamed it Daehan Theological Seminary. During the Korean War the seminary continued its classes through branch campuses in Busan and Jeju. From 1951 to 1960 he taught Old Testament at the General Assembly Theological Seminary (now Chongshin University). In 1955 he published Guyak Sagi (舊約史記, A History of the Old Testament).
• Founding of a denomination: After the war he was unable to return to Namdaemun Church and instead pastored Changdong Church. He later co-founded the Bible Presbyterian Church of Korea with the missionary Dwight R. Malsbary (Korean name Ma Du-won); this denomination is the forerunner of today's Presbyterian Church in Korea (Daeshin). In the course of founding the denomination he allied himself with Carl McIntire of the American fundamentalist camp, reportedly in 1960.

Influence on the Korean Church

The Daeshin denomination honors Kim Chi-sun as its founder and spiritual pillar. Daehan Theological Seminary, which he founded, was renamed Anyang University in 1990. His movement, which emphasized repentance and the evangelization of the nation, is credited with laying a foundation for church planting and evangelism in the years immediately following liberation.

Assessment

Because he wept for his nation whenever he prayed, he was called "the Jeremiah of Korea," after the Old Testament prophet who wept as he prophesied over his people. His disciples and researchers remember him as a pastor who lived in upright simplicity and was passionate in prayer and preaching. Theologically, he is regarded as a scholar who stood in the conservative Reformed tradition.

Two matters are commonly cited as regrettable. The first is that, having fled as a refugee during the Korean War, he was unable to return to Namdaemun Church. The second is his relationship with Park Tae-sun. Kim ordained Park as an elder and introduced him at divine healing meetings, but Park later departed from the established denominations and went his own way. Some observers note that this episode remained a weakness in Kim's leadership. There is also a view that his writings on the Old Testament have not yet received serious scholarly evaluation.