Kim Kyo Shin, Part I: Free to Do Right Things Daringly

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Pastor Foley

Dr. Hyun Sook Foley, Voice of the Martyrs Korea President, authors this special series on Kim Kyo Shin, one of the greatest martyrs in Korean Christian history whose voice needs to be heard today more than ever, by Korea and the world.

 Question: What were the problems of the Non-Church Movement by Gyo Sin Kim?

Answers:

  1. Rejected established church
  2. Denied any authorities within the church and ordination
  3. Refused baptism
  4. Refused communion

–KPC Ordination Study Guide, 2015

Of the 250 questions in the church history section of the ordination study guide of the Korean Presbyterian Church of America, three—including the “short answer” question noted above—have to do with Kim Kyo Shin. None portray him positively. Indeed, if Kim Kyo Shin is mentioned in Korean church history texts, he is usually presented as a kind of tragic figure: A man of great integrity who loved Korea passionately but whose contributions to Korean Christianity were ultimately limited by what is regarded as his rejection of the Korean church.

But is this an accurate portrayal of Kim Kyo Shin? Should he be remembered as an outsider whose Non-Church Movement was, as Yonsei University professor Seo Jong Min described it, “a form of Korean nationalist Christianity” (Hwang, 2012, 3)? Is there any reason to study his writings today for more than historical curiosity?

Kim Kyo Shin himself wrote, “More than others, we don’t like the term, non-church movement” (Kim, 2012, 196). In fact, his own writings reveal a very different man with a very different goal—and a very different attitude toward the Korean church—than he is remembered for today. Most students of Korean church history would be surprised to learn that Kim Kyo Shin “attended a Presbyterian church, made offerings for the construction expenditure of the church, and accepted invitations to lead revival meetings organised by traditional churches (Hwang, 2012, 105). They might also be surprised to learn that Kim Kyo Shin fully expected to be rejected and misunderstood by the Korean church of his own time but believed that his writings might make sense to the Korean church (or at least Korean Christians) of our time. In the first issue of his Songsuh-Chosun (or “Bible Korea”) magazine published in 1927, he recorded what he believed were God’s words to him:

‘Sungsuh-Chosun’!  If you have so much patience, wait for Koreans born after the date your initial issue was published, and talk to them, discuss with them; why shall I heave a sigh of despair just because we are to meet fellow thinkers after a century is passed!” (in Kim, 2012, 214).

This series seeks to consider anew who Kim Kyo Shin really was, what he was trying to accomplish, and whether—in line with his prophecy cited above, nearly one century after he wrote it—he might just now be able to meet fellow thinkers willing to give him a new hearing and put into practice ideas he developed one hundred years ahead of his time.

Next in Part II of this special series on Kim Kyo Shin: Indigenous Christianity or Heretical Christianity: The Only Two Options.

Works Cited

Hwang, S.C. 2012. A theological analysis of the Non-Church Movement in Korea with a special reference to the formation of its spirituality. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham.

Kim, J.C. 2012. Recollection of Kyo-Shin Kim. BibleKorea.net. Accessed November 30, 2015 at http://www.biblekorea.net/articles/Recollection_of_Kyo-shin_Kim.doc

KPCA Ordination Exam. 2015. Korean Church History. Accessed December 2, 2015 at http://www.kpcaep.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Korean_Church_History_Study.pdf

Posted in Early Korean Christianity, Kim Kyo Shin, Korean Christianity, Lamin Sanneh, martyr | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

What Would You Do With Complete Power? Jesus Did Something No One Expected

Posted on December 3, 2015 by muksangin

What would you do if you realized that all the power in heaven and on earth was in your hands? Maybe you would punish your enemies? Or maybe you would do something miraculous or spectacular? Or maybe you would do something powerful to put an end all human suffering?

John 13 tells the story of what Jesus did when all power in heaven and on earth was placed in his hands. Jesus didn’t do any of the above things, instead He did something that no one expected.

He washed his disciples feet.

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Does Anyone Listen to Shortwave Radio Anymore?

Posted on November 30, 2015 by tdillmuth

broadcastingQuestion – Does anyone listen to shortwave radio anymore? In not, why do you use it for your gospel broadcasts into North Korea?

Answer – Up until I started working with Voice of the Martyrs Korea, I often wondered who really listened to shortwave radio broadcasts.  I knew of a few Ham radio enthusiasts, but I figured that overall listenership was probably pretty small.

My inkling wasn’t that far off, as over the past fifteen years, shortwave has been in sharp decline. More and more people started turning to satellite radio, AM/FM rebroadcasting and the internet.  And as people stopped tuning in, organizations stopped broadcasting on short-wave frequencies.

But according to James Careless of Radio World, shortwave radio still has one distinct advantage over all other mediums.

For all its transmission expense and audio problems, analog shortwave radio has one clear advantage over the Internet and domestic radio/TV: It cannot be easily blocked — even when states try to disrupt its signals using jamming transmitters.

This is why short-wave radio is still popular in a country like North Korea.  We estimate that over two million North Koreans listen to short-wave broadcasts with their illegal shortwave radios in order to hear the gospel, learn about the outside world and even learn more about their own country.

Although tuning to any other radio channel except the state media channel is illegal in North Korea, there is no doubt that many NKs go to great lengths to do it anyway. We have been told numerous times by defectors ….. Just this week Mrs. Park told us,

I purchased a radio when I was in China and then brought it back into NK. When I went through customs, the NK government cut all of the wires to the radio so that I could not access any outside radio signals. However, my son re-connected all of the wires so that we were able to listen to it. We would turn it on secretly at night and listen to it under the covers. I was the leader of the village so I was watched and had to be extremely careful.

Radio is one of the primary ways that NKs learn the truths (and lies!) about their own country. Mrs. Kim did not even know that labor camps existed in NK. She shared this testimony with us…

I only listened to the radio one time in North Korea. It was the first time I heard South Korean voices and realized that our dialects are different. Through listening to the broadcast, I found out about one of the labor camps in NK.

NKs are now even hearing the dialect of their own people as they tune their radios in to listen. Mrs. Kim shared this with us,

I recently met a man in SK who listened to the radio in NK. He said it was difficult to hear everything on the broadcast, but he was so surprised to hear North Korean voices announcing the broadcast.

These testimonies give evidence to the fact that there is still no doubt that short-wave radio is an effective method of communicating the gospel to those in North Korea whom we wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

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