Special Dawn Prayer Meeting

Definition and Meaning

A special dawn prayer meeting is a dawn prayer gathering held over a period set by a church, on a larger scale and with greater intensity than the regular dawn prayer meeting. It is commonly shortened to "teuksae." Depending on the church, names such as "special dawn assembly" or "special dawn revival meeting" are also used. Regular dawn prayer meetings are held daily. A special dawn prayer meeting, by contrast, has a predetermined period and theme and aims to draw the participation of the entire congregation.

Biblical and Historical Background

Passages commonly cited in support of dawn prayer include Mark 1:35, which says that Jesus, "rising up a great while before day," went out to a solitary place to pray, and Psalm 57:8, "I myself will awake early." Scripture, however, does not mandate dawn prayer. The practice of gathering for prayer at a fixed hour is a tradition developed by the church.

The dawn prayer meeting in the Korean church is widely said to have originated in the early 1900s at Jangdaehyeon Church in Pyongyang, where Kil Sun-joo gathered with church members to pray at dawn. The practice subsequently spread around the time of the Pyongyang Great Revival. Building on this tradition, the special dawn prayer meeting became established as a form of intensive prayer over a set period. When it first began is not clearly known.

Practice in Korean Churches

• Timing: Such meetings are frequently held during Lent and Holy Week, in the first week of the new year (New Year special dawn prayer meetings), and around the beginning of the first and second halves of the year. They are also held ahead of major events, such as a church's founding anniversary or a building project.
• Duration: The length varies by church; common durations include three days, one week, twenty-one days, and forty days.
• Order of service: The usual order is praise, a sermon, tongseong gido (prayer in which many pray aloud together), and individual prayer. The senior pastor may preach a sermon series on a single theme, or an outside speaker may be invited. Some churches start later or divide the meeting into first and second sessions so that working people and students can attend.
• Participation: Churches often encourage children and whole families to attend. To this end, some churches take attendance, provide transportation, or serve breakfast. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more churches have offered online streaming alongside in-person meetings.

The practice is widespread across many denominations, including Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, and Pentecostal (Full Gospel) churches. It is not a rite prescribed by denominational constitutions but an event that individual congregations choose to hold on their own initiative. In churches that maintain a tradition of morning prayer prescribed in a prayer book, such as the Anglican Church of Korea, the Korean-style special dawn prayer meeting is reportedly relatively rare.

Supporters regard special dawn prayer meetings as conducive to spiritual awakening and to the unity of the church community. Critics point to problems such as competition over attendance, the tendency to turn prayer into a mere event, and the toll on members' sleep and health.