Korean National Christian Council

Background

Korean Protestantism had cooperative bodies from an early date. The first was a missionary-led organization, the Federal Council of Protestant Evangelical Missions in Korea (called the Federal Council of Evangelical Missions in Korea in some sources). On March 26, 1918, representatives of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, the Korea Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Korea Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, convened the first meeting of the Federal Council of Presbyterian and Methodist Churches in Korea at the Central YMCA building in Jongno, Seoul. This council is regarded as the first church-level cooperative body organized chiefly by Korean church leaders. The missionaries' cooperative organization nevertheless continued to exist separately. After the March First Movement of 1919, discussion of church union revived within the churches, and a movement arose to merge the two bodies into one.

Development

• October 26, 1922: At its sixth meeting, the Federal Council of Presbyterian and Methodist Churches discussed merging the two cooperative bodies.
• March 1923: The Federal Council resolved to dissolve itself and to organize a new council.
• September 24, 1924: The founding meeting of the new council, a deliberative body in which representatives of various churches gathered to confer, was held at Saemoonan Church. The Rev. Cha Jae-myeong was elected the first president and the Rev. Kim Jong-u vice president. Members included the Presbyterian and Methodist churches of Korea, four Presbyterian mission boards and two Methodist mission boards, and Christian organizations such as the Korean YMCA and the British and Foreign Bible Society. The founding assembly adopted a constitution whose stated purposes were "to preach the gospel in cooperation," "to promote the improvement of social morality in cooperation," and "to spread Christian culture in cooperation."
• Early 1930s: The council changed its name to the Korean Christian Federal Council (Joseon Gidokgyo Yeonhap Gonguihoe). Sources date the change to either 1931 or 1932. Around this time the council is reported to have adopted a Social Creed setting forth the social responsibility of the church.
• 1934–1935: The Presbyterian Church, which had sent only five delegates to the eleventh general meeting in 1934, stopped sending delegates altogether beginning in 1935. The council appointed a negotiating committee and repeatedly urged the Presbyterians to return, but they did not.

Outcome and Influence

The council ceased its activities amid Japanese colonial interference in religious affairs. Sources differ on when it ended. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture states that it was closed in 1937, while the chronology of the Institute of Korean Church History states that it was dissolved in July 1938, after which the pro-Japanese Korean Christian Federation was organized. During the same period, the enforcement of Shinto shrine worship intensified, and Christian organizations such as the YMCA, the YWCA, and the Sunday School Association were forcibly disbanded. After liberation, a cooperative body was reestablished in 1946, and this line of development led to today's National Council of Churches in Korea.

Assessment

The National Council of Churches in Korea regards the Korean National Christian Council as its predecessor and counts 1924 as its own founding year. It maintains that the spirit of the council became the foundation for social movements after liberation. There is also a view that both the Christian Council of Korea and the National Council of Churches in Korea have their roots in this council. For this reason, the council is treated not merely as part of the history of a particular cooperative body but as the starting point of the Korean Protestant ecumenical movement (the movement for church unity across denominational lines). At the same time, its limitations are also noted: the withdrawal of the Presbyterians narrowed the scope of cooperation, and the council was ultimately forced to close under Japanese pressure.