Posted on 03/09/2007 3:51:22 PM PST by happygrl
While Christianity's explosive growth has swept through much of the Southern Hemisphere – particularly across Africa – another dramatic story has unfolded in Asia. Some have dubbed it the "Korean miracle."
About one-third of South Koreans are now Christian. Seoul, the capital, boasts 10 of the 11 largest Christian congregations in the world. And South Korea sends more missionaries abroad to spread the word than any other country except the United States.
No one knows how many Christians remain in North Korea. Two-thirds of Korean Christians lived there before the war, but many fled to escape Communist rule.
~sNip
Today, thousands of Koreans rise to attend prayer services in huge city churches at 4:30 a.m. before heading for work.
~sNip
The dynamism of Korean Christianity, many observers agree, is an outgrowth of the peninsula's unique history as well as the early role of indigenous leadership. Christian teachings were first brought to Korea not by foreigners, but by Korean diplomats who came in contact with Roman Catholicism in Japan and Manchuria. An active lay movement developed, but it led to controversy and periods of great persecution.
The first Protestant missionaries, American Presbyterians and Methodists, arrived in the late 1800s. The introduction of the Bible in the local language and the founding of schools for boys and girls helped spread the faith beyond the elites.
One key to the rapid growth was the strategy adopted by the young pioneer missionaries, which emphasized developing indigenous leadership: "self-government, self-propagation of the faith, and self-support."
"This encouraged national leaders to take care of their own affairs without foreign control or funding," Dr. Park says. "They practiced it from the beginning, advising but letting the Koreans preach and run the churches."
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
The Koreans seem to be doing for the Presbyterians what the Africans have done for the Anglicans.
So much dreadful news coming out this week; we need a dose of the Good News too.
Yes it is.
It is evidence of the Hly Spirit in the world; the Good News will not be quenched.
It may be going moribund in parts of the West, but it is alive and flourishing in Africa and Asia.
Jesuit priests landed on Korea, along with the Japanese troops commanded by Konishi Yukinaga. Konish's troops were mostly Christians. Jesuit priests were their chaplains. They were Portuguese, and left some of the detailed accounts on the war between Korea and Japan at the time.
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