LTKC: Our History (Part 3)
LTKC: Our History (Part 3)
As Japanese occupation officially came to an end in 1945, Korea would now find itself in a unique position to establish itself once again as a sovereign nation. It was only within a matter of years that tensions would start to brew again within the nation as a communist sentiment spurred on by the Soviet Union in the North would begin to emerge.
Meanwhile in the Korean Church, the period following the Second World War would be another pivotal season for the Korean Church. The dispute over who had conceded to Shinto worship was a hotly debated topic that led to divisions and splits within the Korean Church denominations. At the same time, the Korean youth would see a revival movement in the 1950’s under the banner of the YFC “Youth for Christ” which was carried in the Korean peninsula by American GI’s. As one American minister witnessed and wrote
““When Bob Pierce, Gill Dodds and I were invited to Korea we discovered that our Lord had brought us into the midst of revival that might well have been lifted out of the pages of the book of Acts. I saw revival in Korea. I saw more than 25,000 persons profess to accept Christ as Savior within six weeks. I saw more than four thousand persons daily at 5am prayer meetings. I saw hundreds continue all night in prayer for days on end. I saw crowds up to 75,000 come together to hear the gospel. In such a movement of the Holy Spirit, our part was incidental. These meetings in which we participated were only a small part of the great revival in Korea. All the while there were other great meetings being held by Korean pastors and evangelists. The revival is a demonstration of the aweful reality of the person of the Holy Spirit.”
Once again, there would be an explosive Revival movement in the land of Korea just years before another major conflict would occur, this time between North and South leading to the “The Korean War”.
The Korean war would officially begin on June 25th 1950 and last until the official armistice was signed in July 27th 1953. During these three years, Korea would experience war on its own soil as the Soviet and Chinese backed army of the North would invade Korea all the way to the southern most city of Busan. When it seemed as all hope was lost and that Korea would officially become a communist nation, the United States army stepped in under General Macarthur and pushed back the “red army” all the way back north to the Chinese border. After back and forth skirmishes and battles would last for the remaining year and half, the official ceasefire and armistice was signed at the 38th parallel which is still known to this day as the Demilitarized Zone. This is Korea’s still-existing dividing line.
As South Korea would rebuild as a nation under President Syngman Rhee, the Korean Church remained fully intact. Not only so, but in the period of Korea’s rebuilding for the next 30 years, South Korea in particular would see some of the most dynamic explosions in church growth the world had ever seen.
The now Evangelical Church of South Korea would declare in 1965, a campaign known as “35 million to Christ”. One of the hallmarks of Korean Christianity was not only passionate prayer, but from the place of prayer was a major evangelistic priority. It was often said of the early Korean Church that when you became a Christian, you were instantly a soul winner.
This proved to be true in what would be the largest Billy Graham crusades to date at that point. In May 1973, Billy Graham gathered 1 Million Koreans on the island of Yoido in the Seoul metropolitan area. It was of this crusade that Billy Graham said, “I have visited about fifty countries for revival gatherings, but this one is the most meaningful in the Christian history. Spiritual revival is really happening everywhere in Korea.”
There are countless stories to speak of the national fervor and passion that Korea was experiencing for Christ. One of the other hallmarks of this time period was the birth of the early dawn prayer movement which seemed to be a ubiquitous reality of the Korean Church. This is also where we really see the proliferation of the Prayer Garden and Prayer Mountain Movement as entire denominations would camp out at various mountains in Korea for all night prayer vigils. It would seem that the “tiny hermit kingdom” was experiencing full blown revival, being spurred and sustained by prayer and the teaching of God’s word.
It was during the part of the late 1970’s and the 1980’s where I believe we would see both the pinnacle and the decline of the Korean church. But God was also doing something during this time. It was called Diaspora.