Fellowship of Presbyterians
Pastor: Through annexation and war, Koreans survived on prayer
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman, January 23, 2012
ORLANDO, Fla. — “Unfriendly circumstances help you kneel down before God,” said the Rev. Tae-Hyung Ko at the Friday morning worship service of the Covenanting Conference of the Fellowship of Presbyterians. “Korea would not have learned the two greatest joys — mission and prayer — without the persecution.”
Ko, senior pastor of Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Rowland Heights, Calif., and moderator of the National Korean Presbyterian Caucus, used Pslam 119:71-72 as his sermon text.
Ko said that he is continually asked if South Korea is a Christian country.”Let me tell you the reality,” he said. Buddhism is still the leading religion and Christianity makes up about 18 percent of the population. But, at the same time he said that Korean Presbyterians sent out 25,000 missionaries in 2011.
He then told about the history of Korean Presbyterians. Shortly after Presbyterian missionaries arrived in Korea, the country was forcibly annexed by Japan (1910). Korean men were forced to be soldiers in Japan’s army and Korean women became sex slaves. Koreans not only lost their freedom, but they also lost their names as they were given new, Japanese names.
“This was devastating,” Ko said, “but God had a greater plan … with their national identity stripped, they leaned on their Christian identity.” They also began a program, “A Million Souls for Christ.”
Ko said that Korean Christians did not have money to give, so they gave their time. “They tithed one day a week to participate in evangelistic works,” he said. “They all participated in the movement with much faith and enthusiasm. … in the period of hopelessness, Koreans learned to pray to God for help.”
None of this would have happened, he said, if not for the devastation of Korea. He quoted the Pslams “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.”
As soon as Korea was liberated from Japan (1945), Ko said the Korean War began. He showed a video of the devastation caused by the war, and said that “the only thing Koreans had to survive on was prayer — only prayer.”
He said that the Korean War “destroyed Korea entirely. … In 1953 Korea was the poorest country in the world. But let me be clear,” he said, this sermon is “not about poverty, but about the great gifts God gave during the suffering.”
During those times, Ko said that some Korean Presbyterian churches began having prayer meetings at 5 a.m. The early morning prayer meetings didn’t become practice until the North Koreans began persecuting the people “It was about survival, to overcome the persecution and to provide faith enough for the day,” he said.
“As a Korean, I can tell you that we can experience the same grace today when we enter moments of suffering,” Ko said. “I know that God is still in our midst. … He may even be preparing us for an even greater walk. Do not be afraid. Be bold. Stand firm in the Word of God and then God will use all of us as instruments of His blessing.”
Ko is a graduate of Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary in Seoul, Korea, received a doctorate of education from Union-PSCE and served Korean-American immigrant churches for 25 years.