Seo Gyeong-jo

Life

Seo Gyeong-jo was born in 1852 in Uiju, Pyongan Province. His original given name was Sang-u (相佑). He went by his courtesy name (ja, a name used in place of one's given name), Gyeong-jo, and later adopted it as his legal name. Orphaned at an early age, he was raised by his grandmother and is said to have taught himself the Chinese classics. He followed his older brother Seo Sang-ryun into trade and through him came to embrace Christianity. Seo Sang-ryun had met the Scottish missionary John Ross in Manchuria, converted to Protestantism, and assisted in translating the Bible.

The brothers moved to Songcheon-ri, Daegu-myeon, Jangyeon County, Hwanghae Province—the village known as Sorae (Solnae)—where they preached the gospel. The village is said to have been the home of their mother's family. On January 23, 1887, Seo Gyeong-jo traveled to Seoul with Choe Myeong-o and Jeong Gong-bin, members of the Sorae congregation, and received baptism from Horace Underwood. In 1901 he began studying at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pyongyang. In 1907 he graduated as one of its first seven graduates, and that same year he was ordained a minister at the Independent Presbytery along with Gil Seon-ju, Yi Gi-pung, and others. He later served as a pastor at Saemunan Church in Seoul and elsewhere. In his later years he is said to have moved to Shanghai, China, to join his son Seo Byeong-ho, who was active in the independence movement. He died in 1938.

Ministry and Achievements

• Founding and pastoring Sorae Church: He founded Sorae Church with his brother. After Seo Sang-ryun moved his base of activity to Seoul, Seo Gyeong-jo took charge of the church. The church reportedly grew until about 50 of the village's 58 households attended. In 1895 a tile-roofed sanctuary of eight kan (bays) was built, and the following year it was enlarged to sixteen kan. Seo Gyeong-jo also played a major role in this construction.
• Early baptisms and the foundation of an organized church: Most of the early believers baptized by Underwood in 1887 were members of Sorae Church. They also formed the core of Jeongdong Church (later Saemunan Church), established in Seoul in September of that year. That autumn Underwood visited Sorae and administered infant baptism to Seo Gyeong-jo's three-year-old son, Byeong-ho. Some sources regard this as the first infant baptism in Korean Protestantism.
• Office of elder: He became an elder of Sorae Church and devoted himself to church planting and evangelism throughout Hwanghae Province (the Haeseo region). Some sources describe him as the first Korean elder, although sources differ as to who held that distinction.

Influence on the Korean Church

Sorae Church is regarded as an "indigenous church," founded by Koreans themselves rather than by foreign missionaries. For this reason, Seo Gyeong-jo is considered a representative figure in the story of how Protestantism first took root in Korea. He was also one of the first seven Korean ministers ordained by the Presbyterian Church of Chosen (Joseon Yesugyo Jangnohoe), and he belonged to the first generation of the transition from a missionary-led church to one led by Korean pastors. His son Seo Byeong-ho took part in the independence movement associated with the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea and worked as an educator after liberation.

Assessment

Seo Gyeong-jo, together with Seo Sang-ryun, is regarded as an important figure in the early history of Korean Presbyterianism. As part of the centennial projects of Korean Christianity in the 1980s, the Hwanghae Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Korea reconstructed Sorae Church on the Yangji campus of Chongshin University. Sources differ, however, on the year Sorae Church was founded, giving 1883 (May 16), 1884, and other dates. Accordingly, scholars hold differing views on its founding date and on its characterization as "the first church." No significant criticism of Seo Gyeong-jo himself is widely known.