Presbyterian Church of Chosen

Background

Korean Presbyterianism was founded jointly by four Presbyterian missions: those of the Northern and Southern Presbyterian churches in the United States and those of the Presbyterian churches in Australia and Canada. In 1893 the missionaries formed the Council of Missions to coordinate their work. The council was a provisional body intended to exist only until a Korean presbytery could be established. In 1901 it was expanded into the Council of the Presbyterian Church of Chosen when Korean elders and helpers (josa, Korean evangelists who assisted the missionaries) began to take part.

In 1907 the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pyongyang graduated its first class of seven: Kil Sun-joo, Yang Jeon-baek, Han Seok-jin, Yi Ki-poong, Seo Gyeong-jo, Song In-seo, and Bang Gi-chang. On September 17 of that year, 33 missionaries and 38 Korean elders organized the Independent Presbytery at Jangdaehyeon Church in Pyongyang. The Independent Presbytery constituted a single Korean Presbyterian church, independent of the overseas mission boards. It divided the country into seven regional committees (daerihoe, bodies that handled presbytery business by region) and sent Yi Ki-poong as a missionary to Jeju.

Development

• September 1911: The fifth meeting of the Independent Presbytery, held at Nammun Church in Daegu, resolved to raise the regional committees to the status of presbyteries and to establish a General Assembly the following year.
• October 1911 to February 1912: Seven presbyteries were organized in succession: Jeolla, Gyeonggi-Chungcheong, Gyeongsang, Hwanghae, South Pyeongan, North Pyeongan, and Hamgyeong.
• September 1, 1912: The First General Assembly convened in Pyongyang. Some sources give the venue as the Women's Bible Institute inside Gyeongchang Gate, while others name the theological seminary in Pyongyang. The commissioners (delegates sent to the General Assembly) numbered 221 in all: 52 Korean ministers, 44 missionaries, and 125 elders. Horace G. Underwood (Korean name Won Du-u) was elected the first moderator, Kil Sun-joo vice moderator, and Han Seok-jin clerk. Church membership at the time stood at approximately 127,000.
• To commemorate its founding, the General Assembly resolved to undertake mission work in Shandong Province, China, and in 1913 it sent the Reverends Park Tae-ro, Kim Young-hoon, and Sa Byeong-sun. It also directed that every year on Thanksgiving Sunday the churches offer special prayers and collections for foreign missions.

Results and Influence

According to denominational sources, church membership declined for a time around the founding of the General Assembly as a result of the 105-Man Incident and the colonial Land Survey Project. When Japan pressed hard for Shinto shrine worship in the late 1930s, the General Assembly accepted it, and presbytery moderators even paid homage at a Shinto shrine in Pyongyang. After missionaries who refused shrine worship closed the Presbyterian Theological Seminary of their own accord, the General Assembly established a separate Pyongyang Theological Seminary in 1940. The Presbyterian Church of Chosen was dissolved in 1943, during the final years of Japanese rule.

After liberation, the General Assembly continued its numbering of sessions. At the 35th General Assembly, held in April 1949 at Saemunan Church in Seoul, it changed its name to the Presbyterian Church in Korea. Although it subsequently underwent a series of schisms, many Presbyterian denominations, including the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap) and the General Assembly of Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong), commemorate the 1912 General Assembly as the starting point of their own history.

Assessment

• The founding is regarded as the moment when the Korean Presbyterian Church emerged as a fully formed church organization, with not only presbyteries but also a General Assembly. The Kidok Shinmun, the newspaper of the Hapdong denomination, described it as a turning point at which Korean Protestantism established its own tradition and a sense of autonomy.
• Research associated with Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary views the process as the fruit of cooperation among missionaries from several countries to establish "one" Presbyterian church.
• Some observers regard the sending of missionaries abroad at the time of the founding as evidence that Korean Presbyterianism began as a mission-centered church.
• At the same time, the first moderator was a missionary, and 44 of the 96 ministerial commissioners were missionaries, so missionaries still carried considerable weight. The acceptance of shrine worship in the final years of Japanese rule left a legacy of debate over repentance and responsibility after liberation and is cited as one of the factors behind the Presbyterian schisms.