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As 20C began, there were three amazing revivalisms in Korean Peninsula. They were 1903 Wonsan revivalism, 1907 great Pyongyang revivalism and 1909 campaign for salvation of one million people. The fact that within 10 years after a new century began there were three amazing revivalisms in one country is something rare in the world history. Even the first great spiritual awakening campaign which is represented by Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield in the US had only two revivalisms in 1734-1736 and 1740-1742. We cannot but thank God who granted this wonderful revivalism in Korea.

Among the three spiritual revivalisms great Pyongyang revivalism was the biggest event where the Holy Spirit worked most. Great Pyongyang revivalism started during Pyung An Nam Do Winter Male Bible Study at Pyongyang Jangdaehyun church in Pyongyang (January 14~15th 1907). George McCune who was attending the Bible study reported that the work of the Holy Spirit then was far greater than that in Wales or India. This means that the work of the Holy Spirit then was much greater than any other work of the Holy Spirit. The revivalism which started at Jangdaehyun church, a Presbyterian church, began to spread like a wild fire all over Pyongyang including Pyongyang Namsanhyun Methodist church and then all over Korea. As a result, there was a great work of the Holy Spirit like a burning fire all over Korea in between January and June 1907. There was no place which did not experience the revivalism. A missionary called Noble who experienced this revivalism was so excited that he confessed that this was the biggest work of the Holy Spirit in Korea Mission Field after the event shown in the book of Acts.

Like all other revivalisms, great Pyongyang revivalism did not occur just one day. As a great river needs lots of tributaries gathering in one, great Pyongyang revivalism was based on a lot of previous small or big spiritual awakening campaigns. The great revivalisms in Korea then must be understood on the basis of the three following historical backgrounds.

First, the amazing revivalisms in Korea were not the only phenomenon in Korea but they were deeply related with the revivalisms taking place all over the world then. When there were amazing revivalisms in Korea such as 1903 Wonsan revivalism, 1907 great Pyongyang revivalism, and 1909 campaign for salvation of one million people, there were a lot of revivalisms in the world such as late 19C Moody revivalism, 1904 Wales revivalism, 1904 Australian revivalism, 1905 Indian revivalism and 1906 Pentecost revivalism etc. The revivalisms in Korea then must be understood in this historical background. In retrospect, the fact that there were a lot of revivalisms in the world in the early 20C was God’s well planed providence to make the world mission complete earlier. There is no other period when mission work is carried out better than this period. Among the world mission works Asian mission works were outstanding. And among Asian mission works Korean mission work was outstanding.

Second, we need to consider the geographical and political situations of the powerful countries surrounding Korea. After conclusion of Gwanghwado treaty in 1876, Choson Dynasty had a lot of unfortunate historical events such as Sino-Japanese War in 1894, Russian-Japanese War in 1904, Eulsa treaty in 1905, abdication of Gojong, annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910, 105 person incident in 1911 etc. As a well known American diplomat John W. Foster described, then Korean peninsula was ‘Naboth’s grape yard’ many powerful countries wish to take over. Choson Dynasty was hopeless and helpless before powerful countries’ ?Russia, China, Japan- evil desire to take over it. Korean peninsula turned into a battlefield during Sino-Japanese War and Russian-Japanese War. Many Korean people living in this period agreed that only God is their helper they could depend on. Gloomy social situations made their hearts good soil for the gospel.

Third, we need to consider Bible study spreading all over Korea. Under the influence of Nevius mission policy adopted 1890, Bible study was spreading all over Korea, thus causing spiritual revivalism to happen. Wonsan revivalism in 1903 was originally from prayer meeting, a kind of Bible study. Also great Pyongyang revivalism in 1907 started from Pyungannamdo Bible study in January in 1907. There had been Bible study spreading all over Korea since 1890. At the same time, spiritual awakening through the Bible and prayers stood out in the North-West region. As George M. Marsden, an innovative American historian pointed out, just as Bible study offered good soil for revivalism in America, so it did the same to Korean church. In conclusion, revivalism in Korean church was one of the typical revivalisms through the words of God and prayers.

Wonsan revivalism starting during prayer meeting held by missionaries in Wonsan between August 24th and 30th in 1903 was a spiritual matrix of great Pyongyang revivalism. All the materials concerning early revivalism in Korea agree that Wonsan revivalism is the matrix of Pyongyang revivalism. The prayer meeting which caused Wonsan revivalism to happen was held by two obscure female missionaries.

A female missionary called Mary Culler White who fled from China to Wonsan because of Euhwadan incident and another female missionary called Louise Hoard McCully who belonged to Canadian Presbyterian church started praying for revivalism in Korea people and foreign missionaries in Korea. As the news of the prayer meeting began to spread other missionaries joined it one by one. They decided to hold public prayer meeting later on and asked Robert A. Hardie, a medical missionary, to give three time lectures for an effective prayers. While preparing lectures he had an amazing experience in which he met the words of God. Before that he was arrogant because he was too proud of his high education and of himself as a doctor, as an English man. He had a white people’s superiority complex, prejudice against Koreans and racism deep in his mind.

Now the Holy Spirit made him realize all his faults. Hardie who already experienced this deep blessing before the prayer meeting repented in public before all the co-missionaries during prayer meeting with tears. As Hardie himself mentioned, it was a really shameful moment. However he couldn’t help owning up all his sins and faults because of the powerful touch of the Holy Spirit. His repentance led to his coworkers’ repentance. The next Sunday he again confessed all his sins, faults and his arrogant attitude toward Koreans during worship service at Changjeon Methodist church. His confession resulted in Koreans’ repentance, thus causing the work of the Holy Spirit along with people’s repentance to keep happening since August 1903. During the Janggangchim Associated Bible Study led by Franson who belonged to Scandinavian mission team when visiting Wonsan, there was a powerful work of the Holy Spirit. After that during all the worships led by Hardie, young people kept repenting. Choi Jong-son and Gang Tae-soo confessed their sins and after while the language teacher, Jin Cheon-soo, who taught a missionary called Ross confessed his sins in public after Sunday worship service.

Not only Korean Christians confessed sins; co-missionaries of Hardie experienced Wonsan revivalism. A.F. Robb, a missionary from Canada, experienced a very powerful touch of the Holy Spirit and became a completely new person. The reason Koreans and other missionaries experienced amazing blessings was that the personality of Hardie changed completely after being blessed. James S. Gale who graduated from the same school as Hardie did said that Hardie had changed completely after being blessed compared with before Hardie was blessed and that Hardie looked like Moses whose face was radiant after meeting God at Mt’ Sinai after 40 days’ fast and that the difference between Hardie’s previous look and after look was the same as between that of Peter when he was called at Galilee and that of Peter when he wrote the books of Peter. Before he was blessed, he was just an ordinary doctor. In fact, he was just an unfriendly doctor many patients did avoid being treated by. However after he was blessed and changed, patients who had said they would rather be sick than be treated by him started saying they were healed even by being touched by him. After being blessed by the Holy Spirit, Hardie’s life, personality and attitude were totally changed.

As the work of the Holy Spirit kept going whenever he led worship services, Hardie was firmly convinced that he had been called by God as God’s tool for revival. He decided to go to Jigyungtou in Gwangwon province which had baffled him. He wanted to share his blessings and experience with the Christians there. When he arrived at a new inn near Jigyungtou, he prayed earnestly to God on the basis of God’s promise. During Jigyungtou worship on 12th led by him, there was an amazing work of the Holy Spirit and repentance as in August 1903. According to Hardie himself, “All of them who attended the Bible study experienced an amazing work of God and were touched by the Holy Spirit.” As Hardie confessed, the Holy Spirit didn’t disappoint him.

After that Hardie went to Gyesung and Seoul. God, without exception, blessed a lot all the worships there. The students at Baejae school began to repent. Thanks to all the enthusiasm a term ‘revival’ was used in June 1904. Before he left for Sabbatical year, he led worships in Seoul, Jemulpo and Pyongyang in October and there were amazing works of the Holy Spirit during the worships.

After he left for the Sabbatical year, spiritual awakening continued in 1905 centering around Gyesung. In September 1905, missionaries from 4 Presbyterian mission teams and 2 Methodist mission teams gathered together and organized ‘The General Council of Evangelical Missions in Korea’. They dreamed of one national church and decided to work together for evangelism of Korea. All of them firmly believed that the most necessary thing for Korea was spiritual revival. They decided to hold a new year’s revival in 1906. They believed that it was more important for existing Christians to experience God’s blessings rather than for new comers to join church. They thought that once existing Christians experienced God’s blessings evangelism would follow automatically. Through the new year’s revivals in major cities in Korea as well as Seoul and Pyongyang, spiritual awakening was more strengthened.

In the meantime, Pyongyang missionaries’ Bible study was held between August 26th 1906 and September 2nd. Lecturer was Hardie who was a main character of Wonsan revivalism. Hardie’s message based on the first John challenged all the missionaries and their children attending there. He honestly and plainly told them that how arrogant he had been before he was blessed and how the Holy Spirit came to him to change him. All the audience there including the pastor Lee Gil-ham, in charge of Pyongyang Jangdaehyun church, and Sherwood Hall who attended there with his mom Rozeta, were blessed a lot through his message.

On that day, Hardie exclaimed; that a person thinks that he will succeed with his own strength and effort is based on his pride and lack of faith…. However high an ideal may be, it will be very difficult to be performed without spiritual power. Remember this that this spiritual power can be obtained only with constant prayers. Just as our physical strength is maintained by taking food everyday, so our spiritual power is maintained by constant prayers everyday. Then our aim will be changed from human’s glory to God’s glory.

Hardie’s message changed the life of little Sherwood completely. Originally Sherwood wanted to go back to his country to become a businessman. However, while listening to Hardie’s message, he decided to become a medical missionary as his parents and to work for Korea. He graduated from Toronto medical school and established the first sanitarium for tuberculosis patients in Korea and so saved a lot Koreans who were dying of tuberculosis. Korean Christmas seal was first made by him.

During Seoul missionary Bible study led by John Stone as a lecturer there was an amazing work of the Holy Spirit. John Stone who had been to Wales and India and had seen revivalism in both places visited Korea. He informed of the amazing revivalisms of Wales and India. His speech gave all the people attending the Bible study a desire for revival. A lot of missionaries and Koreans began to pray earnestly for revivalism in Korea. John Stone declared that the revival of Wales was based on everyone’s prayer in one voice. This method took root in Korean churches and became one of the systems.

After Seoul Bible study John Stone went to Jangdaehyun church in Pyongyang to lead the Bible study there. He, again, informed of the revivalisms of Wales and India to missionaries and Korean Christians. When he asked audience there to raise their hands if any of them wanted to be used by God like Evan Roberts who was the main leader of revivalism in Wales, an elder called Gil Sun-joo raised his hand without hesitation. Gil Sun-joo who had already experienced spiritual awakening was greatly blessed then and he led Hwanghaedo provincial Bible study in Suncheon as a main lecturer from December 12th 1906 to 22nd of December. There he gave powerful messages. Kim Ik-doo who was attending the Bible study was greatly impressed by the messages of Gil Sun-joo. God’s providence was very amazing. Before great Pyongyang revivalism, God prepared all those people such as Lee Gil-ham, the chief pastor of Jangdaehyun church, the senior elder Gil Sun-joo and Kim Ik-doo who would lead revivalism of Korean churches after Gil Sun-joo.

In addition, the amazing work of the Holy Spirit done in Mokpo, a part of South Presbyterian Mission field, in October 1906 was considered God’s positive sign to give revival to Korea. In Mokpo mission field with Freston in charge, a powerful and influential preacher called Geordine, who was also as famous as Hardie, was invited to lead revival worship there and all of them there experienced an amazing revival. The Holy Spirit got rid of all the sins hidden deep in people’s hearts as if a surgeon cut off cancerous cells from a patient and then healed all of them attending the worship. After that all over Mokpo there was a great repentance and forgiveness. While hearing of all the news from Mokpo, missionaries and Korean church leaders in Pyongyang gathered in prayer meeting and prayed very earnestly that they would have the same revival in Pyongyang during Pyungannamdo provincial Bible study between 2nd of January 1907 and 15th of January. They gathered every night in prayer meetings. They gave up their
Christmas holiday and kept praying for revivalism. Korean Christian leaders too had prayer meetings and prayed a lot for it.

In this spiritual atmosphere, Pyungannamdo provincial Bible study was held at Jangdaehyun church in Pyongyang between 2nd of January and 15th of January 1907. Around 1,000 people from all over Pyungannamdo were attending the Bible study. Evening worships started on the 6th of January. During day time worships people in Pyongyang were not allowed to attend the Bible study. However during evening worships they were allowed to attend them. The amazing great Pyongyang revivalism started during the Bible study, especially, the last two days, 14th and 15th of January. On 12th, when Blaire preached there were some blessings. However on 13th, the people’s reaction was rather cold. According to Goford, the situation was really frustrating as if a brass roof kept the people’s prayers from going up to the heaven and as if Satan overwhelmed all the people there. In a word, the spiritual atmosphere was too cold. Even that day’s preacher Gil Sun-joo said “Are you all dead?”

All the missionaries attending there as well as Gil Sun-joo thought the Bible study should not be finished in that situation. Therefore, they gathered at noon 14th to pray to God for the Bible study. God did not forsake their prayers. On that day, after Hunt preached, Lee Gil-ham asked people to pray in one voice and people did as he instructed. Their prayer was completely different from that of the previous day. After prayer, those who wanted to go back home left and the rest, around 600, remained until two o’clock in the morning. They prayed very earnestly. Great Pyongyang revivalism considered the most powerful work of the Holy Spirit after the real Pentecost occurred among the 600 people praying there. The work of the Holy Spirit along with repentance was the first powerful revival that was experienced by everyone attending there.

The person who started to repent was Gil Sun-joo. He embezzled 100 dollars of his friend’s money one year before while he was taking care of his friend’s money because his friend was dead. When the Holy Spirit touched his mind he couldn’t bear. On that day he confessed his guilt in public saying he was like Achan who stopped the blessings and the coming of the Holy Spirit from coming to them. His repentance acted like a detonator and so his repentance led to all people’s repentance. Lee Gil-ham who attended the worship reported that the worship could not be explained in words. The next day George McCune also reported the worship to Brown, a general manager of American North Presbyterian Church. He said with excitement in his report an amazing work of the Holy Spirit was present at the worship. He said, “We are experiencing an amazing blessing from God. The Holy Spirit came to us in authority. At the last night’s worship at Jangdaehyun church the Holy Spirit actually came down to us in power and authority. None of us had ever experienced this phenomenon before. We already read about the revivalism and the work of the Holy Spirit in India and Wales. I think this work of the Holy Spirit here is far greater than those in Wales and India.”

As all the missionaries attending there agreed, none of them had experienced that kind of work of the Holy Spirit before. On 15th the missionaries gathered together at noon to thank God for the previous day’s worship. Then the Holy Spirit poured down blessings to them opening the door of the heaven. Among the missionaries an amazing repentance occurred. If the Holy Spirit had worked only with Koreans, the great Pyongyang revivalism would have been a half successful revivalism. However the Holy Spirit worked with all the missionaries in Korea then. They prayed earnestly for the work of the Holy Spirit to continue until the last day of the Bible study. Korean Christians too prayed with enthusiasm for blessings. God did listen to their prayers.

The spiritual atmosphere was quite different from that of the previous day before 15th evening worship. The face of the preacher Gil Sun-joo was shining with holiness. According to one elder attending the worship, his face was not his but Jesus’. He demanded people to repent. All the people attending there knelt down before God and owned up all their sins hidden secretly in their minds. They could not conceal any sins before the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. All the sins human beings can commit were confessed in public that day.

The news that an amazing work of the Holy Spirit happened at Jangdaehyun church spread immediately all over Pyongyang. The work of the Holy Spirit along with repentance occurred at Soongduk school and Soonghyun women’s school. After the Bible study, at Jangdaehyun church, powerful work of the Holy Spirit continued at Wednesday’s prayer meeting on 16th and at Sunday worship on 20th. The news of the work of the Holy Spirit at Jangdaehyun church spread like a wild fire to all over Pyongyang and all over Korean peninsula. A missionary called Noble, after looking at the work of the Holy Spirit occurring at Namsanhyun Methodist church with his eyes, reported it with excitement: “There was the most amazing work of the Holy Spirit at Korean churches that we have never seen or heard of. Probably there has been no other case that was more amazing than this since the Apostle’s era. At an every worship, God’s power and authority were present at church or sometimes outside church. Men and women knelt down or sometimes fell down because of the work of the Holy Spirit and became unconscious. The whole city was like weeping for the dead.”

The fire of the Holy Spirit was burning all over the whole places of Pyongyang. The fire of revival spread to all the churches in Pyongyang regardless of their denominations. Almost all mission schools in Pyongyang experienced the amazing revival. Especially during the Bible studies for beginning school at Soongshil university and Pyongyang Presbyterian seminary a most powerful work of the Holy Spirit occurred. This was the providence of the Holy Spirit to bless and to arm Korean churches and those who were going to lead Korean churches spiritually.

Those who experienced the amazing work of the Holy Spirit at Jangdaehyun church, such as Gil Sun-joo, Hunt, Blaire, Lee Gil-ham, Swallen, Pyun Ha-seol, went to all over Korea with the fire of the revival. The Holy Spirit used them as God’s tools and spread the revivalism all over Korea. Especially Gil Sun-joo was the chief leader who spread the fire of the great Pyongyang revivalism to all over Korea. He first of all went to Seoul and led worships at Seungdong, Yeondong, Soogumoon, Sangdong, Je church. Whenever he led worships amazing works of the Holy Spirit occurred. Through Hunt an amazing spiritual awakening took place in Daegu. Soon the fire of revivalism soared high all over Korea such as Seoul, Daegu, Daejeon, Kongjoo, Shineujoo, Sunchun etc. This fire of revivalism amazingly began to spread to Manchuria and China.

The great Pyongyang revivalism affected Korean churches a lot.

First, this was an amazing spiritual awakening revivalism. The great Pyongyang revivalism was a thorough repentance movement. There had been no other powerful work of the Holy Spirit as this all over Korean peninsula since Allen came to Korea in 1884.

Second, the revivalism in that time did not end up with individual spiritual awakening but extended up to the social reform. The revivalism influenced amazingly the whole Korean society such as ‘improvement of the position of females, collapse of social class, yearning for education, reform of thoughts, changes of outlook on life, improvement of national consciousness, destruction of superstition, changes of outlook on Korean people by missionaries. As a result, Pyongyang, the city of geisha and pleasure, regarded as Sodom and Gomorrah turned into oriental Jerusalem and the name of the country Choson was changed into Chosen.

Third, it became a matrix of revivalisms in Manchuria and China. Chinese tradesmen Ho Man-sung and Jang Suk-jung visited Korea 1907. They were in Pyongyang for one week in 1907 and saw the great Pyungyan revivalism themselves. When they returned to their countries they reported it to their people and then there was an amazing work of the Holy Spirit among them too. In the spring the same year two Chinese people including a pastor Yu Jeon-ac visited Pyongyang and returned to China. They prayed a lot with church leaders in China at Mokdanbong for revivalism to happen in China too. And in Manchuria a powerful spiritual repentance and awakening occurred as in Pyongyang. As Kenneth S. Latourette pointed out, “Am amazing religious movement in Manchuria” was possible in connection with the great Pyongyang revivalism.

Fourth, it brought about an amazing growth of churches. Korean churches had grown amazingly since Wonsan revivalism in 1903 and Great Pyongyang revivalism in 1907 up to campaign for salvation of one million people in 1909. This was a miracle of world mission. In retrospect, the Protestantism began 20th of September in 1884 by Horrace Allen. However the beginning of Korean churches as systematic churches started through great revivalisms. As Jerusalem church was constructed on the basis of the Pentecost shown in the book of Acts, the great revivalisms in Korea were the main and unique factors which helped Korean churches grow amazingly fast in the mission history in the world.

Fifth, this was a foreign mission movement. As for Presbyterian denomination, in 1907 when the independent Presbyterian assembly was organized a pastor Lee Ki-poong was chosen to send to Jejudo as a missionary. After that Korean churches kept sending missionaries to Japan and Vladivostok, thus becoming mission church from the first. The driving force was based on revivalism.

Sixth, this was a unifying movement. Revivalism unified Korean church leaders and foreign missionaries as one in the Holy Spirit. As a result, foreign missionaries and Korean churches were ready to cooperate regardless of denominations for education, medical work, foreign mission, evangelism, papers mission and Bible translation.

Finally, this was the starting point where spiritual awakening and evangelism for Korean churches began. The reason Korean churches have kept growing and kept the work of evangelism for salvation for 100 years is that Korean churches have constantly been experiencing revival.

After the great Pyongyang revivalism several revivalisms occurred in Korea. The most outstanding revivalism was the campaign for salvation of one million people in 1909. This was started by several church leaders who were frustrated about diminishing eagerness and fire of the great Pyongyang revivalism. The great Pyongyang revivalism which started at Jangdaehyun church in January 1907 reached a climax in June in 1907 and then the heat began to decrease drastically. In 1908, even if churches kept growing, the spiritual awakening kept decreasing drastically. In the early 1909, the heat of revivalism became so cold. Several pastors including Gil Sun-joo, a chief pastor of Jangdaehyun church in Pyongyang and South Methodist missionaries, including M.B. Stokes, working in Gyesung, W.T. Reid, F. K. Gamble, who were frustrated about the situation started the campaign.

They had a prayer meeting with eagerness for the spiritual awakening like the great Pyongyang revivalism to happen among Korean people. Especially Gil Sun-joo with an elder Park Chi-rok had dawn prayer meetings every dawn. The three South Methodist missionaries like-mindedly cried in their prayers before God by fasting. God listened to their prayers and pour down the Holy Spirit. Thanks to their effort ‘The General Council of Evangelical Association’ in Korea decided to have a campaign for salvation of one million people. Foreign preachers such as Chaffman, Robert Hakness, Charles Alexander who entered Korea 1909 led the worships all over Korea, thus encouraging the campaign for salvation of one million people. Even though they could not achieve their aims 100%, it was considerably amazing in that they gathered together and worked together for evangelism in Korea.

After that revivalisms in Korea continued such as revivalism led by Kim Ik-doo in 1920~1921, revivalism led by the Holiness Church in 1932~1933, revivalism in 1950s and public evangelism movement in 1970s etc. These are all great blessings. However all these revivalisms are not as powerful as the great Pyongyang revivalism.

The great and amazing Pyongyang revivalism which changed the city of geisha and pleasure into oriental Jerusalem should take place in Korea. As Jonathan Edward mentioned, we should remember that even though revivalism is God’s gift it will not take place everywhere but it will take place where we wish it to happen. We should keep praying for it. Oh! Lord! Have mercy on us again and grant us an amazing revival! Please, Holy Spirit! Come hear again as you came here then!


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SaRangTV Weekly News

05.17,2008