Moon Jae-rin

Life

Moon was born in 1896 in Jongseong, North Hamgyeong Province. At the age of four he crossed the frozen Tumen River with his family and settled in Myeongdong Village in North Jiandao (present-day Yanbian, Jilin Province, China). The family of Kim Sin-muk (1895–1990), who would later become his wife, is said to have crossed the river with them on the same day. The two were married in North Jiandao. His childhood name was "Kiringapi."

He graduated from Myeongdong Middle School and Pyongyang Theological Seminary and became a minister. By his own account, he prayed in 1922, while at Pyongyang Theological Seminary, for an opportunity to study abroad; six years later, at the invitation of the Canadian mission, he went to Canada and studied at Emmanuel College in Toronto. On his way home he stayed in Edinburgh, Scotland, for about six months.

He was imprisoned four times in all, during the Japanese colonial period and in the years immediately following liberation. In 1946 he moved to South Korea with his family. He retired at the age of sixty-five and died in 1985.

Ministry and Achievements

In North Jiandao, where Canadian missionaries were active, Moon combined pastoral ministry, education, and involvement in the independence movement. While serving as senior pastor of Yongjeong Central Church, known as "the mother church of North Jiandao," he officiated at the funerals of the poet Yun Dong-ju and Yun's cousin Song Mong-gyu. According to his memoir, his home served as a gathering place for activists in the national movement, and An Jung-geun was a frequent visitor.

After coming to South Korea, he and Kim Sin-muk founded Hanbit Church in Seoul. Following his retirement, he devoted himself to the lay movement and supported the democratization movement. While his son Moon Ik-hwan was in prison, Moon protested in Washington, D.C., wearing a prison uniform bearing his son's name and inmate number. In 1973 he received an honorary doctorate.

Influence on the Korean Church

• A bridge between the churches of North Jiandao and South Korea: A 2017 study by Moon Baek-ran argues that Moon Jae-rin linked the history of pre-liberation Christianity in North Jiandao with the histories of Hanshin University and the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK). The same study explains that his activities provide context for understanding the Christian background of Yun Dong-ju's poetry.
• The lay movement: When his memoir was published, the press highlighted the point that the lay movement in the Korean church first began with Moon Jae-rin.
• The church and social movements: Hanbit Church, which he founded with Kim Sin-muk, became one of the centers of the democratization movement in the 1970s. Both of his sons, Moon Ik-hwan and Moon Dong-hwan, also became ministers.

Assessment

The couple's memoir, The Dreams of Kiringapi and Gomannye (Samin, 2006), was compiled by their granddaughters Moon Young-geum and Moon Young-mi from drafts, diaries, and recorded oral testimony that the couple left behind. Kim Kyoung-jae, professor emeritus at Hanshin University, described the book not merely as the record of a single family but as a story of the Korean people centered on North Hamgyeong Province and Jiandao. The book has drawn attention as a source for the history of the independence movement in North Jiandao and of the Korean Christian movement. However, much of what is known today about his life depends on this memoir and the testimony of his family.