South Korean Food [for Thought and Action]

I have visited South Korea 24 times, and to date 20,000 Korean pastors have attended a Crossways training event. Protestantism was introduced into Korea in 1884 by two pastors from the United States, one a Presbyterian, the other a Methodist. A few years after they began their work, a conference was held to establish a methodology for mission. Nevius, a European missionary working in China, urged Christian communities in Korea to adopt the following approach:

• You may build a church structure as long as you can pay for it yourselves--no subsidies!
• You can have a pastor as long as you can pay the needed salary yourselves--no subsidies!
• The church must be built on the Adult Bible Class system.

The Presbyterians bought into the system; today, they have about 7.5 million members in South Korea.  The Methodists did not; today, they have about 1.5 million members. Draw you own conclusions. My number-one interpreter in Korea used to serve as senior pastor of the 30,000 member Choon Hyun Presbyterian Church in Seoul. Among other statements in that congregation’s mission document are the following:

• Each member must read three chapters of the Bible every day, and five chapters on Sunday.
• All members must contribute a tenth of their income and then begin making their offerings.
• Each member is to study the Bible at the feet of someone who knows more than he or she, and each member is to teach someone who knows less than he or she.

Food for thought, yes; guidelines for action, yes. 

Harry Wendt